Yearly Archives: 1999
Cargo Gliders for Complex Emergencies and Operations Other Than War: New Uses for an Old Neglected Warhorse
In the past several years, relief operations in war-torn or underdeveloped nations have shared a common denominator: each depended on air traffic controllers and engineers (as well as expensive privately contracted civilian logisticians) to open, operate, and rehabilitate dilapidated airport and harbor facilities. Once operational, unloading critical items in a permissive (peaceful) or non-permissive (hostile) environment can consume precious time, especially if sealift and airlift assets are urgently needed elsewhere. Poorly maintained lines of communication and a lack of allterrain vehicles add to the confusion and further slow down getting aid into hands of a displaced person (DP); until said equipment arrives in-theater and engineers repair the road and rail network, perishable food commodities and critical and essential medicines to sustain life accumulate in a warehouse or rot in the open air.
Parachute drops and the use of transport helicopters are the only alternatives for the delivery of aid in such cases; the former is inefficient while the latter expensive to procure, maintain, and operate, and contributing nations make too few available for detached service in operations of that kind for fear of them being shot down. Current options for meeting the logistical challenge are in need of a tune up as the tempo and diversity of natural- and man-made disasters — Complex Emergencies — spreads from underdeveloped nations — the traditional epicenter — to developed nations. Thus, international and domestic relief organizations require an alternative capability to respond to such outbreaks since both constitute the vanguard of Complex Emergency management.
The answer necessitates fielding an aviation design that integrates a genuine stealth capability; a simple, yet sophisticated fuselage economical to manufacture; payload dimensions capable of deploying abundant quantities of aid workers and relief packages; and, a radius enabling it to travel over extended distances and terrain barriers. Such an aviation design once existed in the inventory of some militaries — the glider. Cost-effective and combat-proven in diverse geographic regions accents the credentials of these silent wings and makes it an attractive candidate for contemporary procurement and deployment in Complex Emergencies and other operations other than war (OOTW), an argument that this article intends to prove.
The full text of this article is available as a PDF. Download here: http://jha.ac/articles/a051.pdf
A case by case analysis of recent crises: assessing 20 years of humanitarian action
A Case by Case Analysis of Recent Crises Assessing 20 Years of Humanitarian Action: Iraq, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Burundi, the former Zaire, Chechnya, and Kosovo
119 pages, PDF
Download here: http://jha.ac/articles/a049.pdf
Making a Difference for Afghan Women
By canonizing traditional and cultural restrictions on women and girls into official policy and law, the Taliban leadership of Afghanistan has created the most notorious example in the world of state denial of basic rights of women and girls. It is little consolation that these regulations are enforced unevenly at different times and in different parts of Afghanistan. The dilemma faced by concerned individuals and agencies is in finding a strategy that will result in real and lasting improvements in the lives of Afghan women. Righteous indignation and distant protests are inadequate.
The Role of Forgiveness in Reconstructing Society After Conflict
Once dismissed as an irrelevant religious concept in a political world, the concept of forgiveness has begun to be increasingly associated with highly secular post conflict reconstruction. As the post Cold War world has splintered into violent wars and persistent low level conflict, its potential for healing civil society has begun to be explored in media, popular, and academic analysis. Despite this increased profile, forgiveness may be one of the least understood and yet potentially necessary acts required for a society to fully break a cycle of violence. The mere fact that it is being considered or discussed implies that extreme suffering has occurred. Given that the most horrendous acts of spiritual, emotional, and physical violence have taken place between the same persons attempting to rebuild a society after conflict, it is logical to ask, how is forgiveness possible? Is it necessary for reconciliation? And most importantly, how do former enemies find a way to live together once again?
The refugee crisis in southern and central Africa
The refugee crisis in southern and central Africa
Although southern Africa is relatively less affected by refugee movements than central Africa, the impact of refugees on southern African societies and the increasing retreat of southern African governments from their responsibilities towards refugees, are causes for concern.
Humanitarian assistance: a right or a policy? Case study: the Security Council and the armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia
A quick glance at the United Nations (UN) Charter shows that human rights are not protected by the collective security system since there are only mentioned in article 1 (enumerating the purposes of the UN) and article 55 (belonging to the UN co-operation system). "The Charter clearly distinguishes between action taken to restore and maintain international peace (…) and action taken to create the conditions of stability and well-being necessary for peaceful and friendly relations among States". Indeed human rights, at the time of the drafting of the Charter, were considered as domestic matters protected from external interference by article 2(7) and by customary international law. However, the analysis of practice reveals that violations of human rights are more and more frequently and specifically discussed and even sometimes condemned by UN bodies.
Astoundingly though, the Security Council (SC) has no special powers concerning human rights and international humanitarian law, despite the reluctance of some countries like China and Zimbabwe, it has become involved in this realm and acted within the framework of the collective security system. Such a development can be explained by the change of armed conflicts’ nature: nowadays combatants do not fight only against combatants but also against the civilian population who becomes the direct target of attacks. The idiosyncrasy of the third generation of civil war has therefore encouraged the Security Council to become active.
Nonetheless, a closer analysis unveils that the protection of human rights in peacetime and warfare offered by the Security Council is rather weak and that today its only success is the provision of humanitarian assistance.
One could be surprised by such a statement since one could genuinely believe that it is easier to enforce rights then a concept which at first sight appears to be without legal basis. Indeed, as stated by René Jean Dupuy: "les droits de l’homme relèvent de l’argument juridique, l’assistance invoque un sentiment d’humanité". In addition, whereas human rights are of inter-State concern, humanitarian assistance is usually regarded as being classically within the realm of non-governmental organisations (NGOs).
The separation of these two notions implies that a right to humanitarian assistance does not exist and hence it cannot be invoked in order to alleviate people’s suffering during warfare. In fact, these two terms stem from different philosophies. In the first case, people’s rights should not be disregarded and in the latter one, these violations are more or less tolerated but should not attain a certain threshold. This solution is usually used when it appears impossible to end violations of human rights. That explains why humanitarian assistance is considered as a substitute to a policy incapable of protecting human rights during war time.
The Security Council when confronted with the civil war in the Former Yugoslavia used both strategies. On the one hand it condemned the violations but since a military intervention in order to enforce its resolutions was rejected by the majority of its members, its requests were never listened to. On the other hand the Security Council decided to provide humanitarian relief to the civilian population and condemned the warring parties attacking the humanitarian convoys and personnel. Can thus humanitarian assistance be considered as a right or is it only a (surrogate) policy without any legal basis?
The right to humanitarian assistance has a twofold meaning:
- the victims’ right to be helped; and
- the organisations’ and States’ right to assist the victims.
This distinction may sound slightly senseless in particular when one thinks in terms of accessibility but legally, it changes the beneficiaries and the dutyholders of that right.
In a first part, I would like to analyse the Security Council’s resolutions pertaining to human rights violations which occurred in the Former Yugoslavia and try to find the legal basis of its actions. In a second part, the emphasis will be put on the existence of the right to humanitarian assistance and the consequences of such an existence.