Brown Cover OP 43 - The Watson Institute for International Studies

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placed may cause conflict with nearby host populations that are also impoverished. Where assistance is delivered in a balanced way, conflict of this kind may be avoided. Aid procedures that fail to prevent diversion or theft of supplies by the belligerents may sustain or widen the military struggle. In the third phase of conflict—after hostilities have ended— emergency and transitional assistance may help stabilize society, restore relations between communities, and reconstruct peaceful mechanisms for dispute resolution. This assistance, however, also may have the opposite effect. With regard to the links between humanitarian action and conflict, the challenges are to stabilize cease-fires, forge durable peace agreements, and implement agreements in a way that reduces the possibility of war. Although these are essentially political tasks, humanitarian actors may impinge upon them in important ways. At the national level, humanitarian and related activity can inhibit the political process and increase the probability of fresh hostilities. At the local level, communities previously at war need to be knit back together into a cohesive whole, a challenging task in contemporary conflicts that often target civilian populations. Humanitarian and political actors are faced not merely with a destitute population but with deeply embittered communities bearing personal grievances toward those with whom they are supposed to live. As one group of analysts stated, Violence and the damage it inflicts sharpen and entrench polarities in society. This intensifies insecurity, hatred, reprisals and revenge, all of which strengthen the ‘conflict history’ of inter-group relations. 30 The focus of this study is on the impact of humanitarian action in the active conflict and post-conflict stages. 31 Conclusion To answer the questions raised above, the study relies in the first instance on the data accumulated in previous case studies of the Humanitarianism and War Project. These are a rich mine for general comparative lessons about various themes in huxvi
manitarian action, including those relating to the interaction between humanitarianism and conflict. This study also draws upon analyses of other significant humanitarian emergencies in the effort to develop a comprehensive understanding of the topic. The particular focus is on complex emergencies in the Caucasus, the former Yugoslavia, Central Africa, and Central America. In developing general propositions and in identifying institutional learning in this area, context is very important. Each humanitarian emergency has its own nature. Methods that work in one emergency may not be appropriate in another. The effort uncritically to apply templates derived from previous experience to different circumstances can be disastrous. The purpose here is not to develop model practices for dealing with the relationship between humanitarian action and conflict, but to identify and analyze recurrent problems and to discuss how agencies in various environments have sought to cope with them. The first—analyzing recurrent problems—may be useful for humanitarian actors seeking to come to grips with the conflict connection for themselves. The second—how agencies have sought to cope with these problems—may provide raw material for the effort to develop sensitive approaches to the impact of humanitarian action on conflict. xvii
Page 1 and 2: THOMAS J. WATSON JR. INSTITUTE FOR
Page 3 and 4: Occasional Paper #43 HUMANITARIAN A
Page 5: CONTENTS Foreword by Larry Minear .
Page 8 and 9: able. At the same time, he finds hu
Page 10 and 11: design. Recent practice suggests pr
Page 12 and 13: I am always tempted to reply that
Page 14 and 15: Other writers have echoed the same
Page 16 and 17: sures be contained. The formation o
Page 21 and 22: CHAPTER 1 HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE Th
Page 23 and 24: women and children, but he insisted
Page 25 and 26: medicine than could be absorbed by
Page 27 and 28: diverting relief assistance intende
Page 29 and 30: The conflict-prolonging effect was
Page 31 and 32: supplies are needed for military pu
Page 33 and 34: CHAPTER 2 THE CONFLICT CONNECTION T
Page 35 and 36: transship illicit goods like narcot
Page 37 and 38: the troops as their logistics line
Page 39 and 40: Similar questions arise from the ca
Page 41 and 42: opposite effect. However, this conc
Page 43 and 44: shortfalls and modify its negotiati
Page 45 and 46: of aid imbalances favoring the refu
Page 47 and 48: MSF was confronted with displaced L
Page 49 and 50: Some donors—the United States was
Page 51: ties. In some cases belligerents ma
Page 54 and 55: for belligerents. The capacity of b
Page 56 and 57: support humanitarian operations wit
Page 58 and 59: In an indication of how difficult i
Page 60 and 61: antagonism. The key appears to be k
Page 63 and 64: CHAPTER 4 HUMANITARIAN ACTION AND C
Page 65 and 66: of a new police force and army, and
Page 67 and 68: provided additional resources rapid
Page 69 and 70:
accords in Guatemala made the flow
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occurred in the absence of the inte
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work Agreement]—the return of dis
Page 75 and 76:
tance of coordination of policy amo
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lines in this area. The Japanese, C
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UNDP operation, became involved in
Page 81 and 82:
on conflict. Similar institutional
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CHAPTER 5 CONCLUSION This monograph
Page 85 and 86:
would have happened in the absence
Page 87 and 88:
ut because the principal impacts ar
Page 89 and 90:
NOTES Introduction 1. Clare Short,
Page 91 and 92:
International Capabilities for Prev
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children through the International
Page 95 and 96:
Forum, ICRC, Geneva, June 1998, 4.
Page 97 and 98:
30. As quoted in Philip Gourevitch,
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Chapter 4 1. Michael Pugh has descr
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Conflict (Paris: OECD DAC Informal
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APPENDIX I ACRONYMS BRC CIDA CIS Co
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APPENDIX II RESOURCES FOR FURTHER R
Page 108 and 109:
action and peacekeeping, and the ro
Page 110:
WIIS • 2 Stimson Ave. • Brown U
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