op 18 front pages-converted - The Watson Institute for International ...

The illustrations and confusions dramatize the importance
of conceptual clarity about the nature of the humanitarian
enterprise. In a highly politicized setting in which various
parties sought to delimit or expand the prevailing definition of
what was considered humanitarian to suit their own purposes,
the concept itself became embroiled in the conflicts and
contributed to the prevailing animosity. A lack of clarity and
consistency within the U.N. system played into the often
intentional confusion and undercut the effectiveness of humanitarian
responses. While such confusion frequently attends
humanitarian activities in armed conflict settings, as
other studies in the Humanitarianism and War Project series
have demonstrated, the difficulties were more crippling here.
2. Deciding among Priorities
Once the humanitarian task had been defined, the U.N.
faced some hard choices about priorities. In fact, the problems
encountered in defining the humanitarian task also demonstrated
the challenge of establishing the priority of relief
relative to other important activities.
As an illustration of the difficulties encountered in striking
an appropriate balance within the U.N.’s relief program,
we review the social services made available to war-affected
civilian populations. As an illustration of the difficulties of
striking a balance between relief activities and other humanitarian
functions, we examine rehabilitation efforts. The challenge
of establishing a balance between humanitarian assistance
in all forms and protection of human rights is reviewed
in section 3.
Relief and Social Services
Displacement and disruption on the traumatic scale of the
former Yugoslavia generated a widespread need for social
services. Responsibility for providing these services rested
with UNHCR as lead agency, whose terms of reference included
prime responsibility for community services, including
support to war victims. Other agencies involved were
WHO, which was also to provide support to war victims, and
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