An interview with Alain Boinet.
Défis Humanitaires: How is the humanitarian sector faring today?
Alain Boinet: Despite its problems, the humanitarian sector is doing rather well, as it has continued to develop over the last 30 years. But it is now entering a period of uncertainty and turbulence. I believe that this is characterised by five major events.
The first challenge is the geopolitical tipping point we are experiencing, with the entry into a cycle of confrontation that is set to last. The second is not only the lack of financial resources to meet growing humanitarian needs, but above all the risk of a drop in humanitarian funding from institutions. The third risk is the politicisation of the humanitarian sector by governments and political players, but also by some humanitarian aid workers. A fourth challenge is the demographic explosion in sub-Saharan Africa, which is set to increase every year.
Finally, there is the end of the Western magisterium and the aspiration of many countries, like former empires, to assert themselves, to be recognised and to count in a multipolar world, what we call the global South.
Could you explain what you mean by geopolitical risks?
The Russian invasion of Ukraine on 22 February 2022 is a major turning point, the tipping point after the Cold War followed by a long period of multilateralism and simultaneously a round of observation and gestation of antagonisms.
Many nation states and former empires now believe they can settle their differences by force. This is true from the Ukraine along the line of confrontation with Russia which, in the west, runs from Poland to the Baltic States and Northern Europe and, in the east, towards Moldavia, Georgia and Armenia. Poland, which spends 4.2% of its GNI (gross national income) on defence, is in fact preparing for a possible war. And after the war with Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and with Hezbollah in Lebanon, it may well be Iran’s turn, with a view to reshaping a new regional balance.
And what can we say about the Indo-Pacific region, where a large number of countries are mobilising their military forces to prepare for a possible Chinese attack on Taiwan by the United States. Who wants to be surprised by another Pearl Harbour in Taiwan?
Let’s not forget that the need for humanitarian aid and its development have accompanied major conflicts or disasters that have provoked UN operations (former Yugoslavia, Tsunami, Haiti) or interventions by the United States and its allies (Iraq, Syria, Libya), a cycle that ended in Afghanistan. This period seems to be over and we are entering a new cycle, with perhaps 20 years of chaos ahead of us.
Finally, and this is just as decisive for the future of humanity, what can we say about systemic risks, such as climate change, the increasing scarcity of water and its pollution, the accelerated loss of biodiversity, plastic pollution and the spreading drought?
We could also mention global movements that will have an increasing impact on humanitarian aid: cybercrime, organised crime, migratory movements, forced displacement of populations. Here too, we are going to see a scissor effect between threats and solutions, which could result from the balance of power favoured by Donald Trump. And it’s not just ‘Make America great again’, it’s just as much ‘Make China, Turkey, Russia, Iran, India, South Africa great again’.
Do you have any examples of the decline in humanitarian funding?
In France, Official Development Assistance could be cut by €2 billion in the 2025 finance bill, and the humanitarian budget, which was supposed to be €1 billion, will be halved if nothing is done to limit the damage.
As far as the United Nations is concerned, the appeal to help 187.6 million people is worth 49 billion dollars this year. But in September 2024, the available budget was only 22.48 billion dollars! Since 2022, we have seen a significant erosion in funding. Will this continue as the UN and international law are weakened?
As far as the European Commission is concerned, we have hopes that at least the commitment of the previous Commission will be maintained. But we also have our fears as we wait to find out the level of the Multiannual Financial Framework that will be set in 2025 for the next 7 years. Economic difficulties, inflation, strong growth in defence budgets, political instability in France and Germany, which has cut its humanitarian budget by 52%, have all played their part. And then there’s the unknown in the United States, the biggest funder of Official Development Assistance and humanitarian aid.
In such a context, how will donors, companies and foundations behave?
How do you see this politicisation of humanitarian aid and its consequences?
In this new geopolitical cycle, the assertion of the sovereignty of nation states will certainly lead to increasing difficulties in accessing populations in danger and to a politicisation of relations with NGOs. Let’s not forget that many conflicts are civil wars and that the powers that be are likely to restrict the scope of International Humanitarian Law for humanitarian actors.
In the case of inter-state wars, the question of freedom of humanitarian action and funding will also arise more systematically. How will NGOs deal with these difficulties? Of course, this is not entirely new. But what could well change is a systematisation of constraints and a reduction, if not a breakdown, in funding, as well as a politicisation of the earmarking of available budgets.
The question we are therefore faced with is whether we should respond to this risk of politicisation of humanitarian action by States by politicising humanitarian aid workers, or whether we should instead continue to act within the framework of International Humanitarian Law by stubbornly and relentlessly implementing it in the field. Until now, humanitarians have denounced the politicisation of humanitarian aid by States as an obstacle to humanitarian aid and its impartiality. If NGOs were to politicize their mandate and activities, they would find themselves in the political arena, which would automatically restrict their capacity for action and access to populations.
Gaza is a dramatic and emblematic example of this. The debate is by turns factual, quantified, passionate and intensely confrontational. It is simply human when we live with the pogrom of 7 October 2023 in Israel and with the victims in Gaza for nearly 15 months, with almost 45,000 Gazans already killed, many of them civilians. Without relativising this terrifying tragedy, it is enlightening to compare the treatment of the conflict in Gaza with that applied in Sudan, which is also a humanitarian disaster, or in Ukraine with its countless victims and destruction.
I would like to add an observation that may come as a surprise if we forget both the experience and the reflection on war. War, which is a political process, has its own logic and autonomy that eludes many of the rules of peacetime. Democracies themselves come to use weapons of mass destruction to win, as we have seen during and since the Second World War. This is not an excuse, it’s not a justification, it’s just an observation.
I’ve heard it said that everything is political and that humanitarians should get used to it. But perhaps humanitarianism has reasons that politics doesn’t! The golden rule is the principles of humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality. It is these principles, based on International Humanitarian Law, that must allow access to aid for populations in danger, despite the obstacles. Precisely, we are trying to extricate ourselves from politics in order to help threatened people and populations who, without help, would sooner or later succumb in large numbers to indifference if no one acts with the sole aim of helping them.
But politics is not forbidden. You just have to choose politics for the sake of politics. On the other hand, it is possible to engage in humanitarian politics on issues that affect the survival of populations, particularly access to drinking water, food security, the protection of populations, health and the application of International Humanitarian Law.
Why did you create Défis Humanitaires, which is publishing its 95th edition with this issue?
When I left my operational role at Solidarités International at the beginning of January 2018, I couldn’t imagine stopping for a moment.
Since then, I have continued to work with my favourite charity, but also with other organisations such as the Groupe de Concertation Humanitaire at the Centre de Crise et de Soutien of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, the Partenariat Français pour l’Eau (PFE), the VEOLIA Foundation and many other initiatives.
With Défis Humanitaires, I set out to contribute what I felt was missing and would be useful to the humanitarian community. Firstly, I wanted to promote the humanitarian sector, whose capacities and principles I felt were little known, among members of parliament, journalists, think tanks, companies and decision-makers. Secondly, to establish the causal link between the geopolitics of crises and humanitarian needs, in order to better understand and act more effectively. Finally, to highlight and document the major challenges facing humanity, such as the increasing scarcity and pollution of water, the galloping demographic growth in sub-Saharan Africa, the climate, the environment and funding.
This initiative is in line with those of the Forum Espace Humanitaire and the Revue Alternatives Humanitaires in France: to reflect, publish and debate on humanitarian issues, both in terms of content and methods of action. Défis Humanitaires is a humanitarian platform, a sort of Do Thank but not a Think Tank. We have adopted the motto ‘Act as a man of thought and think as a man of action’.
Following the launch of the magazine, we set up an association of the same name with a multidisciplinary committee of experts. It includes a number of humanitarians as well as experts in philanthropy, geopolitics, the media and business. The aim is to broaden the humanitarian circle to include other areas of expertise in order to strengthen and broaden it.
Member of the Défis Humanitaires Expert Committee
I noticed that, although the humanitarian world is in contact with a multitude of actors and situations, it is, on the whole, fairly self-centred, with a limited capacity to influence compared to the action taken. Similarly, I’ve noticed a lack of interest in geopolitics and strategic anticipation of what’s going to happen in order to prepare for it.
We publish a monthly edition, seeking to diversify each issue with topics on humanitarian crises, examples of innovation, articles or interviews on topical geopolitical issues, and opinion pieces.
We highlight the contribution of specific organisations (human resources, transport, logistics, digital, pay practices, management, water and sanitation) as well as NGO coordinating bodies in France and Europe.
We regularly publish summaries of reports such as those by the OECD, OCHA, Develoment Initiatives, ANALP and international conferences in the humanitarian and water sectors. These reports are very voluminous and not everyone has access to them. We provide 10-page summaries with graphics to our readers, in French and English.
Since 2018, we have published 360 articles or interviews by 160 different authors, a good quarter of whom are regular contributors. All of these are available in the archives section and form an easily accessible library. I would like to thank these authors for sharing their expertise, experience and thoughts with our readers.
What impact does DH have?
Défis Humanitaires is an online magazine with an international circulation. It is intended for a motivated and informed readership, not for the general public. Since 2018, the number of readers has risen steadily, from 1,000 per month at the outset to 4,000 today, i.e. almost 50,000 readers this year. We have readers primarily in France, but also in the United States, Burkina Faso, Switzerland, Senegal, Belgium, the DRC and elsewhere.
Défis Humanitaires is aimed at humanitarians, but also at journalists, parliamentarians, think tanks and students, foundations and national, European and international institutions. As a humanitarian who was in Brussels recently told me, Défis Humanitaires has become a reference magazine.
For example, we have recently published articles on Official Development Assistance and humanitarian aid in France, proposals for the reform of donor management control, funding and partnership with the European Commission (ECH0), an interview with UN OCHA, an update on digital tools, logistical pooling and current crises (Gaza, Sudan, Ukraine, DRC).
What are your plans for 2025 and beyond?
Next year, we want to enrich and diversify our editions with more interviews, more articles on current crises, monitoring of funding, innovations, pooling between NGOs, but also on adaptation to climate change, the environment, water and the Sustainable Development Goals.
We also plan to publish digital books, including one on water and sanitation and another on humanitarian issues, based on a selection of good articles published recently.
I would also like to mention our initiative to bring in new books of contemporary French-language literature, which are totally lacking in the libraries of educational establishments. Sponsored by the writer Sylvain Tesson, this initiative is being carried out with the Syndicat National de l’Edition, publishing houses and the French embassy in Yerevan, and we hope to bring 2,000 to 3,000 selected new books to 76 libraries in Armenia.
Finally, we would like to publish the second edition of the Study on Humanitarian NGOs (2006-2023), which represents a considerable amount of work requiring demanding research and formatting. But all this requires additional resources, and we are counting heavily on our readers to make this possible.
It’s said that he who wants the end wants the means. What do you need to achieve this?
To achieve this for our readers, we first need their moral support, but we also need their support in the form of an end-of-year donation (helloAsso).
Remember that your support is tax-deductible at 66% of the amount of the donation, and we will send a tax receipt to every donor.
How would you like to conclude?
Défis Humanitaires is a free, independent, dynamic and forward-looking magazine. Its existence is largely thanks to voluntary work, but we need the support of our readers to continue and improve our mission of providing information.
As we can see, the clouds are gathering, but we do not lack the resources to face them and resolve many humanitarian challenges. We need to innovate, anticipate, pool our resources and influence public policy. More than ever, the humanitarian sector needs to mobilise its support and partners.
I would like to take this opportunity to warmly thank our authors, the members of the Bureau and the Défis Humanitaires Committee of Experts, as well as the donors and partners who, through their end-of-year donations (helloAsso), will enable us to carry out this humanitarian action which needs them, and wish them a Merry Christmas.
Alain Boinet is President of the association Défis Humanitaires, which publishes the online magazine www.defishumanitaires.com. He is the founder of the humanitarian association Solidarités International, of which he was Managing Director for 35 years. He is also a member of the Groupe de Concertation Humanitaire at the Centre de Crise et de Soutien of the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, and of the Board of Directors of Solidarités International, the Partenariat Français pour l’Eau (PFE), the Véolia Foundation and the Think Tank (re)sources. He continues to travel to the field (Northeast Syria, Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh and Armenia) and to speak out in the media.
‘Thank you in advance for your support for the publication of Défis Humanitaires’.
Alain Boinet, Chairman of Défis Humanitaires.
Your donation is 66% tax-deductible.
I invite you to read these interviews and articles published in the edition :