Bridging the Gap Between Intentions and Outcomes in Military Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Relief Missions

Abstract

AbstractThe principles of dignity, participation and stewardship feature prominently in humanitarian ethics. Thus, critical considerations by individuals leading military Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief (HADR) missions should include whether the mission is sustainable, and whether it allows and encourages citizen decision-making and active involvement in the recovery process. Through the combination of the haste to provide aid, and the dominant narratives, culture and traditions inherent to military forces, however, I argue that military actors are often either unaware of these considerations or fail to incorporate them into their response. The result is that the provision of military aid, while beneficial in the immediate short term, often neither strengthens local capacities nor aligns with the longer-term needs and desires of disaster-affected citizens. In exploring the delta between these well-defined humanitarian principles and what military planners and commanders achieve, I retrospectively examine aspects of the 2010 Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) HADR mission in Haiti. Through so doing, I demonstrate the potential impacts of military HADR missions on the decision-making capacity and active involvement of disaster-affected citizens in the recovery processKeywordsHumanitarian assistance disaster reliefCanadian armed forcesDisasterMilitary operationsAccountabilityEmpowermentHealthcareLeadershipHaiti