Humanitarianism is the vital impulse to go to the aid of people in danger as a result of war, disaster or epidemic, but it is proving increasingly difficult to carry out.
First of all, there is the complexity of the realities that need to be taken into account in order to adapt the humanitarian response to the different contexts and identities of each country and population.
Then there is the nature, diversity and scale of the damage and destruction, the multiple suffering caused to populations and the need to respond both urgently and over time.
Finally, there are the actors, resources, techniques, tools, procedures, standards and capacities of humanitarian organisations to respond to needs and to coordinate, not forgetting the humanitarian commitment without which we would not be humanitarian.
This edition of Défis Humanitaires illustrates this through our articles, which I recommend you read to understand what we might also call squaring the humanitarian circle. These subjects are all part of the humanitarian puzzle.
Humanitarian aid in Ukraine.
Ukraine is not a humanitarian crisis, but a high-intensity war between Russia and Ukraine that requires massive aid for its victims. The solution, i.e. the eventual return to peace, is not humanitarian but political. But humanitarian action is a moral obligation and an absolute human necessity that will last beyond this war.
Since it began on 24 February 2022, the war has just passed the two-year mark and has become so commonplace that we could end up forgetting its devastating human consequences: to date, 8.5 million vulnerable people, 4 million internally displaced people, 5.9 million refugees out of a population of 41 million Ukrainians in a country of 603,550 km2. This just goes to show the scale of the humanitarian task.
What’s more, the war is escalating militarily and politically with the Russian offensive, to which Ukraine and its allies are stepping up their response, although it’s not clear how far the war could go. We can also think of Gaza, Sudan and the DRC.
Against this backdrop, it is a rare and useful exercise to draw up an assessment of humanitarian aid that will be useful for the future, and we offer you this article by François Grunewald, Honorary President of Groupe URD.
A World Water Forum for universal access to drinking water and sanitation.
Universal access to drinking water and sanitation is Goal 6 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) voted for in 2015 by 195 countries at the UN, which should be achieved by 2030. Clearly, this will not be the case for water, given the rate of progress since the beginning!
Every 3 years since 1997, the World Water Forum (WWF) has been organised by the World Water Council, chaired by Loïc Fauchon, in a host country. From 18 to 24 May, the WWF welcomed 64,000 participants from 160 countries to discuss 5 themes (water and peace, climate and disasters, sanitation and water for all, finance and governance, youth).
The WWF has the advantage of being an initiative involving all the players in the water sector, who have a firm grasp of the issues and the debates. The disadvantage, which is becoming increasingly obvious, is the lack of political impact of its work and recommendations on the processes underway at the UN, in particular the ‘One Water Summit’ in September 2024 at the UN, then the UN Conferences on Water in 2026 and 2028, at a time when there is an urgent need to speed up efforts to achieve Goal 6 of the SDGs. Nor is there any mention of the plan to appoint a special envoy for water at the UN!
With a large delegation, the French Water Partnership (FWP) presented its proposals and organised numerous sessions and events. In this edition, I invite you to discover the interview with its Managing Director, Marie-Laure Vercambre, as well as the attached documents.
Underfunded humanitarian aid that abandons populations in danger !
Shouldn’t we be sounding the alarm about the funding of humanitarian aid this year, given that the OCHA appeal this year concerns 180.5 million people for a budget of 46.4 billion dollars? However, at the beginning of June, only 15% of this budget had been mobilised! There will certainly be a catch-up in the second half of the year, but there is still a risk that only 30 to 35% of the necessary funds will be raised!
Already in 2023, only $24.4 billion has been raised, i.e. 43% of the requirements estimated at $56.7 billion at the end of the year. This prompted Martin Griffiths, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), to say: ‘This is the worst funding shortfall in years’.
In 2024, OCHA introduced a new ‘joint and intersectional analysis framework’, which reduces the number of recipients of international humanitarian aid. There are many reasons for this. On the one hand, the humanitarian sector is increasingly being asked to do everything. On the other hand, isn’t it better to match needs with resources in order to plan realistically?
In this edition, we leave the last word to Aurélien Buffler of OCHA (the Joint Humanitarian Action Office) in the exclusive interview he gave to Défis Humanitaires.
Humanitarians must ask themselves what is happening to the people and populations who are not being helped for lack of the necessary resources, and sound the alarm.
On the eve of the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, which we will be celebrating in August, we also look at the recent United Nations resolutions on the protection of civilians in armed conflict and the protection of humanitarian workers.
Solidarity with the Armenian students.
During a recent trip to Armenia, where I went to meet refugees driven out of Nagorno-Karabakh or Artsakh, I met young Armenians learning French. For them, in a hostile environment, learning French is like opening a window on the world while helping us discover their country.
They have a thirst for reading, and what they lack most are books of contemporary French literature! Just think of Daniel Pennac, Marie Desplechin, Anna Gavalda, Amin Maalouf, Sylvain Tesson or the comic strip authors Enki Billal or Riad Sattouf and many others.
I invite you to donate these books to Armenian students. Find out more about this project in our article ‘Solidarity with Armenian students’ and thank you for the support of your donation (faireundon).
Conclusion.
Défis Humanitaires is delighted to bring you this new edition, which aims to think and act beyond the norms and fashions of humanitarianism.
Above all, humanitarian aid must adapt to the needs expressed, respect the identities of populations and not impose inappropriate and counter-productive models on them. More than ever, humanitarian aid needs commitment, know-how and close contact with populations in danger.
Alain Boinet.
