Foreign humanitarian assistance — Department of Defense activities conducted outside the United States and its territories to directly relieve or reduce human suffering, disease, hunger, or privation. Also called FHA. (JP 3-29)
The Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DMHA) by
The Department of Defense's Center for Excellence in Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance (CFE-DMHA) was established in 1994 to provide and facilitate education, training, and research in civil-military operations. This report examines CFE-DMHA's history, activities, and roles to determine how its missions can best be performed to achieve the objectives of the Department of Defense in this domain.
Civilian Protection in the Twenty-First Century by
There has been a significant consolidation of international norms to advance human protection objectives in current global politics. Yet, while civilian protection is at the heart of international humanitarian law and the United Nations global security agenda, armed conflicts today areincreasingly fragmented. The current global security environment creates significant ethical and political complexities for the actors operating in this field to protect civilians. This volume interrogates the diversity of practices and the politics of civilian protection at the individual andcommunity as well as the state, non-state, and the international community levels to conceptualize civilian protection in this complex environment.The book comprises thematic chapters on humanitarian intervention, protection of populations of concern including refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs), and international diplomacy, which are enriched with six case studies from Asia and Africa. Combining conceptual debate with empiricalevidence, the contributors describe the contexts in which interventions occur and the practical ways in which protection mechanisms have been implemented. This volume offers alternatives that can be adopted to improve and build upon current practices of civilian protection.
Humanitarianism War and Politics by
What is humanitarianism? This authoritative book provides a comprehensive analysis of the original idea and its evolution, exploring its triangulation with war and politics. Peter J. Hoffman and Thomas G. Weiss trace the origins of humanitarianism, its social movement, and the institutions (international humanitarian law) and organizations (providers of assistance and protection) that comprise it. They consider the international humanitarian system's ability to regulate the conduct of war, to improve the wellbeing of its victims, and to prosecute war criminals. Probing the profound changes in the culture and capacities that underpin the sector and alter the meaning of humanitarianism, they assess the reinventions that constitute "revolutions in humanitarian affairs." The book begins with traditions and perspectives--ranging from classic international relations approaches to "Critical Humanitarian Studies" --and reviews seminal wartime emergencies and the creation and development of humanitarian agencies in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The authors then examine the rise of "new humanitarianisms" after the Cold War's end and contemporary cases after 9/11. The authors continue by unpacking the most recent "revolutions"--the International Criminal Court and the "Responsibility to Protect"--as well as such core challenges as displacement camps, infectious diseases, eco-refugees, and marketization. They conclude by evaluating the contemporary system and the prospects for further transformations, identifying scholarly puzzles and the acute operational problems faced by practitioners.
The Politics of Aid to Burma by
For over sixty years, conflict between state forces and armed ethnic groups was ongoing in parts of the borderlands of Burma. Ethnic minority communities were subjected to systematic and widespread abuses by an increasingly complex patchwork of armed state and non-state actors. Populations in more remote and disputed border areas typically had little to no access to even basic healthcare and education services. As part of its counter-insurgency campaign, the military state also historically restricted international humanitarian access to civilian populations in unstable border areas. It was in this context that "cross-border aid" to Burma had developed, as an alternative mechanism for channelling assistance to populations denied aid through more conventional systems. Yet by the late 2000s, national and international changes had significant impacts on an aid debate, which had important political and ethical implications. Through an ethnographic study of a cross-border aid organisation working on the Thailand-Burma border, this book focuses on the political and ethical dilemmas of "humanitarian government". It explores the ways in which aid systems come to be defined as legitimate or illegitimate, humanitarian or "un-humanitarian", in an international context that has witnessed the multiplication of often-conflicting humanitarian systems and models. It examines how an "embodied history" of violence can shape the worldviews and actions of local humanitarian actors, as well as institutions created to mitigate human suffering. It goes on to look at the complex and often-invisible webs of local organisations, international NGOs, donors, armed groups and other actors, which can develop in a cross-border and extra-legal context - a context where competing constructions of systems as legitimate or illegitimate are highlighted. Exploring the history of humanitarianism from the local aid perspective of Burma, this book will be of interest to students and scholars of Southeast Asian Studies, Anthropology of Humanitarian Aid and Development Studies.
Responding to Climate Change in Asian Cities by
The role of cities in addressing climate change is increasingly recognised in international arenas, including the Sustainable Development Goals, the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and the New Urban Agenda. Asia is home to many of the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change impacts and, along with Africa, will be the site of most urban population growth over the coming decades. Bringing together a range of city experiences, Responding to Climate Change in Asian Cities provides valuable insights into how cities can overcome some of the barriers to building climate resilience, including addressing the needs of vulnerable populations. The chapters are centred on an overarching understanding that adaptive urban governance is necessary for climate resilience. This requires engaging with different actors to take into account their experiences, vulnerabilities and priorities; building knowledge, including collecting and using appropriate evidence; and understanding the institutions shaping interactions between actors, from the national to the local level. The chapters draw on a mix of research methodologies, demonstrating the variety of approaches to understanding and building urban resilience that can be applied in urban settings. Bringing together a range of expert contributors, this book will be of great interest to scholars of urban studies, sustainability and environmental studies, development studies and Asian studies.