ABSTRACT

Humanitarian aid for the victims of conflict may seem like a simple moral imperative – we should do whatever we can to help. But our good intentions can have unanticipated and unintended consequences. In order to understand the impact of humanitarian aid, we have to examine the context in which each operation takes place and the constraints which limit what can be achieved.

The seminar will look at the legal, financial, organisational, cultural and political context and constraints within which humanitarian aid is provided. It will suggest that states and international organisations are “blind” to ways in which aid could be delivered more effectively.

Finally, the seminar will explore what might be achieved at the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016.

 

SPEAKER BIO

Martin Barber was a senior UN official and has extensive experience in humanitarian affairs and peace operations – both at UN Headquarters and in the field. He served as Director of the United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) at UN Headquarters in New York from 2000 until his retirement from the UN in 2005. Previously, he was Chief of Policy Development and Advocacy in the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). From 1996 to 1998, he was Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in the UN Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH), Sarajevo. From 1989 to 1996, he worked with the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance to Afghanistan (UNOCHA) in Islamabad, Pakistan, serving as UN Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan in 1995-96. From 1975 to 1982 he served with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Laos and Thailand. Between 1982 and 1989, he was Director of the British Refugee Council, London. From 2010 to 2013, he served as Senior Adviser in the Office for the Coordination of Foreign Aid in the Government of the United Arab Emirates. Barber is now a consultant and analyst working on humanitarian issues. He holds a doctorate in South-East Asian Sociology from the University of Hull and is an Honorary Fellow of the University of Edinburgh. In 2006, he was made an OBE “for services to de-mining”.