More with Less: Disasters in an Era of Diminishing Resources

Introduction

| 1 | Humanitarian workers, if they are to be effective, must be realists. They deal every day with the cruel facts of human suffering, and no amount of rhetoric can alleviate pain or provide sustenance in times of widespread natural or man-made crises. This book reflects the reality that resources available for disaster preparedness and disaster response have been seriously diminished by the current global economic recession.1 It documents the evolution of global philanthropy, while also examining alternative methods to reduce costs through better preventive programs and suggesting potential sources for additional future funding for relief operations. It is not unrealistic for international humanitarian workers to believe that we can do More with Less. Humanitarian assistance is a discipline that attracts men and women who, in often terrible situations, continue to strive for a better world. They have dreams and visions, values and traditions, that have not been suppressed by many earlier challenges. In fact, improvements in disaster prevention and response have often come because of adversity. These improvements—the establishment of accepted standards for health, shelter, food, protection, human rights, education, a code of ethics for workers, and an emerging body of human rights and humanitarian law—have all been realized by learning lessons from past humanitarian missions. They have also, very significantly, been accomplished without abandoning the noble principles of independence, neutrality, and impartiality that are the foundation for our work. INTRODUCTION KEVIN M. CAHILL, M.D. One of the main dangers ahead, it seems to me, is that this very foundation may be destroyed in the name of bureaucratic efficiency and fiscal concerns. If the special role of international humanitarian work is not recognized then it will quickly be subordinated to military and political forces, especially in complex humanitarian crises and con- flict situations. It is that concern that motivated me to ask leaders in different disciplines to reflect on how we can do More with Less, and do it in a way that preserves the integrity of international humanitarian assistance. This book is intended to be a lasting part of the legacy of the President of the United Nations General Assembly (PGA), Sixty-Sixth Session . The PGA, H.E. Nassir Abdulaziz al Nasser, is the senior person in the world’s ultimate diplomatic organization. It is in his honor, therefore , that I begin this text by considering the essential role of the United Nations (UN) in managing disasters. When the UN Charter was drafted in 1945, there was but a single mention of humanitarian affairs. Maybe understandably, in the terrible afterglow of World War II, the Charter focused on human rights and the prevention of conflict. The Charter has, as its foundation, the sovereignty of Member States. International humanitarian action often necessitates cross-border activities in order to offer relief for victims. For that reason, humanitarians also contend that their work warrants respect for a neutral—as opposed to political—space in which they can provide impartial assistance to all in need. There seems to be an inherent conflict in these views on sovereignty (at least as understood at the birth of the UN) and on intervention (as based on evolving concepts of the obligations of a State toward its citizens ). I shall return to this later. Suffice it to note here that the full history of the UN is, fortunately, far more nuanced than the words of the Charter. While the Charter is almost silent on humanitarian assistance, the deeds of the organization speak for themselves. UN-led relief operations actually predate the final signing of the Charter. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Agency (UNRRA) was its first major international operation, offering critical help across the destroyed landscape of Europe, addressing hunger and other needs of refugees as 2 | Kevin M. Cahill, M.D. World War II was winding down. When the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was founded in 1946, the “E” stood for Emergency, signifying its orientation to assist children anywhere, even across con- flicted borders. Later,in1949,theUnitedNationsReliefandWorksAgency(UNRWA) was created to serve some 780,000 Palestine refugees who had been displaced in camps across a half-dozen countries. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established in 1950 to deal with refugees fleeing as the Iron Curtain descended over Eastern Europe. As the Cold War ended, and international attention could be focused on the former proxy states...