Humanitarian Relief
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There Should be a FailBlog for Peace and Humanitarianism
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Craft of Emergency Nutrition, Food Aid, and Livelihoods Evolving Amid Obstacles
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Heretical Thoughts
ICRC Visits Taliban Prisoners for First Time Since 2001
Published December 16, 2009 @ 06:36AM PT
Not Taliban fighters held by NATO or Afghan security forces --prisoners of the Taliban.
Yesterday, the International Committee of the Red Cross revealed that it had gained access to prisoners in Taliban custody for the first time since the current phase of Afghanistan's long-running war began in late 2001.
Three Afghan security personnel held by the Taliban in Badghis province received a visit by an ICRC team at the end of November. In a statement released Tuesday, the ICRC hailed the visit as a breakthrough. "We plan to conduct and repeat visits in other regions and hope to visit people held by other armed opposition groups, with the aim of ensuring that everyone detained in relation to the armed conflict is treated humanely," said Reto Stocker, the ICRC chief in Kabul.
Peacemaking in Guinea Now Could Prevent Downward Spiral
Published December 10, 2009 @ 06:05AM PT
Let us applaud the pro-active efforts of the African Union leadership, as well as the work of US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State William Fitzgerald, for stepping in to mitigate conflict in the West African nation of Guinea-Conakry.
And let us press on for a greater effort not only to designate stable leadership, but also to empower the peaceful indigenous leaders, democrats, and minority groups to be part of the process of re-creating the government.
This past week someone inside the Guinea junta authority apparently tried to kill its leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara, who came to power only last December. Early last year, the country appeared stable, but in September when Camara reneged on promises of electoral process, crowds protested his rule. Soldiers called in to squash the protests killed and abused dozens. This led to retaliatory attacks and crackdowns. The country is on edge.
Here's a good Reuters story, looking forward, which reminds humanitarians that if the international community and domestic peacebuilders act now, they may be able to saves thousands of lives later.
[Photo: Guinea-Conakry, Martapiqs]
Another Aidworker Victim of Chechnya's Kidnapping Epidemic
Published December 06, 2009 @ 12:35PM PT
Chechnya's war is over, says the Russian government. It has been pacified. The means were illiberal and often brutal, but they got the job done. That is, essentially, the official line --one that is increasingly out of sync with reality.
After a brief period of relative calm under the repressive rule of Moscow-backed rebel-turned-president Ramzan Kadyrov, Chechnya is now experiencing a sharp uptick in violence, and so is the rest of the North Caucasus. One of the most chilling features of the deteriorating security in the region is the epidemic of assassinations and enforced disappearances, an epidemic that has not left the humanitarian community untouched. Zarema Gaisanova, a logisitician for the Danish Refugee Council, is the fourth aidworker to be forcibly disappeared or killed in Chechnya in the last five months, and the details of her kidnapping five weeks ago follow a chillingly familiar script.
Can USAID Nom Rajiv Shah Lead Progressive Foreign Aid Reform in Time of War?
Published December 02, 2009 @ 02:15AM PT
Rajiv Shah, the nominee to serve as US Director of Foreign Assistance and USAID Administrator, has the presence of a research hospital surgical intern. He's very much a progressive, public health guru, like someone you'd meet through friends at a Dupont Circle, Soho, or Seattle, martini night or coffee. He's young and vital and attractive and honest and really knows food security, development theory, and systems management. An MD, health economist, Gore campaign advisor, director at the Gates Foundation, then five months this year as head scientist and leader of food security policy at the US Department of Agriculture - he's got a fantastic background for a leading role in foreign aid.
But is he the creative, wise, and persuasive world leader we need to pilot urgent, dramatic reform of US foreign assistance while America fights alongside aid efforts in Afghanistan, Somalia, the Philippines, Somalia, and, beyond? If not, and he is confirmed, how can the forces for progressive change help him become that great leader, not just correcting the course in conflict areas, but globally?
'Girl': Is the New MSF Video Good Social Advertising?
Published November 20, 2009 @ 12:03PM PT
Back in August, the humanitarian and international development blogosphere slogged it out over a controversial video from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) UK. The video, titled 'Boy,' featured a stark image of a small, clay house in an unnamed warzone, with audio of a child's pained screams. It never aired. MSF deliberately released the video online to provoke responses. And provoke it did, from overwhelmed sadness, to outrage, to furious accusations of sensationalism and exploitation, to passionate defenses of MSF's endorsement of the video --and, in the case of one blogger roundtable discussion, all of those reactions.
MSF UK's communications team handled the deluge with the skill of a true social media professionals, engaging their critics, and even linking to them.
For my part in the melee, I argued that MSF does emergency medical relief, so it is entirely appropriate for its ads to highlight that. MSF is not CARE, or even the International Rescue Committee. Even outside active conflict zones, MSF employees work with blood and guts and human goo all day, treating badly injured, ill, and malnourished people during what are surely among the most desperate moments of those patients’ lives. On the operating table, no one is empowered. And we're all made of the same breakable stuff. A campaign featuring nothing but resilient, empowered beneficiaries (such as CARE's widely-praised “I Am Powerful”) does not make sense in this context, while a disturbing one that shocks the viewer’s conscience does.
Take Action: Call on UN to Prevent Civilian Killings in Eastern Congo
Published November 20, 2009 @ 08:00AM PT
Our esteemed Humanitarian Relief (now War and Peace) blogger, Michael Kleinman, who's on break, introduced us to Oisteen Thorsen, a humanitarian campaigner with Oxfam. Led by Oxfam, one of the most respected and trusted names in the aid biz, partners are working to advise positive change to policy on Congo at the UN. Ten years of UN peacekeeping so far. Please see the video and sign the petition this week. Here's Oisteen's intro:
"...Oxfam with partners are currently running a petition calling on the UN Security Council to stop the killings of civilians in Eastern Congo by the UN-supported Congolese army operation Kimia II. We will be handing over the petition to the Security Council next week (Nov 24th) so this is the last push to get more people to sign on... http://apps.facebook.com/causes/petitions/306 or http://www.oxfam.org/en/emergencies/congo/stop-killing-in-congo. please also see this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3cJbJcd104."
[Photo: UN Peacekeepers on patrol in Congo DR, UN Photo.]
Protect Displaced Families on the Northern Yemen Front
Published November 13, 2009 @ 09:00PM PT
Yemeni rebels, Zaidi Shiites known for their allegiance to the Houthi clan, continue battling the Yemen government over a dispute which began about what level of power Zaidi Shiite clerics were to have in government. After weeks of fighting which caused at least 150,000 people to flee for their safety in and around Saada, northern Yemen, the conflict then spilled over into Saudi Arabia last week.
Recently I got a note from an aid agency representative working there illuminating how desperate the situation has become. With the rapid Saudi military response, the Houthu rebels apparently have retreated back into Yemen. But now Saudi defense asserts its right to continue fighting against the Houthi militia, into Yemen in alliance with the Yemeni government, until the rebels remain outside of a border buffer region...
