Claude Bruderlein

Children affected by HIV/AIDS: SAFE, a model for promoting their security, health, and development

A human security framework posits that individuals are the focus of strategies that protect the safety and integrity of people by proactively promoting childrens well being, placing particular emphasis on prevention efforts and health promotion. This article applies this framework to a rights-based approach in order to examine the health and human rights of children affected by HIV/AIDS. The SAFE model describes sources of insecurity faced by children across four fundamental dimensions of child well-being and the survival strategies that children and families may employ in response. The SAFE model includes: Safety/protection; Access to health care and basic physiological needs; Family/connection to others; and Education/livelihoods. We argue that it is critical to examine the situation of children through an integrated lens that effectively looks at human security and childrens rights through a holistic approach to treatment and care rather than artificially limiting our scope of work to survival-oriented interventions for children affected by HIV/AIDS. Interventions targeted narrowly at children, in isolation of their social and communal environment as outlined in the SAFE model, may in fact undermine protective resources in operation in families and communities and present additional threats to childrens basic security. An integrated approach to the basic security and care of children has implications for the prospects of millions of children directly infected or indirectly affected by HIV/AIDS around the world. The survival strategies that young people and their families engage in must be recognized as a roadmap for improving their protection and promoting healthy development. Although applied to children affected by HIV/AIDS in the present analysis, the SAFE model has implications for guiding the care and protection of children and families facing adversity due to an array of circumstances from armed conflict and displacement to situations of extreme poverty.

New challenges for humanitarian protection

The fourth Geneva Convention, adopted 50 years ago, on 12 August 1949, describes the actions that warring parties must take to protect civilian populations from the worst excesses of war. Building on the concept developed in the previous three conventions—that certain activities and people, especially civilians, can be seen as hors de combat—the fourth Geneva Convention defines in detail the many ways in which civilians must be dealt with to shield them from the direct and indirect effects of conflict between combatant forces. Among the responsibilities that this convention sets for the warring parties are explicit actions that would grant medical personnel, and all aspects of the medical enterprise, complete protection from interference or harm. This neutral status for medical relief (and, by extension, all humanitarian aid) rests on the reciprocal assumption that those who deliver this relief are practising in accord with their professional ethics and will take specified steps to maintain their neutral posture vis a vis the warring parties. The moral impetus for this addition to the Geneva Conventions derived from international reaction to the great civilian death toll of the second world war. In virtually all wars of the subsequent 50 years the fourth Geneva Convention has been variously observed and routinely violated—and there has been no calling to account. Moreover, and this is what prompts new attention to the issue of humanitarian protection in war, in recent wars the warring parties have shown an increasing tendency to flout the fourth convention entirely. The problem is no longer a failure to abide by the rules but a failure to acknowledge that the rules even exist.1 This failure is particularly relevant for the medical community. Without the guarantees of protection defined in the fourth convention, civilians can be slaughtered with impunity and physicians and other relief …

Humanitarian Engagement Under Counter Terrorism: a conflict of norms and the emerging policy landscape

This article identifies two countervailing sets of norms – one promoting humanitarian engagement with non-state armed groups (NSAGs) in armed conflict in order to protect populations in need, and the other prohibiting such engagement with listed ‘terrorist’ groups in order to protect security – and discusses how this conflict of norms might affect the capacity of humanitarian organizations to deliver life-saving assistance in areas under the control of one of these groups. Rooted in international humanitarian law (IHL), the first set of norms provides a basis for humanitarian engagement with NSAGs in non-international armed conflict for the purpose of assisting populations under their control and promoting compliance with the rules of IHL. The second set of rules attempts to curtail financial and other forms of material support, including technical training and co-ordination, to listed ‘terrorist’ organizations, some of which may qualify as NSAGs under IHL. The article highlights counter-terrorism regulations developed by the United States and the United Nations Security Council, though other states and multilateral bodies have similar regulations. The article concludes by sketching ways in which humanitarian organizations might respond to the identified tensions.

Training humanitarian professionals at a distance: testing the feasibility of distance learning with humanitarian professionals

Training is an essential part of the professional development of staff working for international humanitarian organizations. While humanitarian workers are being deployed around the world to provide life‐saving relief assistance in often‐hazardous missions, it is imperative for organizations to ensure that staff members understand the mission and protocol of their organizations and that they develop an appreciation for the impact their work has on beneficiaries. Demand for such training has been expanding exponentially over the last decade with the growing number of humanitarian organizations and personnel. In the United Nations alone, an estimated 37,000 civilian personnel are being employed as part of UN humanitarian operations, an increase of 54% since 1997; 75% of this personnel is composed of national staff of the countries of operation (United Nations, 2008). With the increasing reliance of humanitarian organizations on national staff to manage their field operations, the professional development of staff members poses an ever‐growing challenge due to the remoteness and distribution of staff, limiting organizations’ ability to maintain the coherence and cogency of their mission and methods. Although many international humanitarian organizations have adopted some form of distance learning into their staff training, few organizations have evaluated the effectiveness of their distance learning programs. This research briefly evaluates the literature relevant to the use of distance learning for training professional staff in the humanitarian field, assesses how distance learning programs are being used among select humanitarian organizations based in the USA, and reviews the results of a pilot distance learning course offered to mid‐career professionals working on international humanitarian issues in a professional capacity.

From Information Overload to Informed Decision: Designing an Information System to Support Peacebuilding

In the complex, politically charged environment of peacebuilding in which multiple actors and interests operate, the power of information technology (IT) is rarely harnessed. Institutional bureaucracy and disparities among actors at the local, regional and international levels present major obstacles to effective information flows and optimised policy making. The establishment of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) offers an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of information sharing between a diversity of sources to enhance the quality of the debates on peacebuilding strategies, both within and outside the UN. The main goal of the Peacebuilding Initiative in this context is to enhance the work of practitioners and policy makers by developing robust information technology tools to support informed action within the peacebuilding community. 1

Custom in international humanitarian law

The purpose of this study is to analyse the normative character of custom in international humanitarian law (IHL), on the basis of the theory and jurisprudence of public international law, in order to arrive at a better understanding of the conduct of States in conflict situations. In so doing, an attempt will be made to determine the possibilities for developing custom in IHL, especially in view of the increasing concern shown by international public opinion for the plight of victims of armed conflicts. The paper will begin with a review of the questions raised by custom as an independent source of humanitarian law (point 1) and go on to take a closer look at the constituent elements of custom in humanitarian law (point 2). It will end with a comparative study of the two approaches to custom in IHL, concentrating on the consequences that the development of custom may have in the future (point 3).