Humanitarian Challenges –
10 years after 9/11
•
• What has changed in
the last ten years
• What can we expect in
the next ten years
•
Follow the money
14
12
10
8
6
4
2
0
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
DAC donors
2005
2006
Non-DAC donors
2007
2008
2009
2
Conflict Rules!
12
77.1%
77.3%
79.5%
90%
81.4%
76.2%
75.3%
74.5%
80%
10
70%
US$ billion (constant 2008 prices)
65.3%
59.2%
60.5%
8
60%
47.1%
50%
6
40%
4
30%
20%
2
10%
0
0%
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
Total humanitarian aid to non-conflict countries
Total humanitarian aid to conflict-affected countries
Total country-allocable humanitarian aid
Total ODA to conflict affected states as a share of total country-allocable ODA
Source: Development Initiatives 2011 from OECD DAC data
2008
2009
Limbo or Purgatory?
Attacks relative to aid worker
population in the field
Global attack rates per 10,000
10
8
6
4
2
0
1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008
Source: Stoddard et al. 2009
What next?
• Politicization and
manipulation are
here to stay
• Recognize that with
power comes
responsibility
• Less is more?
• Recognize that aid
can be destabilizing
3 mega trends…
• Humanitarian assistance is up,
humanitarianism is down.
• Universalism is down,
sovereignty/nationalism is up
• Conflict is down, so-called “natural” disasters
are up
From a powerful discourse to a
discourse of power
• Disconnect between the
hum narrative and the
reality of “humanitarian
power”
• The end of a mobilizing
myth?
The importance of principles