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<DIV>This editorial from <EM>The Lancet</EM>, <A href="http://www.thelancet.com">www.thelancet.com</A>, observes in an
unfavorable light the behavior of some aid and humanitarian organizations in the
current Haiti disaster. One might ask whether any faith-based organizations also
exhibit some of the behaviors described here.</DIV>
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<DIV id=article_type>Editorial</DIV>
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<DIV id=article_cite>The Lancet, <A class=article-hdr-link href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/issue/vol375no9711/PIIS0140-6736(10)X6110-4">Volume
375, Issue 9711</A>, Page 253, 23 January 2010 </DIV>
<DIV class=articleNavigation><A class=article-hdr-link href="http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(10)60111-0/fulltext">Next
Article</A>></DIV>
<DIV id=article_DOI>doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(10)60110-9<IMG class=help-icon-cite-doi id=icon_info2 alt="" src="http://www.thelancet.com/images/clear.gif"></IMG></DIV></DIV>
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<H1 class=ja50-ce-title><FONT size=5>Growth of aid and the decline of
humanitarianism</FONT></H1>
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<DIV class=authorList id=authorList style="DISPLAY: none; LEFT: 300px; POSITION: absolute; TOP: 390px"></DIV><SPAN class=ja50-ce-author><A class=ja50-ce-author onclick="javascript:getListOfAuthorArticles('The Lancet',' The Lancet');return false;" href="http://www.thelancet.com/search/results?fieldName=Authors&searchTerm= The Lancet">The
Lancet</A> </SPAN></DIV></DIV>
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<DIV class=ja50-ce-para>Picture the situation in Haiti: families living on top
of sewage-contaminated rubbish dumps, with no reliable sources of food and water
and virtually no access to health care. This scenario depicts the situation in
Haiti <I>before</I> the earthquake that catapulted this impoverished and
conflict-ridden country into the international headlines. Now the latest target
of humanitarian relief, international organisations, national governments, and
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are rightly mobilising, but also jostling
for position, each claiming that they are doing the most for earthquake
survivors. Some agencies even claim that they are “spearheading” the relief
effort. In fact, as we only too clearly see, the situation in Haiti is chaotic,
devastating, and anything but coordinated.</DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para> </DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para>Much is being said elsewhere about the performance and
progress of relief efforts in Haiti. It is crucial that the immediate needs of
the Haitian people are urgently met. But it is scandalous that it took a seismic
shift in tectonic plates for Haiti to earn its place in the international
spotlight. Political rhetoric is familiar: domestic and international
point-scoring during times of crisis and disaster is a common game played by
many governments and politicians. But this dangerous and immoral play has many
losers, especially since the rules include judging the needs of desperate people
according to subjective perceptions of worth.</DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para> </DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para>For example, just think back 5 years to the dismal
international response to the catastrophic earthquake in Pakistan. Additionally,
over the past 2 weeks alone, flooding has displaced 30 000 people in Kenya
and 4000 people in Albania, and in Yemen, the Democratic Republic of the Congo,
and Somalia hundreds of thousands of people have been displaced by further
fighting. All international agencies, including the World Food Programme, have
recently withdrawn from Somalia—one of the most violent countries in the world
with a population size similar to Haiti. It is unimaginable that international
agencies and national governments might one day compete for attention in leading
a Somali humanitarian relief effort. The reasons for their current inaction are
most un-humanitarian.</DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para> </DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para>We have repeatedly drawn attention to the fact that when
viewed through the distorted lens of politics, economics, religion, and history,
some lives are judged more important than others—a situation not helped by the
influence of news media, including ourselves. This regrettable situation has
resulted in an implicit hierarchy of crisis situations further influenced by
artificial criteria, such as whether disasters are natural or man-made. As this
week's special issue on violent conflict and health shows,* the health needs of
people affected by conflict are repeatedly neglected.</DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para> </DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para>Politicians and the media make easy targets for
criticism. But there is another group involved in disaster relief, which has
largely escaped public scrutiny—the aid sector, now undoubtedly an industry in
its own right. Aid agencies and humanitarian organisations do exceptional work
in difficult circumstances. But some large charities could make their good work
even better. <I>The Lancet</I> has been observing aid agencies and NGOs for
several years and has also spoken with staff members working for major
charities. Several themes have emerged from these conversations. Large aid
agencies and humanitarian organisations are often highly competitive with each
other. Polluted by the internal power politics and the unsavoury characteristics
seen in many big corporations, large aid agencies can be obsessed with raising
money through their own appeal efforts. Media coverage as an end in itself is
too often an aim of their activities. Marketing and branding have too high a
profile. Perhaps worst of all, relief efforts in the field are sometimes
competitive with little collaboration between agencies, including smaller,
grass-roots charities that may have better networks in affected counties and so
are well placed to immediately implement emergency relief.</DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para> </DIV>
<DIV class=ja50-ce-para>Given the ongoing crisis in Haiti, it may seem
unpalatable to scrutinise and criticise the motives and activities of
humanitarian organisations. But just like any other industry, the aid industry
must be examined, not just financially as is current practice, but also in how
it operates from headquarter level to field level. It seems increasingly obvious
that many aid agencies sometimes act according to their own best interests
rather than in the interests of individuals whom they claim to help. Although
many aid agencies do important work, humanitarianism is no longer the ethos for
many organisations within the aid industry. For the people of Haiti and those
living in parallel situations of destruction, humanitarianism remains the most
crucial motivation and means for
intervention.</DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></DIV></FONT></FONT></BODY></HTML>