Conferences/debates

2010

Living a Natural Disaster

The study of natural disasters from an anthropological viewpoint reveal a reality that differs markedly from the clichés we see in the media. This reality is uncovered in the work by Sandrine Revet on the mudslides that destroyed the cost of Venezuela in December 1999. By looking at this event in the local context, she describes how survival, aid and reconstruction activities are organised.

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OFF THE CUFF

Negotiating Humanitarian Access: How Far to Compromise to Deliver Aid 30 January 2012 Negotiating Humanitarian Access: How Far to Compromise to Deliver Aid
Neuman, Michael
On January 26, the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement and Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) hosted a discussion on the compromises and negotiations the humanitarian aid community must contend with during crisis situations. Michael Neuman, research director with the Centre de Réflexion sur l'Action et les Savoirs Humanitaries at MSF, discussed the organization's new book, Humanitarian Negotiations Revealed: The MSF Experience (Columbia University Press, 2012)...
Humanitarian Negotiations revealed: the MSF experience 15 December 2011 Humanitarian Negotiations revealed: the MSF experience
Magone, Claire; Neuman, Michael; Weissman, Fabrice
From international NGOs to UN agencies, from donors to observers of humanitarianism, opinion is unanimous: in a context of the alleged ‘clash of civilisations', our ‘humanitarian space' is shrinking. Put another way, the freedom of action and of speech of humanitarians is being eroded due to the radicalisation of conflicts and the reaffirmation of state sovereignty over aid actors and policies...
If you have to starve to death, better to do it in a war-torn country 22 September 2011 If you have to starve to death, better to do it in a war-torn country
Bradol, Jean-Hervé
For the past several months, news about food shortages and famines affecting large segments of the East African population have been fueling donation appeals from major public and private aid organizations. Low rainfall and - in Somalia's case - recent stirrings in the 20-year-old civil war explain how a bad situation has suddenly become catastrophic...
Somalia and the International Status Quo in Refugee Management: When is the right time to say the big F word? 22 September 2011 Somalia and the International Status Quo in Refugee Management: When is the right time to say the big F word?
Chkam, Hakim
Reporting on her meeting in January 2010 with M. Ahmedou Ould-Abdallah, the then UN special representative for Somalia - Ambassador Susan Rice noted in a leaked diplomatic cable posted by Wikileaks: "(Ould-Abdallah), noted the high number of foreign fighters who have joined the armed opposition, including American and British citizens, and gave a firsthand account of the prevalence of extremist views within the Somali community living in Minnesota. Stating that the threat is critical, Ould-Abdallah urged targeted operations on terrorists in Somalia, and said that the Security Council needs to define its overall objective in Somalia."...
When the United Nations cry wolf 17 August 2011 When the United Nations cry wolf
Brauman, Rony
The United Nations announces a famine and that 12.4 million people are threatened by drought in the Horn of Africa. Radio and television repeatedly broadcast an appeal for donations to UNICEF, brandishing disturbing figures. Oxfam accuses the French government of being tight-fisted.  Rony Brauman questions the use of such language of catastrophe and of such numbers being quoted in the media like rabbits being pulled out of a hat.
Haïti : on aid and reconstruction 14 January 2011 Haïti : on aid and reconstruction
Brauman, Rony; Weissman, Fabrice
One year after the earthquake in Port-au-Prince, a number of observers and actors are questioning the international aid : reconstruction is at a standstill, homeless people are still facing the same situation and the deadly cholera epidemic reminds us that international aid has not helped to improve the very poor sanitation system. This assessment, which is also made by Haitians, is a fact beyond dispute. Nevertheless,...
Inequality seriously damages health 06 October 2010 Inequality seriously damages health
Brauman, Rony
The main objective of the United Nations Development Millennium Goals ¬- a consensus if ever there was one - is to end poverty. Wiping out illiteracy, ensuring access to safe drinking water and education, and reducing maternal and child mortality are seemingly unarguable aims. And indeed, one can agree...
15 years later : a UN report confirms the massacre of Rwandan refugees in eastern Congo denounced at the time by Médecins Sans Frontières 01 October 2010 15 years later : a UN report confirms the massacre of Rwandan refugees in eastern Congo denounced at the time by Médecins Sans Frontières
Binet, Laurence
For several weeks now the international press has been announcing the report to be published on 1st October by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) describing the human rights violations in DRC between 1993 and 2003...
UN accuses, and congratulates, Rwanda… 28 September 2010 UN accuses, and congratulates, Rwanda…
Bradol, Jean-Hervé
The United Nations has again raised the question of the implication of the Rwandan Patriotic Front (RPF) - in power in Rwanda since July 1994 - in crimes committed between 1993 and 2003 in the Democratic Republic of Congo. A draft UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (HCHR) report circulating on the Internet is drawing reactions in the press...
UN women : because I'm worth it 17 September 2010 UN women : because I'm worth it
Magone, Claire
UN Women was created in July 2010, after intense negotiations between United Nations member states and women's rights organizations. This new structure will take over the mandates of the four UN organizations heretofore devoted to gender issues . It was created in response to the observation that despite progress in many countries'...
Feeding malnourished children: not so simple! 31 August 2010 Feeding malnourished children: not so simple!
Bradol, Jean-Hervé
Using Niger as an example, this text seeks to explore the dilemmas involved in medical responses to child malnutrition when such malnutrition is endemic (strong, permanent presence) and gives rise to seasonal peaks (epidemics) each year. It is this form of malnutrition that continues to have a major impact on mortality in nearly 40 countries...
Has liberal universalism run its course? 30 July 2010 Has liberal universalism run its course?
Neuman, Michael
The debate over humanitarian intervention is keeping the northeastern US's left wing intelligentsia in a continual stir, torn between its opposition to imperialism and its devotion to human rights. Progressive interventionists aren't at all pleased with the regular reminders by their opponents that, objectively, their position is not all that different from that of the neoconservatives...
R2P and the use of violence for humanitarian ends 17 June 2010 R2P and the use of violence for humanitarian ends
Weissman, Fabrice
Should military forces be dispatched to a foreign country to save its population from massacre, famine, epidemics, or oppression? Debated in the 1990s as the "right or duty to intervene", the application of military might to rescue populations in danger is today debated as the "responsibility to protect"...
Gaza Flotilla : humanitarian or political ? 09 June 2010 Gaza Flotilla : humanitarian or political ?
Brauman, Rony
Was the flotilla boarded by the Israeli army on a "humanitarian" or "political" mission? Is there a "humanitarian crisis" in Gaza or not? The answers to the questions everyone has been asking over the last few days say nothing about the situation itself but do tell us something about the already well-known opinions of those giving them. The issue at stake, of course, is situating the operation...
NATO and the NGOs: honeymoon over 04 May 2010 NATO and the NGOs: honeymoon over
Weissman, Fabrice
On March 3, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen sent a direct appeal to the humanitarian community. Acknowledging the limits of military force - "hard power" - in the stabilization and reconstruction effort in Afghanistan, he wants to create a closer partnership with the NGOs, whom he sees as a key element of NATO's "soft power". The reaction from the NGOs was swift and sharp...  
International Emergency Aid put to the Test in Haiti 31 March 2010 International Emergency Aid put to the Test in Haiti
Bradol, Jean-Hervé
Emotions generated by the brutal and murderous character of a natural disaster are not calmed by the feeling that the victims bear a certain responsibility for the origins of the drama—whether because they are engaged in conflict (war), or poor sanitary or economic practices (epidemics, famines). Claiming, on the public scene, to be an actor responding to a natural disaster, is a way of linking one’s image with that of the ideal victim....
Debate : the end of humanitarianism without borders ? 20 March 2010 Debate : the end of humanitarianism without borders ?
Brauman, Rony
The article written by my friend Christian Troubé, "The end of humanitarianism without borders?", published by Grotius.fr (June 2009 edition), and based on a description of humanitarianism of ‘yesteryear', strikes a cord with many of today's humanitarian figures. But acknowledged historical facts (the cold war, the democratisation of transport, the boom in television) appear alongside some highly debatable points of view. For example, if the instigators of "without borders" really thought that they were informing the world that "human suffering is universal" , then they were more idiots than idealists, more madmen than dreamers....
Haiti Earthquake: What Priorities? 28 January 2010 Haiti Earthquake: What Priorities?
Brauman, Rony
The earthquake that devastated Port-au-Prince and neighboring areas has led to a worldwide surge of solidarity which we must fully appreciate because no country could face such a disaster on this scale alone...
The return of the titans 20 December 2009 The return of the titans
Bradol, Jean-Hervé
The public arena is once again the stage for discourse and undertakings of Titanic proportions. Some endeavour to adjust our planet's thermostat while others devote themselves to wiping out the scourge of disease...
Humanitarian NGOs and the big stick policy 14 December 2009 Humanitarian NGOs and the big stick policy
Brauman, Rony
In January 2009, eight regional and national NGOs got together to create the "International Coalition for the Responsibility to Protect*." The photo on their website's homepage sets the tone: strapping lads in fatigues, surrounding a group of children against a background of tropical vegetation  - an image worthy of the French Army's psychological warfare unit during the "pacification" in Algeria...
Missing : malnourished children in Ethiopia 29 July 2009 Missing : malnourished children in Ethiopia
Jézéquel, Jean-Hervé
In 2008, Southern Ethiopia was the epicentre of a vast nutritional intervention: more than 100,000 malnourished children received assistance from a mix of actors including both international actors and local health facilities. Given the structural factors affecting levels of malnutrition in this part of Ethiopia, most humanitarian actors expected similar problems in 2009...
Long live the (humanitarian) crisis! 22 June 2009 Long live the (humanitarian) crisis!
Brauman, Rony
According to Wikipedia, "a humanitarian crisis is an event or series of events which carry with them a critical threat to the health, safety or wellbeing of a collectivity, usually over a wide area...
Prophylactic holiday in Mexico? 15 June 2009 Prophylactic holiday in Mexico?
Bradol, Jean-Hervé
Influenza A H1N1 is turning into a pandemic. What will the number of cases be, what groups will be the most affected, how virulent will the virus be, and how long will it last?...
Kit Culture 25 May 2009 Kit Culture
Jézéquel, Jean-Hervé
Analyzing the same event from different perspectives is a favourite trick of historians to spice up their narratives. It also works pretty well to describe humanitarian interventions...
 
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