Word: humanitarianism
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...world is sorely in need of humanitarian aid these days, what with a global recession deepening every day and numerous conflicts raging. But as the number of aid workers operating across the globe has soared - more than doubling over the past decade to a record 290,000 people last year - so too have attacks against them, according to a report published Wednesday by the London-based think tank Overseas Development Institute...
...sharp increase in the number of attacks over the past few years has jolted aid officials, some of whom are wondering whether they might soon be driven out of conflict areas altogether. "Vast parts of Sudan, Somalia and Afghanistan are without humanitarian assistance because it has become too dangerous to operate there," says Peter Buth of the emergency team of Médicins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Holland. "It is incredibly frustrating." The surge in attacks, says the ODI report, "highlights the dearth of viable options to keep staff secure in the most volatile contexts, where humanitarian...
...jackings, death threats and assaults continue to mount, organizations such as Oxfam and Médicins Sans Frontières have scrambled to tighten their security operations in dangerous missions, by corralling their staff into guarded complexes ringed with barbed wire, for example, and pooling intelligence with other humanitarian groups. Still, the new tactics offer no guarantees against well-armed foes. "The attacks have much more to do with the aid workers' status, rather than because they have assets or cash on hand," says Adele Harmer, research associate for the Humanitarian Policy Group at ODI and one of the authors...
...crimes indictment to Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir - its first for a sitting head of state. Enraged at what he claimed was a Western attack on his presidency, Bashir expelled 13 aid organizations operating in conflict-ravaged Darfur in Western Sudan, perhaps the world's most complex humanitarian disaster at the moment, with millions dead or driven from their homes. MSF Belgium was permitted to stay in the area, but their staff, more isolated after the explusions, found themselves more vulnerable to attack. (The kidnapped aid workers, who included an Italian doctor, a Canadian nurse and a French coordinator...
...blockade on Gaza. Do you agree? We've got to change this policy on Gaza. It doesn't work. Hamas gets what they want through the tunnels and civil society is put at a disadvantage. We've got to help the people in Gaza. I'd like to see humanitarian help in its broadest sense going in - that's not just food and fuel but also help in rebuilding infrastructure and houses. The Israelis obviously are concerned about anything that might have a security implication. But we have to distinguish between what is a security risk [for the Israelis...