Health and Human Rights in Conflict and Emergencies

This chapter explores the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law in safeguarding health and protecting rights in conflict and emergencies, examining the evolving role of aid workers as protectors of health-related rights. Complex Humanitarian Emergencies (CHEs)—from mass displacements, to disease outbreaks, to violent conflicts—create an environment for human rights violations and a challenge for human rights promotion. Humanitarian aid, operating within an interconnecting framework across two bodies of law, has the distinctive ability to mitigate violations, prevent harm, and realize rights. Yet the breakdown in social norms and government systems in conflicts and emergencies creates chaos that requires humanitarian responders to engage in lifesaving service provision and community resiliency support. This role, carrying both power and privilege, requires systems of accountability to ensure health and human rights.

s.Four New Challenges, 17 Health and Human Rights in Conflict and Emergencies

This chapter explores the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law in safeguarding health and protecting rights in conflict and emergencies, examining the evolving role of aid workers as protectors of health-related rights. Complex Humanitarian Emergencies (CHEs)—from mass displacements, to disease outbreaks, to violent conflicts—create an environment for human rights violations and a challenge for human rights promotion. Humanitarian aid, operating within an interconnecting framework across two bodies of law, has the distinctive ability to mitigate violations, prevent harm, and realize rights. Yet the breakdown in social norms and government systems in conflicts and emergencies creates chaos that requires humanitarian responders to engage in lifesaving service provision and community resiliency support. This role, carrying both power and privilege, requires systems of accountability to ensure health and human rights.

Humanitarian medicine

Humanitarian medicine addresses the human consequence of crises such as conflict, disaster, or displacement, and serves to assist those whose lives and health are impacted by such events. It is practised in challenging settings where resources are limited and environments unstable, and requires a clinical skillset which is both near limitlessly broad and context specific. The humanitarian sector has expanded significantly during the last two decades as a result of climate-related crises and increasing complex humanitarian emergencies due to protracted and multifaceted conflicts. The picture today is evolving rapidly to address expanding humanitarian demands and a changing global sociopolitical reality.

Understanding disasters: managing and accommodating different worldviews in humanitarian response

Over the past decade, humanitarian events affected on average 120 million people annually. Whilst many of these events are human-induced, a large number of the 400 or so complex humanitarian emergencies that require international response each year are natural. Such events result in loss of life, injure and maim survivors, destroy infrastructure and give rise to psycho-social trauma. Aid agencies working alongside affected communities must address all these consequences as part of their responses. What is also required though is an appreciation that worldviews will inform how affected communities both understand the cause of the event, their role in the event and how they will subsequently participate in rebuilding or reconstruction programs. Disasters can be affected by religious beliefs. With more than 85% of the global population self-professing religious belief, these worldviews are often shaped in whole or in part by sacred texts, religious teachings and sectarian practices. In this regard, it is not uncommon for those affected by disasters (particularly natural disasters) to genuinely describe these events as ‘acts of God’. Effective responses require the local context to be central in assessing needs and determining capacities. This must include an understanding of and authentic engagement with religious beliefs and how this may affect how the humanitarian event interacts with these beliefs. There is though little evidence as to how professional humanitarian workers accommodate the religious beliefs of local populations in their planning, implementation and evaluation of humanitarian responses. This paper draws on the experiences of humanitarian workers based in the USA and Australia from both faith-based and secular international non-governmental organizations to consider both how these workers themselves accommodate the religious views of affected communities in their responses and also their experience as to how such views affect the effectiveness of responses. This paper will consider why aid agencies must incorporate (and appreciate) different worldviews around disasters in order to more effectively respond to the needs of communities affected by humanitarian events. It will also identify difficulties and opportunities experienced by individual humanitarian practitioners as well as agencies when working in such environments.

Medical civil–military interactions on United Nations missions: lessons from South Sudan

This paper outlines the United Nations’ integrated response to complex humanitarian emergencies and the different types of interactions that may occur between militaries and civilian organisations involved in them. It uses a recent UK deployment to South Sudan as an example, drawing on the experience to highlight areas of particular interest to healthcare workers. It identifies several domains that should usefully be developed for both civilians and military personnel in these environments—including sharing our expertise in major incident management, proof-of-concept testing for novel diagnostic and treatment solutions and offering to engage in joint continuing medical education. These gaps in organisational policy should be addressed and appropriate training pathways designed to maximise the contribution of the Defence Medical Services in similar contexts in the future.

Humanitarian assistance: is it politically instrumentalized?

Humanitarian assistance, increasingly being used as a strategic tool, to fulfill the political objectives has been a widely discussed issue at national and international levels. Non-governmental Organizations including United Nations and its agencies are questioned on their neutrality while providing the humanitarian assistance in many places and more often during the complex humanitarian emergencies. This has not only raised questions on humanitarian principles but also created a very negative and counterproductive situation and thus limits an impartial, neutral and effective humanitarian action. The deontological approach might not be applicable in every scenario. One size does not fit all. So, consequentialist approach together with the morality of the action itself needs to be adopted for expanding the horizon of humanity without compromising the core humanitarian principles. All actors should respect the humanitarian principles. Humanitarian assistance is to be impartial and not driven by the politics of the conflict, aimed only at alleviating the people’s suffering. The core humanitarian imperatives founded on neutrality and independence are the key tools to secure access to all communities in need; impartiality and humanity represent the essence of humanitarian philosophy and cannot be compromised.