Humanitarian action - the compassion of peoples and states

By Mark Cutts | Tuesday, 19 August 2014

This week we celebrated World Humanitarian Day on August 19. This is the day the United Nations, the Red Cross Movement and other humanitarian organisations celebrate the many humanitarian acts that take place in the disasters and armed conflicts that cause so much suffering in our world.

This is also a day on which the UN remembers the courage of humanitarian workers who have died while carrying out their work. In 2013, a total of 155 humanitarian workers were killed while doing humanitarian work, with the highest death rates in Afghanistan and Syria.

In recent years, Myanmar has seen large humanitarian operations responding to Cyclone Nargis, the armed conflict in Kachin and the ongoing crisis in Rakhine. Each of these has involved life-saving aid provided by the government of Myanmar, the Myanmar Red Cross, national NGOs and international humanitarian agencies.

But the destruction of international aid agency property in Sittwe in March this year shows clearly that humanitarian aid can be controversial and contested. Compassion is not as simple as it sounds. This is not only true in Myanmar but in most emergencies around the world.

Humanitarian action is urgent emergency aid to save people's lives and protect them in extreme situations. It is different from long-term development aid that addresses the root causes of poverty to build healthy, well-educated, fair and prosperous societies. In the last twenty years, the global budget for humanitarian aid has grown dramatically.

In 2014, the UN is appealing for US$17.1 billion for 108 million people around the world in need of emergency aid.

In Myanmar, this year's appeal is for $192 million to help 421,000 people. Nearly 75 percent of humanitarian funding usually comes from governments, and 25pc is donated by individuals around the world.

At least 96pc of humanitarian workers are nationals of the countries concerned. They are not international staff but compassionate people helping their fellow citizens.

In the United Nations and the Red Cross Movement, national governments have affirmed the importance of a global system of emergency response. Well-organised humanitarian action is recognised as an international political priority.

All states recognise the need for fair and effective humanitarian aid if they are to help one another meet the challenge of a rising number of large-scale disasters caused by floods and cyclones, and the persistence of fierce conflicts that kill, starve and displace millions of civilians each year.

The legal basis of humanitarian aid is grounded in the UN Charter's commitment to "the dignity and worth of the human person and the equal rights of men and women and of nations large and small".

This political commitment is spelt out in a range of UN legal standards that focus on the protection of refugees, women, children and displaced people.

In armed conflicts, governments recognise the importance of humanitarian action in the laws of the Geneva Conventions developed by States with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). These Conventions aim to limit the violence of war, to protect civilians from deliberate suffering and attack, and to provide neutral and impartial humanitarian aid wherever it is needed.

UN agencies like the UN World Food Programme , the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, the United Nations Childrens' Fund and the World Health Organisation are mandated by states to lead international humanitarian response alongside the Red Cross and many international non-governmental organisations like Medecins Sans Frontieres and Oxfam.

Typically, international organisations work closely with the health and welfare ministries of governments, with affected people, and in partnership with the increasing number of local community based organisations in countries suffering conflict and disaster.

The beating heart of all these international laws and humanitarian agencies is the moral principle of humanity, from where humanitarian aid takes its name. This is the universal belief in compassion, which is so strong in Buddhism and found in all religions.

It also drives the modern secular concern for human rights. The principle of humanity is the wisdom that our greatest obligation is to love each other and show kindness to those who need our help because, like us, they are human beings who experience the suffering of this world.

Humanitarian action in disasters and conflicts is guided by three other principles: impartiality, neutrality and independence. These were formulated by the Red Cross movement in 1965 and have now been adopted by the United Nations in the humanitarian policies of the General Assembly and Security Council. Humanitarian work must always be guided by need and compassion, not by political interest.

The growing global system of humanitarian aid is not perfect. It is rightly criticised sometimes for being excessively Western, imperious, disorganised, insensitive and interfering.

People in many parts of the world see white Toyotas driving through their villages without really understanding what they do. They see some people getting well-paid jobs with UN agencies and NGOs while others remain poor. In conflicts, people are often profoundly suspicious that humanitarian agencies have taken sides and are favouring their enemies.

These criticisms mean that humanitarian action must be actively discussed and negotiated in every society affected by disaster and conflict. Aid cannot be imposed by international agencies but must be delivered in consultation with government and the affected populations.

Transparency is important in humanitarian work. National government and local civil society have every right to call humanitarian programs to account. Humanitarian work needs to be disciplined, professional and fair.

But government and civil society have a responsibility to respect humanitarian action when it is acting fairly and effectively. Humanity, impartiality, neutrality and independence are international principles affirmed by governments. If an agency is abiding by them in its work then its operations must not be deliberately obstructed or manipulated by political agendas.

It is an extraordinary international achievement that humanitarian aid can now reach any man, woman or child suffering in disaster or armed conflict almost anywhere in the world.

The system is not perfect but it continues to develop as part of the world's emerging global governance. Humanitarian agencies are often rightly challenged about the way they work. They will improve through a responsible conversation with the societies in which they work.

In this conversation, all parties must hold firm to the fundamental principle of humanity. This recognises that we are all human beings who suffer and need help at different times.

In Myanmar, such humanitarian compassion will need to be sustained while new political arrangements are gradually agreed and peace is carefully made.

Mark Cutts is the Head of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Myanmar

This article originally appeared in the Myanmar Times