Offering a synthesis of ideas regarding
international responses to humanitarian tragedies, this paper examines
the new relief 'agenda' emerging in response to the claim that at best
relief aid does not contribute to solutions and at worst may fuel conflict.
Suggesting that the shortcomings of current responses to crisis by the international community stem from a failure to recognise key features of the new environment in which aid is delivered, it provides the following chapters:
- Uncovering the assault on humanitarian
values
- Origins of the assault on relief
- Protracted instability and the limits
of relief aid
- Reaffirming humanitarian values
The paper is based on a seminar held in London
in February 1998, bringing together representatives of NGOs, the military,
UN, Red Cross and donor organisations.