1. Militarized Aid Erodes Humanitarian Principles Humanitarian aid must be perceived as neutral and not driven by political or military objectives. Using the military in a humanitarian crisis works against that and potentially instigates further unrest. Attacks against humanitarian personnel have been rising in the past decade precisely because of a perceived blurring of humanitarian, political, and military goals... 2. Militarized Aid is Ineffective in the Long Term Militarized aid is often backed by huge budgets that are supposed to be spent quickly. Indeed, the Department of Defense has already allocated $1 billion to fight Ebola. The pressure to spend massive amounts is often coupled with pressure to achieve short-term political goals. That in turn translates into an ineffective use of funds. Accountability and follow-up are in short supply, too, meaning the same mistakes get repeated over and over. 3. Militarized Aid Diminishes the Supply of Civil Aid Many politicians who support militarized aid claim that the military is the only institution capable of handling the humanitarian crisis at hand. If this is true—and too often it is—this highlights the neglect of civilian-led programs that are more likely to get the job done. By constantly relying on the military for humanitarian efforts, were stifling efforts to grow civilian-led organizations that can handle the complicated logistics necessary to address large-scale humanitarian crises...
Posted on: Wed, 15 Oct 2014 07:30:08 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015