Larry Minear

The United States as Humanitarian Actor

The performance of the United States as a humanitarian actor received decidedly mixed reviews in DARA’s Humanitarian Response Index (HRI) 2007. Overall, the United States was ranked 16th among the 23 members of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). These rankings range from a high of 2 for promoting learning and accountability to a low of 23 for implementing international guiding principles. The U.S. places 16th in responding to humanitarian needs, 13th in working with humanitarian partners, and 10th in integrating relief and development.

Humanitarian Politics in the Sudan

The best efforts of humanitarians notwithstanding, relief for suffering civilians in civil war settings is still not universally honored as a moral imperative. In a host of bloody struggles, particularly in Africa (for example, the Sudan, Ethiopia, Somalia, Angola, and Mozambique), the attention of the international community has been increasingly drawn to the callous prevention, by both governments and insurgents, of innocent civilians to have access to food and medicine. Such tactics have been a regular part of arsenals from the beginning of organized warfare. But the widespread indignation and active mobilization of international public opinion against them is a relatively recent development, as is the successful deployment of this public opinion to restrain the excesses of protagonists.