Humanitarian - Military Relations in Emergencies

Essay from the year 2008 in the subject Sociology - War and Peace, Military, grade: Merit, University of Birmingham (International Development Department-IDD), course: International Development, language: English, abstract: This paper criticises the involvement of military forces side by side with the humanitarian NGOs in humanitarian assistance situations. The mutual interest of both of them for working in the same field necessitates the cooperation between the relief NGOs and military forces for the purpose of coordination in delivering aid and ensuring the security of the latter. Discussed within are the benefits of involving the military forces into humanitarian aid and the main threats that arise from their involvement. The paper also analyses the military practises that destabilise the humanitarian principles by highlighting examples from situations happened in conflicts and complex emergencies. Suggestions for making the military involvement- if it is a must - to be more humanitarian are also illustrated in the paper.