Abstract
This contribution discusses whether humanitarian aid is a suitable tool for expressing global solidarity in the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on the distinction between the concepts of humanitarianism and solidarity, as well as the example of the so-called “refugee crisis,” it provides a mixed answer: humanitarian aid and solidarity are, principally, different things, hardly comparable and, at times, even contradictory. However, the corona pandemic presents an opportunity for localization of humanitarian aid, which is an opportunity for greater solidarity with those most in need. To make humanitarian aid a real tool for expressing global solidarity, one would have to regard the recipients of aid as equals and strengthen their agency, as well as that of local and grassroots organizations in the most affected areas - much as the localization agenda demands.
Highlights
Europe and the United States have been struggling with high COVID-19 infections and deaths during the past one and a half years
The localization agenda has shaped discussions since the 2016 UN World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul. It is inadequately conceptualized what localization and “the local” means (Roepstorff, 2020), it inspired a broad debate about how the local could be integrated in policy-making and implementation: while some critical assessments question the desirability of localization (Schenkenberg, 2016), the localization agenda has mainly raised hopes for a less hierarchic and patriarchic relationship between donors and receivers of aid
Localization requires humanitarian assistance to be increasingly delivered by organizations or affected people in disaster-prone regions of the Global South themselves, as it is assumed that their actions are more accepted and they can better anticipate the effects of their actions through local expertise
Summary
Managing Director of the Peace Academy Rhineland-Palatinate at the University of Koblenz-Landau, Landau, Germany. This contribution discusses whether humanitarian aid is a suitable tool for expressing global solidarity in the COVID-19 pandemic. The corona pandemic presents an opportunity for localization of humanitarian aid, which is an opportunity for greater solidarity with those most in need. To make humanitarian aid a real tool for expressing global solidarity, one would have to regard the recipients of aid as equals and strengthen their agency, as well as that of local and grassroots organizations in the most affected areas - much as the localization agenda demands
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