United Nations

The professionalisation of humanitarian action: a work still in progress

For a long time, the humanitarian sector has claimed its complete “professionalisation”. However, a recent study conducted by Bioforce puts this plaudit into perspective. Rory Downham, who led it, reviews...

Rory Downham

Humanitarian work is coming up against a barrier: how can analysis help devise corrective strategies?

Security incidents and the growing difficulties that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are facing to gain acceptance are problems that are both also rooted in the very structure of the international humanitarian...

Pierre Micheletti

Greece is an example of solidarity for Europe!

  After 20 years of commitment for the defence of refugees the world over, the opera singer Barbara Hendricks was appointed Honorary Ambassador for life of the United Nations High...

Barbara Hendricks

The aid regime to Syria: a failed localisation

Shaped by their bureaucratic habits and destabilised by the unexpected complexity of the conflict, international organisations and NGOs alike neglected the local level. They thus deprived themselves of vital forces,...

Alex Simon - Peter Harling - Rosalie Berthier

Interview with Stephen O’Brien: “We need unconditional, unimpeded and sustained access to every single vulnerable person in Syria”

Interview What has been going on in Syria for the past six years is probably unprecedented since the Second World War. But this paroxystic conflict, which captures the attention of...

Stephen O’Brien

Children as agents of social and political change for water protection advocacy in post-conflict Colombia

At the end of 2016, Colombia – let’s hope so, definitely – turned its back on the conflict that opposed the government and the FARC for over 50 years. As...

Diana Volonakis - Susana Borda Carulla

The Summit of greater uncertainty

Fear and apprehension, just as the expectations that the World Humanitarian Summit inspires are not limited to the French speaking world, let’s say to these “French doctor” NGOs, with a...

Gareth Price-Jones

The future of humanitarianism

Going back over 50 years of history in order to consider the future of humanitarianism. Randolph Kent takes up the challenge, pointing out the structural flaws of the system so...

Randolph Kent

Video – Interview with Jan Egeland – Secretary General of the NGO Norwegian Refugee Council

Published on January 21, 2019 Former United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Jan Egeland is Secretary General of the NGO Norwegian Refugee Council. Last January, he...

Humanitarians in the age of counter terrorism: rejected by rebels, co-opted by States

Because rhetoric – and practice – of the fight against terrorism drives rebel movements to the edges of International Humanitarian Law, NGOs would be more and more under the influence...

Michiel Hofman

Back against the wall

Published on January 17, 2018 Editor’s note: the opinions expressed in this article solely reflect the authors’ views All pictures : © Jean-Baptiste Richardier U.S. President Donald Trump’s recent decision to...

Jean-Baptiste Richardier - Patrick Segal