The humanitarian imperative in the face of exploding needs and the need for transformation

An elderly couple in Jytomyr, west of Kyiv, Ukraine. A Russian rocket demolished a civilian building near a military school. A hospital is also nearby. Photo taken on March 14, 2022 © T. The 2020s began with a pandemic that hit hard and everywhere, causing economic instability, disrupting markets and increasing poverty. The combination of these disruptions, the consequences of new or long-running conflicts, and the climate crisis, is exacerbating global humanitarian needs.

Children, especially girls, are still deprived of an education, women’s rights are still being violated, famines threaten. Violations of the rights of migrants and refugees are reaching unprecedented levels. Lives are in danger, and decades of development are being called into question. The temptation to paralyze in the face of these challenges is greater than ever: the rules imposed by terrorist risk management, the procrastination of certain major powers both in terms of diplomacy and humanitarian support, and the problems of access due to the administrative constraints imposed on our organizations are weighing more and more heavily on our activities. However, the 2020s also herald a decade in which the humanitarian community remains mobilized, always ready in the face of adversity and in all circumstances to surpass itself by showing what can be achieved when the international community unites.

February 08, 2023, Hatay, Turkey. Emergency search and rescue teams search through the rubble of destroyed buildings in Hatay, Antakya, Turkey, following the earthquakes © T. Nicholson / HI

The challenges are more and more numerous. And new theaters of operation have emerged. Notably in Ukraine, where, from February 2022 onwards, the war caused the deaths of tens of thousands of people[1], complicated the delivery of food and energy supplies, destroyed hospitals, schools and homes, and triggered one of the worst displacement crises in three quarters of a century. It has also caused major destabilization: rising prices, availability of oil, gas and wheat, and upheaval of the world’s geopolitical balance.

More recently, in April 2023, fighting broke out in Sudan, where 2.5 million people fled to safer areas inside and outside the country[2]; before the crisis, Sudan already had almost 4 million displaced people[3]. Afghanistan is on the brink of collapse, with women’s and girls’ rights violated and over 25 million people dependent on the mobilization of humanitarian actors[4]. In the Horn of Africa, millions of people require nutritional treatment, food aid, emergency health care and essential supplies. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, as the conflict continues to wreak havoc, humanitarian actors are providing essential aid to 5 million people[5]. In Myanmar, the humanitarian situation is reaching unimaginable proportions due to growing conflict and insecurity. In Yemen, as the impact of war continues to destroy lives, NGOs are supporting some ten million people every month. In Haiti, rising violence, galloping inflation and a cholera epidemic have drastically increased needs. In Lebanon, the financial collapse has caused needs to soar.

Democratic Republic of Congo, Kasai Central Province. A member of an NGO speaks into a megaphone in front of a group of beneficiaries waiting for an organized distribution © John Wessels/HI

At the same time, the climate crisis is making survival even more difficult for many people. In 2020, extreme weather events deprived millions of people of access to means of subsistence. And these food crises in turn generate violence. In 2021, climate change has joined conflict as the leading cause of famine, as witnessed by the drought in Madagascar. The Horn of Africa suffered its fifth consecutive shortened rainy season. Massive flooding has submerged entire villages and crops in Nigeria and Pakistan.

From 125 million in 2016, the number of people in need in 2023 will rise to 339 million[6]; one in every 23 people on the planet needs emergency aid to survive.

Significant steps are being taken collectively to strengthen regionalized responses: local and national players, civil society and citizens are now increasingly placed at the heart of the humanitarian response system. Particularly since the beginning of the decade, NGOs have been able to develop their teams’ capacity and their working methods based on power dynamics, while recognizing a generational change. Their response tools have been adapted to the circumstances – longer conflicts, more difficult to resolve – sometimes questioning their positions on weapons, sanctions and the value of negotiations. Beyond major crises, they have been careful to keep the spotlight on extreme conflicts, such as Ethiopia, and on those such as Myanmar or Yemen, where international interest has waned. They have strengthened coordination between them, breaking down silos, particularly at senior levels of humanitarian organizations, human rights organizations, think tanks and other organizations, to better coordinate their actions in times of crisis.

The results achieved by national and international aid workers are a credit to the determination and capacity of the NGOs and donors who support them.

Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management visits the European Humanitarian Response Capability warehouse in Vinnytsia, Ukraine. He is pictured here with Manuel Patrouillard, HI Managing Director, and Jean Pierre Delomier, Deputy Director of Operations. European Union, 2022 Photographer Ramin Mazur

Unfortunately, funding remains well below requirements. For example, to provide a lifeline to 230 million of the most vulnerable people in 69 countries, the financial requirement was estimated at $51.5 billion[7]… Yet only half of this sum has been received. This incomplete funding has, however, already enabled humanitarian actors to reach 145 million people, to practice responses underpinned by humanitarian negotiations aimed at accessing people in need in many parts of the world.

March 09, 2022, Przemysl, Poland: people cross the Medyka border crossing between Ukraine and Poland. More than 2 million people have left Ukraine since Russia invaded the country on February 24, 2022 © T. Nicholson/HI

In many respects, the outlook is uncertain. Not since the emergence of the French Doctors has humanitarian action – founded on the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence – come under so many constraints. The collapse of a world order based on values promoted as universal has led to an explosion in needs and a reduction in humanitarian access. The administrative processes to which NGOs are subject lock them into the responsibilities of the state. To preserve humanitarian space, we need to limit normative hyperinflation, particularly that linked to counter-terrorism measures, which unreasonably restricts NGOs’ ability to act. Better protection of civilians and humanitarian and health workers in crisis situations must be ensured. Every effort must be made to ensure that humanitarian action responds and adapts better to the climate crisis.

We mustn’t let ourselves be driven by bureaucratic locomotives; let’s not forget the original rebellion that made our organizations what they are today, let’s keep fighting because results can be achieved and early action can help mitigate the consequences of climate change, among other things. Humanitarian organizations also take steps to prioritize equity, inclusion and access to information for affected communities. They must work tirelessly to protect the most vulnerable from sexual exploitation and abuse. We must all continue to advocate for the full and equal participation of women and girls at all levels of education, the economy and public life. Even if humanitarian needs continue to grow, let’s resist the temptation to think that humanitarian action is pointless; we are collectively capable of making the necessary efforts to provide an adapted response that meets the needs!

ONG de solidarité internationale | Handicap International France (handicap-international.fr)

Jean-Pierre Delomier

Handicap International Federation – Humanity & Inclusion,

Deputy Director of Operations

After working in the field for various international organizations, he co-founded and directed the NGO Atlas Logistique in 1992, until its merger with Handicap International in 2006. He then joined the Management Committee and took charge of the Humanitarian Action Department, to ensure the association’s ability to intervene in major humanitarian crises, contributing to the organization of relief efforts while providing humanitarian aid to vulnerable groups, including people with disabilities. He has been a director of Bioforce for 15 years, he is leader of Coordination Sud’s Humanitarian Commissionand board member of VOICE in Brussels. Since January 2019, he has been HI’s Deputy Director of Operations, in charge of influencing and representing the organization to stakeholders, as well as leading the Atlas technical-operational unit.

[1] AFP and Euractiv France (2023, 14 february) : the appalling toll of a year of war in Ukraine, www.euractiv.fr https://www.euractiv.fr/section/international/news/leffroyable-bilan-dune-annee-de-guerre-en-ukraine/

[2] UN Sudan: difficulties in delivering aid as conflict escalates.(2023, 27 june), ONU Info https://news.un.org/fr/story/2023/06/1136492

[3] UN : UNHCR, P. L. P. (2023, 14 june), 5 things to know about the Sudan Crisis, HCR https://www.unhcr.org/fr/actualites/articles-et-reportages/5-choses-savoir-sur-la-crise-au-soudan

[4] European Council : https://www.consilium.europa.eu/fr/policies/afghanistan-eu-response/

[5] UN : OCHA 10 millions of people targeted by humanitarian aid in DRC in 2023 (2023, 23 february), ReliefWeb. https://reliefweb.int/report/democratic-republic-congo/10-millions-de-personnes-ciblees-par-lassistance-humanitaire-en-republique-democratique-du-congo-en-2023

[6] UN : For the 339 million: UN General Assembly adopts resolutions on humanitarian aid and declares 2023 “international year of dialogue as a guarantee of peace”. | UN Press. https://press.un.org/fr/2022/ag12477.doc.htm

For the 125 million: UN World Summit on Humanitarian Action, https://www.un.org/fr/conf/whs/about.shtml

[7] UN : UN launches record $ 51.5 billion humanitarian appeal for 2023 [EN/AR/ES/FR/RU/ZH], World (2022, 1 décembre), ReliefWeb. https://reliefweb.int/report/world/un-launches-record-515-billion-humanitarian-appeal-2023-enaresfrruzh

Interview with Stéphane Romatet

Director of the Crisis and Support Center (CDCS) at the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs

Alain Boinet (A): Hello Stéphane Romatet. You’re Director of the Crisis and Support Center (CDCS) at the French Ministry of Europe and Foreign Affairs, and we’d like to thank you for this interview with Défis Humanitaires magazine.

Stéphane Romatet (S): Hello Alain. It’s a great pleasure, especially as I’m an avid and regular reader of the magazine!

A: Thank you! So, you’ve been in post for 2 years now, and you’ll soon be leaving again as ambassador to Algeria. How have these 2 years with the CDCS been?

S: Two exceptional years of intensity and commitment for all the teams I’ve been lucky enough to work with. They’ve also been two years of crises, which we’ve had to manage on both the security and humanitarian fronts, as these are the two core businesses of the CDCS. These years were obviously marked by the war in Ukraine. I arrived at the CDCS just as Kabul fell, and we all remember the shock of the Taliban takeover of Kabul. Our commitment – that of France, that of the Quai d’Orsay, that of the crisis center – is particularly evident on the humanitarian front with Ukraine, but also in the countless humanitarian crises to which we have had to respond: in Africa, in a very difficult context, in West Africa, in East Africa, with the recent earthquake in February 2023, which was destructive for southern Turkey and northern Syria, the evacuation of French nationals and many foreign communities from Sudan, and the obviously humanitarian response to the tragedy that Sudan is currently experiencing… So many events, two years that have gone by very quickly. I have the feeling I arrived the night before last.

A: You mentioned the two main activities of the CDCS. Could you describe them more fully for those who aren’t familiar with them?

S: We are indeed a “crisis and support center”. In other words, we are responsible for dealing with any crisis situation that threatens the safety of French nationals abroad. We are also a support center, and as such we are responsible for France’s emergency response to all types of situations, particularly humanitarian disasters. We take action in all areas, from transport accidents to ecological disasters, as seen with the forest fires that ravage certain parts of the world, for example in Chile and Canada, where we send protection and civil security elements. The crisis center’s mandate is to implement France’s emergency response to humanitarian crises.

A: To carry out these missions, I discovered that there was a great diversity of professions and skills within the CDCS. Can you tell us a bit about that?

S: Yes, the CDCS is a team well versed in crisis management. There are around 120 of us who make up this crisis and support center, which operates 24 hours a day, because crises don’t stop at night or at 6pm on a Friday evening. So we need to be able to anticipate and react to crises at all times. We’ve seen this again in recent days with the events in Russia, which have obviously put us on our toes. Our team is highly multi-disciplinary, and includes not only diplomats, but also a large number of staff recruited on a contract basis with specific profiles. In the humanitarian field in particular, some of them come from the NGO world. Also, as we are responsible for inter-ministerial crisis management abroad, some of our staff come from other ministries: the armed forces, the interior, justice, health, etc. So we are a very multi-disciplinary, young, highly motivated and very committed team, available to manage crises 24 hours a day, wherever they may occur in the world.

A: I recently discovered that you even have a magistrate, a health team…

S: Yes, when we’re faced with a crisis situation we need to have all the necessary skills and tools. Today, what has impressed me in my experience as Director of the CDCS is that the crises we are faced with are not “one-off” crises, they are complex crises, which first of all have a security dimension that requires us to protect our compatriots, our communities, but they are also crises with a strong humanitarian impact, often crises with a health dimension that requires us to have a health response capacity, and also crises that very often result in massive population displacements, refugee crises. Take a look at all the recent crises we’ve managed at the crisis center over the past few years: they have all the characteristics of multi-dimensional crises, and I believe that this is what will guide our work in the future, as well as that of the humanitarian world. It’s this need to be able to respond to crises that are not simply crises of destruction at a given moment, but long-term crises, which include both a health and humanitarian dimension of relief for highly vulnerable populations, but also crises with a climatic impact or effect, and lastly, and I’m also saying this more and more, crises that provoke massive population displacements, to which we also need to respond. So it’s precisely in this increasingly complex engineering of crises that we at the CDCS need to have both the skills but also, obviously, to work with NGOs who are in a position to provide these increasingly complex responses.

A: During this 2-year period, the resources and capacities of the crisis center have increased considerably, particularly in the humanitarian field, but not only. How did this happen and what is the current situation?

S: My predecessors, and Alain too, have made the observation that France talks a good game when it comes to humanitarian issues, but doesn’t have the resources to implement its policy. We have to give credit to President Emmanuel Macron, who at the National Humanitarian Conference in December 2020, preceded by a government meeting as part of an inter-ministerial committee for cooperation and development, decided to set a new course for France’s humanitarian policy and to invest in becoming a major player in the humanitarian field. Where we were in reality a humanitarian power… I’d say marginal, thanks to the financial efforts we’ve made over the last few years, we’ve become a recognized humanitarian power, in Europe and around the world. A few years ago, France was the 8th largest donor in Europe. While we are Europe’s 2nd largest country in terms of economy and population, we were 8th in terms of humanitarian aid! Thanks to this effort, we are now ranked 3rd. We still need to amplify our efforts, and go even further. On a global scale, we were also at the bottom of the rankings, and thanks to France’s investment in its humanitarian policy, we have become a member of the 10 Major Donors club. So this effort, this investment made by France, enables us first of all to carry a stronger voice, to be a credible player and also gives us the means, thanks to the partnerships we have with NGOs, to respond to crises and to finance NGOs, I believe, in line with their expectations and requests.

A: Among the crises you’ve had to deal with, could you give us some examples to help us better understand the role of the CDCS in extreme emergency situations?

S: I think the perfect example, because it still marks the current situation, is obviously the Ukrainian crisis. This crisis is a good illustration of what the CDCS does. First emergency: on February 24, 2022, Russian troops invaded, Russia attacked Ukraine, and the crisis center’s immediate priority was to ensure the safety of our hundreds of compatriots still in Ukraine. This kept us busy day and night for the first 4 or 5 weeks of the crisis. Very quickly, we realized that the Ukrainian crisis was also a humanitarian crisis: firstly, inside Ukraine, where there were practically 5 to 6 million displaced people leaving the conflict zones to take refuge in the West; and secondly, outside the country, there was also a migration and refugee crisis, as 7 to 8 million Ukrainians decided to leave Ukraine to flee the war and its destruction, heading for Poland and other European countries. So France’s humanitarian response had to take into account both the war situation, which created difficulties for NGOs in particular, and the fact that it was a very high-intensity war, with the Russian army resorting to war crimes. We had to intervene in an extremely complicated conflict zone, but we also had to intervene inside Ukraine and the surrounding countries: Moldavia, Poland etc… and we did this in particular thanks to some forty logistical operations that the crisis center set up on its own. You may remember the operation we called “A French boat for Ukraine”, which enabled us to send hundreds and hundreds of tons of humanitarian freight to Ukraine. We also did this, of course, with the NGOs we financed, so that those who were still able to act in Ukraine could intervene in the fields of health, demining, sheltering vulnerable populations and so on. But today, almost 16 months after the outbreak of war, we are still in a situation where we have to continue our humanitarian action, probably preparing for the consequences of the coming winter, while at the same time beginning, if not the beginnings of reconstruction, at least the start of Ukraine’s recovery from the multiple destructions it has suffered. This is a fine example of what we can do. The CDCS has financed a number of operations to uncover war crimes and sexual crimes committed by Russian aggressors, as this too is part of our mandate.

A: France’s humanitarian architecture is largely based on the French Republic’s humanitarian strategy, the humanitarian emergency fund, the humanitarian consultation group with NGOs, and the forthcoming National Humanitarian Conference (CNH). What is your assessment and what are the prospects for the future?

S: It’s true that over time, thanks to the network you mentioned: the humanitarian consultation group, the preparation of the National Humanitarian Conference… a structured dialogue has been organized between the humanitarian world, represented by the NGOs, and the State. This dialogue has its place, all the more so as the resources devoted to humanitarian policy by France have increased considerably, so we need to have an even more sustained dialogue. We mustn’t forget that we are in a context where the basis of humanitarian aid, what we call international humanitarian law, is now being challenged. Not only is it being contested, it is being called into question: access to conflict zones is sometimes denied to humanitarian organizations, the protection of humanitarian workers is no longer guaranteed, and the legitimacy of NGOs to intervene in war zones, in zones of humanitarian crisis, is sometimes even challenged by a number of countries. This is particularly true in the Sahel, where Mali has decided to expel NGOs. So it’s clear that everything that humanitarian action has built up through international humanitarian law is now being profoundly called into question, and this obviously has major consequences for NGOs’ ability to simply do their job. So all this is part of the discussion, the dialogue we have with NGOs, and as we speak, we need to take into account all these factors to prepare for an important event: the 5th national humanitarian conference, which will take place in autumn 2023, the last having been held in December 2020. Three years on, the aim is both to take stock of what has been achieved, of the previous humanitarian strategy implemented by France, and above all to map out the future. We expect this to be an opportunity for the President of the Republic to announce the ambitions he has for France in the years to come, in terms of the objectives and resources that will be devoted to France’s humanitarian action.

A : Well, international humanitarian action is currently facing a serious lack of resources in relation to emergency needs. VOICE, the NGO Humanitarian Coordination, reports a funding shortfall of $24 billion, which is enormous. What could France do within the European Union, and within the United Nations, of which France is a member of the Security Council, to find solutions so as not to leave too many people on the side of the road without help when they are really in danger?

S: You’re right, the situation is grim: more and more people are in humanitarian distress, and the response is far from adequate to meet their needs. You gave some figures: it’s often said that the world’s humanitarian needs are estimated at between $40 and $50 billion a year. However, the humanitarian resources available, i.e. the humanitarian resources allocated by States, represent less than $20 billion, so there’s a gap of around 50%. How can we close this gap? First of all, we need to try and deal with crises in order to reduce the number of people in vulnerable situations, which means anticipating crises and resolving conflicts. Clearly, it is the disappearance of conflicts that will eliminate the causes of the vulnerability of these populations. This obviously requires political initiatives, and is a long-term process. A second response is to increase resources, since humanitarian needs will remain extremely high in the years to come. France is playing its full part in this, but today I believe that 90% of the resources devoted to humanitarian policy in the world are provided by European Union countries and the United States, so we probably also need to expand the number of donors and the number of countries. We need to convince them that humanitarian action is obviously a noble thing for a country, but it’s also a necessity, because populations in vulnerable situations, conflicts or humanitarian crises that we fail to resolve, are the seeds of tomorrow’s instability. Let’s also do our part, to convince a certain number of countries – I’m thinking in particular of the Gulf States – to invest in humanitarian aid.

A: The crisis and support center is celebrating its 15th anniversary today, so to speak. How would you like to conclude this interview?

S: It’s a great age! It’s an age of promise, and at the same time, even if it’s far too early to take stock, it’s also an age of achievement. In 15 years, the CDCS has achieved a great deal, building and developing itself through very intense crises, each of which has marked a new stage in its development. It is also the very significant increase in resources devoted to humanitarian aid that has led us to ask ourselves a lot of questions about who we are, and to transform ourselves a lot too. We know that tomorrow will be worse than today, and that we’ll have to deal with ever more serious crises that are also ever more intertwined, the security aspect and the humanitarian aspect, one merging into the other in a way, so we always have to be on the alert, on the alert, in action. So I think the CDCS needs to prepare itself for these coming years, which will be difficult ones given the multiplicity of crises, but with the formidable teams at the crisis center, I’m really confident that we’ll be there every time, as we have been in all the crises we’ve been entrusted with managing in recent years.

A: Thank you Stéphane for this interview!