Shifting Parameters of Humanitarian Emergencies

Abstract

AbstractChapter 15 examines some of the ways in which the category of ‘humanitarian emergency’ has expanded and what that has meant for the goals pursued under the rubric of humanitarianism and the means and methods used to pursue them. It first argues that, as international humanitarian agencies devote an increasing share of their efforts to protracted crises, they have also expanded their goals beyond the emergency present and the boundary between humanitarianism and development is frequently blurred. Second, the chapter outlines the urban turn in international humanitarian response and argues that, here, we see a blurring of the boundaries between humanitarianism and development and of those between humanitarianism and peace-building. Third, the chapter considers how some international humanitarian agencies are working on ‘home’ territory in Europe, where they often seek to limit their role as direct providers of assistance, instead emphasizing advocacy, and sometimes compromising their commitments to neutrality as they demand significant policy changes. Finally, the chapter turns to the efforts of international humanitarian agencies to support migrants, arguing that advocacy also plays a central role here both as part of a strategy to pressurize authorities to meet their obligations and also as a means by which humanitarian actors seek to avoid complicity with the very structures (securitized border control, immigration detention, etc.) that are causing suffering.