Accountability Is The Foundation For Humanitarian Aid

In response to the recent failure of the international community to prevent the famine crisis in the Horn of Africa since July 2011, Suzanne Dvorak the chief executive of Save the Children wrote that, “We need to provide help now. But we cannot forget that these children are wasting away in a disaster that we could - and should - have prevented” she added, “The UN estimates that every $1 spent in prevention saves $7 in emergency spending.” (Dvorak, 2011).

Over the recent years the military has had a greater involvement with aid programs, this was most notable from her experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan. Militarization of aid politicizes it for something that shouldn't be political. As the author believes humanitarian aid needs to exist in a neutral humanitarian space in order to remain its legitimacy and maintain close ties to the community level. From one example mentioned in Damned Nations, during the 2005 earthquake in Pakistan, international aid agencies that worked closely with communities showed greater progress and effectiveness (Nutt, 92). In essence this administered a positive attitude towards westerners, and symbolized progress within hostile nations. Aid that is not militarized allows civilians to feel safe access to services and without the fear in putting themselves or their families at risk (Nutt, 92). In comparison military administered aid has proven to lack the same level of trust because civilians inherently become worried about being targeted as collaborators (Nutt, 92). In addition the militarization of aid proves to bring further danger towards humanitarian workers. “Over the past decade, attacks against aid workers have increased 177 percent, with reports of rape, violence, extortion, abduction, and killings” (Nutt, 94). The author states this was reflected from a misjudgment that involving armed militants into

This presentation will analyze the response plan, Issues: social, political, legal and economic, the roll these agencies played and Collaboration.

The leader needs to instill urgency into the workers and volunteers of the ARC. Taking an organization that’s on its knees requires great cooperation, initiative, and willingness to make sacrifices from many people (Kotter, 2011). Based on the case study, the ARC lacks all these characteristics for change to occur. It needs to look how to improve its response times, how to become more efficient in collecting denotations and how to prioritize and quickly distribute the donations it receives in a fair and efficient manner. It needs to hold its leaders to a higher standard that will instill a culture of high moral standard in its employees and volunteers. Once the nation sees a change in the behavior of the ARC they will be more willing to give donations and their time to support disaster relief efforts.

David Rieff talks about the idea of the “international community which gives both the humanitarian worker and the victims of crisis “false hope” that something will be done (Rieff, 2003). He says that “the moment one taps on to the idea of the international community, it (humanitarianism) falls part like a toy” (Rieff 2003, p.9). The concept of international community, however vague or disastrous it might seem or sound, is also the source of logistics for

Accountability manifests itself both in real life and in fiction. Real life accountability ranges from keeping tabs of where a student is in school and extends to keeping track of emergency personnel in life or death situations. Teachers knowing where a student is, such as them being sick and not coming to school that day or keeping tabs on them while on a field trip keeps them at ease knowing their students are all accounted for and nobody was left alone when they need a chaperone. In a life or death situation, such as recovery and life saving operations after a hurricane or earthquake, the police, fire department, even the coast guard need to maintain accountability of their officers and other personnel as well as the people they have recovered from the wreckage. Although these real world examples are merely just examples of what accountability is needed for, however people need to know exactly why it is needed in business and in the field.

Selective application of the framework’s structures and procedures is also possible to account for differing factors in incidents and the resources available. Partnerships between government agencies at the local and federal level, private sector entities, communities and individuals become of the utmost importance in this design. They all play a key part, with each entity’s roles and responsibilities supplementing the group effort in realizing the mission. This system also allows for the development of a unified command. With the integration of all levels of the community, maintaining coordination and cohesion is also necessary. One command would permit for concentrated effort and proper allocation of skills and resources towards the common goal (National Response Framework Second Edition,

To understand the impact of humanitarian crises and how international politics play a role, a common definition of such crises must be understood. In his book “Humanitarian Crises and the International

Thus, if we can identify where the responsibility lies (or more accurately, how responsibility is ‘distributed’ as it would be unfair for us to presume that the government is solely responsible), then we can push for changes to occur toward a more positive direction. After responsibility is identified and positive change occurs, the new model for disaster preparedness can be emulated by other local governments, especially those that are prone to hurricanes and other extreme weather phenomena such as New

The essential meaning of accountability is a process or mechanism of which actors are obliged to explain and to justify their conduct through institutional relations or arrangements, whereby they might face “consequences.” Actors can be either individuals, e.g. official, or an organization, such as public institution. To be accountable, an actor should be able to clarify and vindicate its policy in front of a forum that could also be an individual or an institution. The forum, then, can query for explanations and deliver findings. Principles of accountability and its mechanisms are often provided in the Constitution and other domestic regulations.

The cholera outbreak in Haiti in the late part of 2010 raised a lot of question within the community and abroad. As the country tried to recover from the horrible devastation of the earthquake. Speculation has arose among many human right organizations within Haiti and internationally that the United Nation (UN) have accidental or purposeful dumped waste in the population’s drinking water. In a short period of time, many were infected or have died from the cholera infection. The ethical dilemma comes from the vulnerability of the Haitian population failed infrastructure and the missed steps in protocol by the UN. While the core value of the UN missions, or any other peace keeping mission to say the least, is to “do not harm”, nonetheless harm

Before relating the R2P to the Darfur Crisis it is important to understand the fundamental tenants of the R2P debate in relation to humanitarian intervention and the repercussions for state sovereignty. The R2P concept can trace its modern origin to the address given by former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, to the General Assembly in 1999 putting forward the challenge of preventing another Rwanda.

This paper looks at accountability when an event may occur, events that are man-made disaster, natural disaster, or planned events encountering a large number of people. Accountability is a part of all planning for any type of event that may occur, the response to any and all events, and the recovery process once an event has happened. Planning and recovery play a crucial role when identifying vulnerabilities and becoming a resilient community for the next event. Through research and partnering with Pottawatomie County Emergency Management (PTEM), a better look was taken into the process of the county becoming more prepared for any type of event. This paper is designed to consider accountability in how it effects the processes like planning

Membership in these communities, requires that we follow its customs and laws. Accountability also means taking an active role in sustaining the community that surrounds you. Accountability in the United States Military community is possibly the number one most important concept. Accountability of property, documents, funds, and last but certainly not least, PERSONNEL. The accountability of the military’s personnel may very well be the most important element of the previously mentioned categories since without its personnel, all the rest become irrelevant.

Much recent discourse surrounding humanitarian intervention has focused on the responsibility to protect (R2P). Prevention is a key component for good international relations and few would say it is not important, but as evidence to date would show prevention is very ineffective, the legality of military intervention still needs to be debated, as to date there is no consensus. For any intervention to be legitimate, whether unilateral or multilateral, it must comply with international law. So as not to cause any confusion, any situation in which an “intervention” is done with the permission or by request of the state being intervened, should be considered humanitarian assistance as state sovereignty is not breached. This paper will