For many years I have been involved in fields of work that look different but which in fact converge: humanitarian action, politics, and public health. In all three areas I have promoted a now famous medical concept, very easy to state but difficult to set up: better to prevent than to treat. In many occasions, and in various capacities as volunteer or as a government minister, I have been confronted with the same problem: how to take care of poor people’s health, how to provide them access to prevention and care?

In 1968, I was studying medicine, when the May...

The idea that civilians merit protection during armed conflict began to arise many centuries ago. The principle is currently enshrined in international humanitarian law under the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims of 1948 and their two Additional Protocols (1977). These instruments specify that civilians, medical personnel and other categories of noncombatants are not legitimate targets of violence during wartime and are to be afforded protection and other specified rights.

The Conventions also confer rights and responsibilities on humanitarian actors during wartime. Humanitarians aim to relieve civilian suffering and, as such, to protect civilians from many of the...

Blind Justice is usually portrayed as an iconographic blend of Themis and Justitia, the respective Greek and Roman goddesses of justice. Her figure oversees courthouses throughout the world: a blindfolded lady holding scales and a sword. Her blindfold renders her impartial; the sword she holds gives her power. This power can take many forms: diplomatic negotiation, sanctions and trade embargoes, and, finally, the threat and use of military force.

It is the use of military force with which this chapter is concerned; specifically the use of force for the purposes of human protection (as distinct from purposes of belligerence, self-defense,...

The inexorable rise in the number of private-sector companies engaged in an increasingly wide range of activities in support of military deployments has been quite extraordinary over the last ten to fifteen years. Although their combined impact has significantly influenced the conduct of military operations across the spectrum of complex emergencies right around the globe, their direct impact on the numerous humanitarian and other nonmilitary players has been relatively benign until more recently. The U.S.-led intervention in Iraq in particular has brought the issue to the fore, primarily because of the number of private military/security companies (PMCs/PSCs) that have been...

There is a tendency, in a world of increasingly ephemeral attention spans, to pay greater attention to the “latest and greatest” developments to generalize about a topic of current interest. Behavioral psychologists and economists call this the “availability heuristic.” The well-publicized tensions between nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and particularly the U.S. military in Afghanistan in 2002, culminating in the July 2004 decision of one of the world’s prominent NGOs, Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF), to withdraw after twenty-four years from Afghanistan, might suggest that civil-military cooperation in humanitarian crises is in a downward spiral. However, when the span of these relations is...

On Friday afternoons at the International Diploma in Humanitarian Assistance course, there are group presentations. The relationship between military forces and humanitarian assistance agencies is a regular subject for discussion. This chapter is partly written from the results of many a Friday afternoon session and also from reading and listening to senior writers and speakers on humanitarian affairs. It is not always easy to credit individuals with thoughts and spoken words expressed in conferences; I hope my colleagues will forgive me for this omission.

It is my intention to examine the relationship between the various military groups and the principal...

Pakistan, October 8, 2005—early morning. School bells ring, children crowd into rural classrooms in mountaintop hamlets. They hope the school day will be fun and the homework short. Impoverished towns and villages kick into daily life. They anticipate business in the bazaar, or bargains in the shops. Indian and Pakistani soldiers stare down their barrels to eye each other across the Line of Control.Theyhope the peace process will continue. “Situation normal” was the right phrase to describe that day.

Just after school started that Saturday morning, a massive earthquake struck, 7.6 on the Richter scale, shaking the...

The end of the Cold War has resulted in an increase in the number and complexity of wars and political emergencies.¹ While many conflicts have been brought to a conclusion in terms of the cessation of active hostilities, it is difficult to find an example of a society that has progressed to a desirable level of peace and stability. Instead, states tend to experience a period of stasis that features a number of characteristics that include an uncertain political institution, an economy skewed by the war effort, a fragmented society/societies with limited social capital, and continued suffering and need for...

Internally displaced people (IDPs) are among the most vulnerable victims of conflict and human rights abuses worldwide—numbering just under twenty-four million at the end of 2005.¹ Without the legal protection and assistance afforded by the 1951 refugee convention to those fleeing across an internationally recognized border, IDPs remain largely dependent on their governments who more often than not are either unwilling or unable to protect and assist them. As a result large numbers of IDPs remain exposed to further violence, malnutrition and disease, and are often forced to flee several times. Yet despite, or because of, the scale of...

Events over the past fifteen years have produced dramatic changes in the environment for humanitarian response organizations. The number of manmade and natural crises has accelerated to the point where there are two or three major crises—and dozens of lesser catastrophes—every year. The proliferation of wars and civil strife is a result of the end of the Cold War, expanding poverty in some parts of the world, the breakdown of traditional norms, especially among young people, the increasing availability of weapons, increasing population pressures, and migration from the countryside to urban areas. In terms of natural disasters, more...

Ethical dilemmas arise in situations because of inappropriate relationships between Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) humanitarian workers and the people who have suffered disaster.

Jesuit Refugee Service is fortunate to have a clear mission statement that defines what is expected of our relationships: “In our work with forced migrants, The Jesuit Refugee Service accompanies many of these brothers and sisters of ours, serving them as companions, advocating their cause in an uncaring world.”

Once you come to know the suffering of refugees, a pastoral approach makes sense. Many refugees are in shock. Many carry a deep sense of loss and grief....

For over sixty years, Catholic Relief Services (CRS) has been working overseas, providing emergency relief and development to economically and socially disadvantaged communities in poor countries. This chapter will present some of the organizational experiences, challenges, and successes that have transformed CRS as an agency, as well as the approaches used, the focus of its work, and the way in which impact is measured.

As the official overseas relief and development agency of the Catholic Church in the United States, and one of the largest private voluntary agencies in the world today, CRS is currently working in ninety-six very poor...