Talking Humanitarianism

Since the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit, localisation, in the form of engaging or empowering local responders to deliver humanitarian assistance, has been firmly on the agenda.

To gain a better understanding of the challenges and ethics of localisation, this discussion explores the dynamics that unfold between local and international actors of humanitarian response. Can humanitarian action remain impartial and neutral when it is localised? Is localisation primarily a moral issue or a political or economic one? How ethically do international donor governments and international humanitarian organisations behave in their relationships with local partner organisations and communities?

Held in September 2023, this is the first in a two-part series on this topic. The speakers involved in the discussion are Kristina Roepstorff (Peace Research Institute Oslo, PRIO), John Ede (Ohaha Family Foundation), Sulagna Maitra (University College Dublin) and Ed Schenkenberg (HERE-Geneva). The roundtable was organised by Kristoffer Lidén (PRIO) and Dennis Dijkzeul (Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, IFHV).

This discussion is part of a series on the ethics of humanitarian action initiated by PRIO and the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies in collaboration with IFHV and the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict. It relates to the project Red Lines and Grey Zones: Exploring the Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiations, led by Kristoffer Lidén at PRIO.

Reflections from outgoing Permanent Representative of the IFRC to the African Union, Mr. Itonde Kakoma, in conversation with Dr. Salla Turunen, International Relations specialist.

In this episode Dr. Salla Turunen and Itonde Kakoma reflect on how the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is situated within the humanitarian landscape, particularly with regards to humanitarian diplomacy. They also discuss multilateral engagement in the context of the establishment of the new African Humanitarian Agency and what this means for the future of humanitarian diplomacy. As Itonde prepares to leave his role with the IFRC and take up the presidency of Interpeace, their conversation then explores the synergies and differences between humanitarian diplomacy and peace diplomacy and mediation.

Itonde Kakoma is a highly experienced practitioner in peace mediation, conflict resolution and humanitarian diplomacy. At the time of recording in September 2023, Itonde was the outgoing Permanent Representative of the IFRC to the African Union and International Organisations, where he also served as the focal point and coordinator for global humanitarian diplomacy at IFRC. From 2 October 2023, Itonde took up the role of President at Interpeace. Prior to the IFRC he has also had roles with CMI — Martti Ahtisaari Peace Foundation, including as its Director for Global Strategy, and with The Carter Center in its Conflict Resolution Program.

Dr. Salla Turunen is an International Relations specialist with a combined practitioner and researcher background with the United Nations. As social science researcher, Salla has published a number of articles on humanitarian diplomacy, which have been widely accessed across scholarly, practitioner and policy audiences. Currently, she is the Manager at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) at its Centre for Women, Peace and Security, and the UKRI GCRF Gender, Justice and Security Hub.

In this episode, humanitarian practitioner and researcher Simon Robins joins Işınsu Acar for a conversation on the shortcomings, boundaries, trends and evolution in the operationalisation of justice within humanitarianism. Based on his broad experience in Africa and Asia relating to humanitarian protection, human rights and transitional justice, Simon provides a detailed account of engagement strategies with traditional actors and offers an interrogation of the tension between local dynamics and global politics over accountability and respect. The episode concludes with a special focus on the case of missing migrants in the Mediterranean.

Simon Robins has spent 15 years as a consultant to United Nations agencies and international NGOs, including UNHCR, UNRWA, UN Women, Save the Children UK, International Committee of the Red Cross, Norwegian Refugee Council, International Organisation for Migration, International Coalition for Sites of Conscience, and International Center for Transitional Justice. Beyond his consultative role in monitoring and evaluation of policy and programs regarding protection and rule of law, Simon researches legacies of violence after conflict and emancipatory approaches driven by victims. Simon is a Senior Research Fellow at the Center for Applied Human Rights at the University of York and a Research Advisor to the Red Cross/Red Crescent Missing Persons Centre.

This episode features a discussion on engaging with the Taliban then and now, and in particular what has the international aid community learned from past experiences and what are the consequences for the Afghan population.

Based on his experience in Afghanistan since 1988 first as a United Nations (UN) aid worker and later as a researcher, ⁠Antoio Donini⁠ discusses the similarities and differences between the current context and international engagement in Afghanistan and what happened over twenty years ago.

Held on 21 April 2023, the roundtable was organised and chaired by Dennis Dijkzeul (Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict) and is the third in a series of discussions on ethics in humanitarian action.

The series is initiated by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies in collaboration with the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) and the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC). It relates to the project Red Lines and Grey Zones: Exploring the Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiations, led by Kristoffer Lidén at PRIO. This discussion is also part of the Theory Lab of the Co-Duties project.

In this episode, independent humanitarian consultant and Senior Fellow at SOAS (University of London’s School of Oriental and African Studies) Marc DuBois is invited to share his reflections on the culture, architecture and politics of humanitarian action. Bringing his expertise in policy, advocacy and humanitarian affairs as a former Director of Médecins sans Frontières-UK (MSF or Doctors Without Borders), Marc shares his thoughts on debates around the humanitarian-development-peace nexus, organisational culture and humanitarian principles and ethics.

As United Nations agencies and international humanitarian NGOs negotiate with the Taliban over the ban on women aid workers, this virtual roundtable explores where to draw red lines for humanitarian aid to Afghanistan.

Ought humanitarian operations be halted in response to the Taliban decree of 24 December 2022? Which new guidelines on this issue from the Afghan authorities would be acceptable? In this roundtable, these questions are explored from an ethical perspective: not asking what is strategic for humanitarian agencies but what is best for the Afghan people all things considered. As such, the roundtable is also an exploration of ethics of humanitarian action in general.

This roundtable is the second in a series of discussions on ethics in humanitarian action. Held on 10 February 2023, the roundtable was organised by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies in collaboration with the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) and the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC). It relates to the project Red Lines and Grey Zones: Exploring the Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiations, led by Kristoffer Lidén at PRIO.

This episode features a roundtable discussion on the principle and practice of humanitarian neutrality during the Syrian civil war since 2011.

Humanitarian operations during the Syrian civil war were subject to much controversy and criticism. This criticism is reflected upon and carefully discussed by Carsten Wieland in his book Syria and the Neutrality Trap: The Dilemmas of Delivering Humanitarian Aid through Violent Regimes (I.B. Tauris, London (UK), 2021). In this roundtable discussion, Carsten Weiland (Diplomat, scholar and author) provides an introduction based on his book, followed by reflections by Anna Cervi (Norwegian Refugee Council) and Emanuela Chiara-Gillard (Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict).

This roundtable is the first in a series of discussions on ethics in humanitarian action. Held on 16 January 2023, the roundtable was organised by the Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO) and the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies in collaboration with the Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict (IFHV) and the Oxford Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict (ELAC). It relates to the project Red Lines and Grey Zones: Exploring the Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiations, led by Kristoffer Lidén at PRIO.

In this fourth and final episode of the Climate Resilient Development and Humanitarianism mini-series, Edwige Marty, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, facilitates a discussion between:

· Halvard Buhaug, a Research Professor at the Peace Research Institute Oslo and a Professor at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology,

· Rahma Hassan, a PhD candidate at the University of Nairobi and University of Copenhagen, and

· Siri Eriksen, Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

Buhaug, Hassan and Eriksen discuss linkages between conflicts, climate change and humanitarian and development responses, changing authority relations affecting pastoral resilience, and the role of research for humanitarianism and climate change.

In this third episode of the Climate Resilient Development and Humanitarianism mini-series, Edwige Marty, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences meets with Jackson Wachira, a PhD candidate at the University of Nairobi. They examine the historic realities and enduring narratives on the arid and semi-arid lands in Kenya, the changing conflicts and livelihoods dynamics in Samburu, which are affecting humanitarian and climate change efforts, and the importance of research in deconstructing bias and evaluating whether responses are working or not and for whom.

In this second episode of the Climate Resilient Development and Humanitarianism mini-series, Edwige Marty, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, explores recurring difficulties in operationalising inclusive long-term climate change programmes and humanitarian responses in Turkana, Kenya with Dennis Ochieng Ong’ech. Ochieng Ong’ech is the Turkana observatory coordinator for the REACH programme, a joint initiative between the University of Nairobi and Oxford University, and PhD candidate at the University of Nairobi. 

The discussion explores emerging climate financing initiatives and the continued need for research in areas where the evidence base remains limited.

In this first episode of the Climate Resilient Development and Humanitarianism mini-series, Edwige Marty, a PhD candidate at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences, explores the concept of climate resilient development together with Siri Eriksen, a Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences and a lead author in the IPCC Sixth Assessment report, Working Group II. 

Eriksen explains how dimensions of climate resilient development, such as ecosystem stewardship, knowledge diversity, equity and justice and inclusion, can help us reconsider current and future humanitarian responses. 

Marty then discusses local humanitarian and development realities with Steiner Sempeta, a community leader from Olkiramatian, a Maasai communal land in Kajiado county, southern Kenya. The discussion emphasises the need for responses to include different sets of stakeholders, and their knowledges, as well as the need for long-term investments to support livelihoods.

What does it mean to move beyond the humanitarian grain? In this episode, Elena Fiddian-Qasmiyeh, Professor of Migration and Refugee Studies at the University College London, delivers the NCHS Annual Lecture titled ‘Against the humanitarian grain’ at the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies Annual Conference, held in Bergen on 4 November 2022.

In her lecture, Fiddian-Qasmiyeh proposes moving beyond, or even against, what she conceptualises as “the humanitarian grain”, including by exploring what can be gained both analytically and in practical terms by setting aside the ‘humanitarian frame’, and instead focusing on multi-scalar responses to displacement.

Fiddian-Qasmiyeh suggests that displacing the humanitarian (thereby setting aside questions of labelling, geopolitical hegemony and even the quest for a genealogical recognition of the plurality of humanitarianisms) provides a critical opportunity to critically ‘rethink refugee response’.

Now the world has moved out of a liberal international order, where does that leave humanitarianism? In this episode, Michael Barnett, University Professor at George Washington University, delivers the keynote address titled ‘Humanitarianism in a post-liberal age’ to open the Norwegian Centre for Humanitarian Studies Annual Conference, held in Bergen on 4 November 2022.

In his address, Barnett argues that humanitarianism was already exiting the liberal international order starting at the turn of this century, as the forces of destruction shifted from a liberal peace to securitisation; the forces of production from development to marketisation; and the forces of compassion from human rights to bounded cosmopolitanism. Where does humanitarianism go from here?

What role do communities play in accessing energy in humanitarian settings? In this fourth episode of the Humanitarianism and Transitions to a Low-Carbon Future miniseries Ekatherina Zhukova, Senior Lecturer at Lund University in Sweden, and Long Seng To, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Development and Joint-Director of the Centre for Sustainable Transitions: Energy, Environment & Resilience (STEER) at the Loughborough University in the United Kingdom, discuss how the concept of “community energy resilience” can help bring attention to a human dimension of an otherwise technical world of energy access in humanitarian crises.

Based on To’s extensive work experience in several countries in Africa and Asia, they ponder the importance of co-designing humanitarian energy systems with displaced people themselves and other stakeholders. Zhukova and To also explore how the cluster system of humanitarian response operates in the absence of energy clusters and what meanings different communities affected by crisis across the globe assign to energy resilience.

What is humanitarian energy and how does it operate in the contexts of displacement? In this third episode of the Humanitarianism and Transitions to a Low-Carbon Future miniseries, Ekatherina Zhukova, Senior Lecturer at Lund University in Sweden, and Sarah Rosenberg-Jansen, Research Fellow at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, explore the current state of access to electricity in humanitarian settings and who the providers of energy to refugees are. 

Based on Rosenberg-Jansen’s academic and practitioner work at the international NGO Practical Action, the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), and the Global Platform for Action for Sustainable Energy Solutions in Situations of Displacement (GPA), this episode discusses how humanitarian organisations are not the main providers of energy access in displacement contexts, but rather the main providers are refugees themselves through local markets and the private sector. Zhukova and Rosenberg-Jansen also explore possible radical options and progressive pathways for humanitarian energy action and the differences in energy provision during short-term and long-term displacement.

How does energy politics work in conflict-affected states? In this second episode of the Humanitarianism and Transitions to a Low-Carbon Future miniseries, Ekatherina Zhukova, Senior Lecturer at Lund University in Sweden, and Kristin Doughty, Associate Professor of Anthropology at University of Rochester in the United States, discuss the competing perceptions of environmental risk in conflict-affected states and the possibilities of a “do nothing scenario” in the face of a collateral damage to the local population.

Based on Doughty’s collaborative work with Elyseé Uwimana and Dieudonné Uwizeye on the methane gas extraction from the Lake Kivu in Rwanda, this episode explores the concept of “Green Extractive Humanitarianism” which helps reveal the tension between the necessity of providing people with electricity and the continuation of extracting natural resources in the Global South. Zhukova and Doughty also discuss the importance of longitudinal ethnography and how understanding energy politics in the Global South can help us better comprehend the workings of energy in the Global North.

How do we comprehend and act upon environmental destruction beyond reason? In this first episode of the Humanitarianism and Transitions to a Low-carbon Future miniseries, Ekatherina Zhukova, Senior Lecturer at Lund University in Sweden, and David Bond, Associate Director of the Center for the Advancement of Public Action at Bennington College in the United States, discuss the limitations of the concepts of environmental justice and ontological utopia in our understanding of the ability of the state and polluting industries to address the ecological crisis.

Based on Bond’s newly published book Negative Ecologies: Fossil Fuels and the Discovery of the Environment with University of California Press in 2022, they explore the alternative concept of negative ecologies and the possibilities it offers to comprehend the scale of environmental destruction and to provide adequate responses to it right now. Zhukova and Bond also discuss the importance of bridging academic theory with the everyday life experiences of destruction and the struggle for justice by frontline communities.

Should existing models of community resilience be challenged? In this fourth and final episode of the Intersecting Vulnerabilities in Humanitarian Disasters miniseries, Roberto Barrios, Professor of Anthropology at the University of New Orleans shares his experiences conducting research in hurricane affected areas of Honduras with Ekatherina Zhukova, Researcher at Lund University, and explains how his findings question existing models of community resilience.

In this extended episode, Zhukova and Barrios also discuss disasters as moments of community emergence, how communities change over the course of a disaster and the internal and external factors that influence why one community may recover after a disaster and another does not.

How do we conceptualise vulnerability in the context of humanitarian disasters? In this third episode of the Intersecting Vulnerabilities in Humanitarian Disasters miniseries, Ekatherina Zhukova, Researcher at Lund University in Sweden, and Andrew Littlejohn, Assistant Professor at the Institute of Cultural Anthropology and Development Sociology of Leiden University in the Netherlands discuss shifting our understanding of vulnerability to locate responsibility not in people, but with societal institutions and systems that produce vulnerability of particular places or people.

Zhukova and Littlejohn also discuss shifting our thinking about humanitarian disaster responses from a one size fits all approach to emphasise bottom-up processes, where we begin with ethnography and investigation to understand the worlds of the people we are trying to help before dictating how their world is to be reconstructed.

What are the different roles and perspectives of humanitarian researchers and practitioners when it comes to disasters and how are these converging? In this second episode of the Intersecting Vulnerabilities in Humanitarian Disasters miniseries, Ekatherina Zhukova, Researcher at Lund University in Sweden, and Zuzana Hrdlickova, Senior Researcher at Sierra Leone Urban Research Centre and humanitarian practitioner, explore humanitarian disasters through the lens of both humanitarian researchers and practitioners.

Zhukova and Hrdlickova also discuss the similarities and differences between disasters and conflicts, as well as the concept of disaster vulnerability and how this relates to both precarity and informality.

What role does anthropology play in our understanding of humanitarian disasters? In this first episode of the Intersecting Vulnerabilities in Humanitarian Disasters miniseries, Ekatherina Zhukova, Researcher at Lund University in Sweden, and Alicia Sliwinski, Associate Professor of Global Studies at Wilfrid Laurier University in Canada, discuss the tools anthropology offers in addressing issues regarding development, humanitarianism, and disasters. Zhukova and Sliwinski explore concepts such as moral economy, disaster vulnerability and the notion of the ‘gift’.