This year, our traditional Autumn School is being replaced by the Spring School on Humanitarian Aid, when we will be celebrating Groupe URD’s 30th anniversary!
Come to Plaisians on 8 – 10 June to take part in the discussions on ‘Humanitarian aid: the end of political innocence? And join us on Friday evening for our 30th anniversary party!
As we pointed out during the Autumn School on Humanitarian Aid last September, “humanitarian needs have increased exponentially in 2022 due to the impact of armed conflict, climatic shocks and the increase in the price of food and energy”1. According to the latest figures from the UN, more than 350 million people will require humanitarian aid in 20232. As well as the high-profile war between Ukraine and Russia, tens of millions of other people are also affected by serious crises that require emergency assistance in the Horn of Africa, Syria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Myanmar, Haiti, the Sahel, Afghanistan, Israel, Palestine, Venezuela, South Sudan, etc.3 Given this unprecedented situation, there is an urgent need to reinvent the humanitarian sector, particularly its relationship with the political realm.
Having already been called into question in the post-2001 context due to the instrumentalization of humanitarian aid in the USA’s dominant discourse, further questions are being asked about neutrality due to the growing involvement of local actors in the aid sector and the emergence of radical movements (climate, anti capitalist movements, etc.), but also due to the political activism of new aid actors: citizens organised in groups, particularly thanks to social networks. The political nature of humanitarian situations, and the clarity of roles and responsibilities, are also subject to debate due to the massive increase in the number of crises, climate change and the destruction of the living world by a deregulated system of production. Though the debate about using aid for political ends is not new, it is once again in the news with the developments in the Sahel (Mali and Burkina Faso), but also due to the persistent crises and inaction of governments in relation to the climate emergency. These phenomena mean that each of us needs to call for political actors to be accountable and to ask ourselves questions today that are absolutely crucial for the future.
To what extent does humanitarian crisis management have a political dimension? To what extent does engaging with local aid actors in crisis resolution, aid delivery and early warning systems redefine the sector? How does the aid sector view the neoliberal system, which is increasingly denounced by social movements?
For our 30th anniversary, Groupe URD would like to invite you – civil society actors, humanitarian and development actors, climate activists, activists from the Global South, academics – to come to share your questions and your thoughts on the relationship between the humanitarian and political realms. Over three days, speakers and participants from different countries and different sectors will discuss the different political aspects involved in humanitarianism and the challenges that these bring for our sector.
Contact : jtaisson@urd.org
Organised with the support of French Development Agency, Fondation de France, Région Auvergne-Rhônes-Alpes and Monegasque Cooperation.
Crédit photo : Florian SeriexAction Against Hunger