Typologies of conflict and categories of civilians

Two recent publications caught our eye:

• The International Review of the Red Cross publishes an issue focussing on the legal classification of armed conflict, increasingly vital in the growing number complex contexts in which the Movement works which do not fit the classic definitions of war between state actors
• HPG's new report 'Realising Protection' looks at the meaning and implications of three categories of protected status for non-combatants – ‘civilian’, ‘refugee’ and ‘internally displaced’ – and the frameworks of international law and custom and 'shifting political priorities and engagement by governments and regional and international actors' which surround them. Ultimately, they argue, 'it is the observance or otherwise of basic protection rules and norms by national and international duty-bearers that has the greatest impact on people’s safety, security and wellbeing'.

ICRC in Yemen: Providing relief assistance to displaced people

Running out of/on water?!

Several messages in the past week have highlighted the various ways in which water is becoming more and more a challenge in the lives of disaster-afflicted populations.
In Kenya, for example, the first climate change refugees have given up their herder life styles to settle down to make charcoal or sell firewood. Droughts in the country have gone up from once every decade up to almost every year. This gives nomades too little time to recover from losses suffered. In addition to the greater scarcity in drinking water, drought-induced hunger is more and more becoming a security concern in the country as well, with higher levels of violence reported.
In a similar vein, Timor Leste President Ramos-Horta warns for land-and-water wars in the near future, unless more attention will be paid to the rural areas that are more and more affected by the disastrous impacts of climate change.
On the other hand, several countries, notably in the Caribbean area, are hit by hurricanes and floods with greater intensity every year, said John Holmes, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator. If no drastic reduction in carbon house emissions is negotiated at Copenhagen in December, he warns, these extreme water conditions (both the lack and abundance of it) will lead to unprecedented population movements, with high potential for conflict.
In a response to these threats, Reuters reports,

A 155-nation conference in Geneva agreed on a plan to improve climate information to help people cope with ever more droughts, floods, sandstorms and rising sea levels projected this century. The plan for a "Global Framework for Climate Services" includes the appointment of a task force of high-level, independent advisors within four months.

The panel's report is expected in twelve months, with recommendations on among others disaster risks, human health, transport and tourism, managing water, energy and securing food supplies.

HPN: The Role of the Affected State in humanitarian action

Humanitarian Exchange Magazine 43 features articles on the role of the affected state in humanitarian action. Case studies explore the extent to which economic growth, political stability and experience impact on the willingness and capacity of states to manage disaster response. The surprisingly positive role the military has played in supporting effective state-led disaster response is also highlighted and perceptions – often promoted by the media – that only international relief agencies can save lives and alleviate suffering are challenged. The role of the state in humanitarian action is, however, not always positive, as illustrated in articles focused on Sri Lanka and Zimbabwe.

Feature stories:
Aid and access in Sri Lanka
The silver lining of the tsunami?: disaster management in Indonesia
When the affected state causes the crisis: the case of Zimbabwe
Humanitarian governance in Ethiopia
Land and displacement in Timor-Leste
Lessons from the Sichuan earthquake

Practice and policy notes
Britain and Afghanistan: policy and expectations
Are humanitarians fuelling conflicts? Evidence from eastern Chad and Darfur
Lessons from campaigning on Darfur
Supporting the capacity of beneficiaries, local staff and partners to face violence alone
Stuck in the ‘recovery gap’: the role of humanitarian aid in the Central African Republic
Out of site, out of mind? Reflections on responding to displacement in DRC
Making cash work: a case study from Kenya

Tufts (and HPG): Livelihoods, Power and Choice: the Vulnerability of the Northern Rizaygat, Darfur, Sudan

Livelihoods in Darfur are intimately linked to the conflict, none more so than the livelihoods of the camel herding nomads known as the Northern Rizaygat. Their notoriety as part of the Janjaweed militia has obscured from view how their lives and livelihoods have been affected by conflict.

Based on fieldwork in rural Darfur, this report uses a livelihoods lens to illustrate the processes that have contributed to the vulnerability of the Darfuri nomads who have much in common with pastoralists globally. Severe pressures on pastoralist livelihoods have contributed to ‘maladaptive’ livelihood strategies that are often linked to violence and conflict, and undermine the livelihoods of both victims and perpetrators.

They have suffered relative exclusion and vilification by the international community, including by humanitarians, international peace processes and international advocacy. Apart from their politicized image, other reasons for their exclusion are because they are widely perceived by the international community as less vulnerable, and also because they are hard-to-reach, living in scattered rural communities and alienated by their treatment internationally.

This report challenges the widely held misperceptions about their vulnerability and presents a detailed series of recommendations. Lessons learned from this very specific case from Darfur are critical for a lasting peace and have much wider regional and international policy implications.

Read more on the Tufts website.

HPG have published a similar working paper entitled 'Challenging choices: Protection and livelihoods in Darfur', as part of a study on ‘Livelihoods and Protection in Conflict’. The aim of the research is to understand how greater complementarity between humanitarian protection and livelihoods approaches might strengthen analysis and intervention in order to reduce the risks facing conflict-affected populations. It draws on analysis of responses of those at risk in order to provide recommendations for humanitarian programming so as to achieve maximum impact on both protection and livelihoods. Download the paper from the Reliefweb site.

On the HPN blog: Linking protection and livelihoods in conflict: is it worth the effort?

Sorcha O'Callaghan and Susanne Jaspars

While aid actors often differentiate between people’s protection and people’s livelihoods, this distinction tends not to be as obvious to those affected. The threats that people face are frequently interrelated. In fact, the direct targeting of civilian populations (and their assets) is often a deliberate tactic in war. And even if not intended, violence has major implications for people’s livelihoods because it can disrupt basic services, limit access to employment, markets and farms, and even undermine social networks. Likewise, protection and livelihoods are also connected in the way people respond to destabilising situations. We only have to think of women searching for firewood as a source of income in Darfur – where the risk of rape is preferable to the death of their men – to grasp how closely people calibrate costs to their safety and dignity against their economic status.

Read more on Online Exchange.

BBI: Moving Beyond Rhetoric: Consultation and Participation with Populations Displaced by Conflict or Natural Disasters

UPDATE: Download an additional report, Listening to the Voices of the Displaced: Lessons Learned; author Roberta Cohen reviewed over 800 interviews with IDPs from different regions, stages of displacement and circumstances to analyze the concerns voiced by IDPs. The report is available from Reliefweb.

This desk study seeks to encourage reflection and debate on the benefits, limitations and risks of consultative and participatory approaches in working with communities displaced by both conflict and natural disasters.

It reviews previous experiences of consultation with internally displaced persons and others and explains why consultation is critical for both displaced communities and the agencies which work with them. Advantages of consultation and participation include both instrumental benefits, for example, better needs assessments, improved efficiency, implementation, and sustainability of projects; and value-based benefits, including empowerment and capacity building of affected communities.

Download the study from Reliefweb.

ODI: Opportunities and obstacles to the reintegration of IDPs and refugees returning to Southern Sudan

The long road home: Opportunities and obstacles to the reintegration of IDPs and refugees returning to Southern Sudan and the Three Areas

Profound changes are taking place in Southern Sudan as a result of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which brought to an end the 21 years civil war between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan People’s Liberation Movement/Army.

This agreement has made possible substantial improvements in freedom of movement, trade and oil revenue, dramatically reduced conflict and laid the foundations of a system of governance to administer the south’s own affairs. Demographics and social relations are radically changing from wartime patterns.

But peace has also given rise to uncertainties about the future. Though progress has been remarkable in some areas, the challenges of managing the transition of rebuilding Southern Sudan and the border areas remain considerable.

This latest Humanitarian Policy Group study argues the next few years will be crucial to the future stability and prosperity of the region. As considerable numbers of people return, the pressure of reintegration mounts. Strategies must therefore urgently be put in place to address massive and rapid urbanisation, encourage civilians to disarm and provide opportunities for the sustainable use of natural resources, including land in urban areas. Infrastructure and markets also need development and equitable access to essential services must be put in place.

The study, commissioned by the governments of Canada and Denmark, is the second phase of a research project looking at one of the world's largest return and reintegration processes.

Download the report, or a synthesis, from the HPG website.

Forced Migration Review No. 31 - Climate Change and Displacement

Forced Migration Review provides a forum for the regular exchange of practical experience, information and ideas between researchers, refugees and internally displaced people, and those who work with them.

Contents include...

- Human security policy challenges, by Andrew Morton, Philippe Boncour and Frank Laczko.
- Island evacuation, by Ilan Kelman.
- Social breakdown in Darfur, by Scott Edwards.
- Mobile indigenous peoples, by Troy Sternberg and Dawn Chatty.
- Rural-urban migration in Ethiopia, by James Morrissey.
- Adaptation and cooperation, by Britta Heine and Lorenz Petersen.
- Recovery and the rule of law: what have we learned?, by Kathleen Cravero.

Read more on the FMR website.

Tufts: Targeting of Food Aid in Complex Emergencies

These studies were commissioned by the World Food Programme to investigate the participation of recipient communities in the targeting and management of humanitarian assistance in complex emergencies.

Somalia: This study examined community participation throughout the food aid program cycle to understand the role of recipient communities in the targeting of food assistance under the conflict conditions. The study found big differences in the accountability and legitimacy of local leadership in different locations, from clan elders and religious leaders in some locations, to “gate keepers” who control information, access, and resources in other locations, especially in IDP camps. The report makes various suggestions for improving participation in targeting, and improving targeting generally.

Columbia: This study examined the participation of displaced communities through the food aid program cycle with particular attention to its different steps (early warning, needs assessment, design, targeting criteria, beneficiary identification and selection, distribution, monitoring and evaluation). Close and regular contact with the communities and implementing partners was found to be an essential ingredient for participative and representative approaches.

Tufts: 'Internal Displacement to Urban Areas: the Tufts-IDMC Profiling Study, Khartoum, Sudan'

In many conflict zones today, the targeting and uprooting of rural populations and their forced displacement is an integral part of the war strategies of rebel or government forces.

Notable recent examples include Sudan, northern Uganda, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Burma and Somalia. Many of these displaced people flee across borders to become refugees, but even more become internally displaced and a large and growing proportion migrate to the urban areas and particularly the capital of their own countries. Unlike IDPs in camps who are more easily identified and assisted, IDPs in urban areas comprise a hidden population, and aid agencies and governments have difficulty identifying them and understanding their experience relative to the urban population amongst whom they live. Relatively little is known about their precise numbers, demographics, basic needs and protection problems. Donor governments and humanitarian organizations have recognized this information gap, and in 2006, the Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (an arm of the Norwegian Refugee Council) commissioned the Feinstein International Center to conduct a research study that would address this gap.
The study had three main objectives: to develop generic research tools to be used for profiling urban IDPs, including to make population estimates; to generate comparative data on IDPs and non-IDPs in urban areas—including demographic and livelihood characteristics, access to services, economic integration, and whether the assistance and protection needs of IDPs differ from that of non-IDPs; To use the data to work with governments and humanitarian organizations to develop programs and advocacy strategies that assist IDPs and protect their rights.

The study took place from 2006-2008, in three urban locations: Khartoum, Sudan; Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire; and Santa Marta, Colombia. Surveys were conducted in each city, and the outcome was a tested profiling tool, a full report, and three case studies.
Access this report from Tufts

Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children: Disabilities among Refugees and Conflict-Affected Populations

This report is the culmination of a six-month project commissioned by the Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children and co-funded by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to address the rights and needs of displaced persons with disabilities, with a particular focus on women (including older women), children and youth. Based on field research in five refugee situations, as well as global desk research, the Women’s Commission sought to map existing services for displaced persons with disabilities, identify gaps and good practices and make recommendations on how to improve services, protection and participation for displaced persons with disabilities. The objective of the project was to gather initial empirical data and produce a Resource Kit that would be of practical use to UN and nongovernmental organization (NGO) field staff working with displaced persons with disabilities.

Access the report via Reliefweb.

IOM Migration Research Series No. 33: Climate Change and Migration: Improving Methodologies to Estimate Flows

This paper is concerned with the question of trying to further the understanding of how different types of shocks and stresses caused by climate change influence different types of migration. The relationship between climate change and migration is currently a topic of great interest as the ongoing “environmental refugee” debate demonstrates. Proponents of the concept of “environmental refugees” argue that climate change will increase the severity and the frequency of extreme weather events, which will in turn cause the displacement of the majority of the population of affected areas. As a consequence, hundreds of millions of “environmental refugees” from vulnerable regions all over the world are expected to seek refuge in wealthier countries.

This approach is potentially misleading for a number of reasons. First, the consequences of changes in climate patterns are diverse, ranging from slow-onset phenomena such as rising sea levels and melting glaciers, to increased extreme events that occur suddenly, and at variable intervals such as tropical cyclones and floods. It is likely that these heterogeneous manifestations of climate change will affect people’s livelihoods in different ways. Second, people might make use of a variety of different coping strategies in response to these different shocks and stresses. It is not clear whether and under what conditions migration is one of them. Third, migration decisions are complex with respect to destination, length of stay, and the profile of migrants. In addition, migration itself is a multi-causal phenomenon, making it difficult to isolate climate change related factors from other factors that cause people to move.

Access the paper via Reliefweb.

Fire safety in refugee/ IDP camps

Reports of fires in camps housing survivors of the 'Boxing Day' Tsunami three years ago prompted the BRE Trust to commission research into the problem. As the research progressed, it became clear that the same issues extended to other refugee camps, as Martin Shipp and Kelvin Annable explain.

It is estimated that over 187,000 people died, 115,000 houses were damaged or destroyed and around 1.7 million people were left homeless after the tsunami struck countries surrounding the Indian Ocean on 26 December 2004. Immediately after the event, the BRE Trust funded a project on the needs of tsunami affected countries(ref 1).

In December 2005, a report made to the Disasters Emergency Committee2 stated that “the real cause for concern is the poor conditions in temporary shelter and the continuation of tented camps. In particular, these camps and shelters are at risk of fire, cyclone and flood”. It was separately reported by the BBC that the shelters provided to tsunami victims had poor fire performance. Further investigation on the web revealed that a number of tsunami camps had suffered major fires, some with loss of life.

Reported causes vary; some appear to be deliberate, some accidental, e.g. due to cooking or paraffin lamps. An initial examination of photographs of such camps suggested that fire spread between shelters should be easily limited by adequate spacing, with 5m or 6m spacing, as is done in the UK to protect mobile homes, for example. However, it was understood that practical, structural, environmental or social reasons might exist to explain why a solution could not, or is not, being adopted.

Read the rest on the Fire Safety Engineering magazine website! Thanks to Cathy for passing this on.

UPDATE: HPG: Crisis in Kenya: Land, displacement and the search for 'durable solutions'

Following a lunchtime seminar at BRC and case studies on Sudan, Angola, Columbia and Rwanda, HPG have now released a policy brief. More information about the project in the longer post.

This HPG Policy Brief explores the role that land issues have played in the current crisis, and why it is essential that humanitarian actors understand these issues as they seek to assist displaced populations and facilitate the process of return or resettlement. Its key messages are as follows:

• Current post-election displacement in Kenya is not a new phenomenon but a recurring trend linked to unresolved land grievances, in a context of poor governance and socio-economic insecurity. This is of concern to humanitarians as the failure to understand the dynamics involved and the implications for recovery can exacerbate tensions and jeopardise attempts to resolve the crisis.

• Humanitarians need to engage with land specialists to ensure that their programming not only avoids exacerbating tensions, but is also consistent with efforts to address the structural causes of conflict.

• Return, relocation and local integration processes should not be promoted as durable solutions in the absence of serious attempts to resolve land-related grievances. If durable solutions are to be found, programmes must take account of those who were forced to move in earlier waves of displacement.

• The government’s urgency in encouraging IDPs to return despite continued political uncertainty and insecurity raises clear protection concerns. This includes both physical security and wider issues to do with rights, community reconciliation and sustainable access to the means of subsistence.

• In the absence of political progress and stability, urbanisation is likely to accelerate as displaced people seek alternative livelihoods.

About the project

Violent conflict is usually accompanied by changes in land distribution and transformations in property rights. This creates a situation whereby a significant proportion of the affected population will claim or re-claim access to land and land-based resources.

Access to land is a major issue with respect to the return of refugees and IDPs, affecting both the choice to return and the prospects for recovery. Yet concerns about land and understanding about ownership, use and access to land are minimal within the humanitarian community and plans for large scale return of refugees and IDPs rarely incorporate sufficient analysis of the local land tenure situation. Post-war re-establishment of ownership, use and access rights is often complicated and problematic, but if land and property issues are left unattended they can provide significant potential for renewed confrontation.

This two-year HPG study will provide a much needed examination of land tenure issues in countries affected by or emerging from conflict. It will form part of a broader ODI research agenda on land which includes the Rural Policy and Governance Group, the Chronic Poverty Research Centre and the Rights in Action Programme.

There is a widespread perception amongst the humanitarian agencies that land ownership problems are too complex or sensitive to be addressed and as a result approaches to land tenure matters tend to be superficial and ad hoc. Most strategies are designed around returning land to pre-war owners and fail to recognise and address the very volatile tenure issues which develop during conflict and which are most to the fore at the end of a war.

While the relationship between land and violent conflict is complex, it is clear that competition over land has been a critical cause of violence in some conflicts (e.g. Rwanda ) and an underlying factor in many others (e.g. Mozambique , East Timor, Sudan and Bosnia ). Violence can also trigger new competition over land, as well massive population movement and forcible displacement. In any of the three scenarios land issues have played or continue to play a significant role when planning return and/or resettlement of IDPs and refugees as well as disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration of combatants.

International experience in addressing deep-rooted land tenure issues is quite limited and the ability of aid agencies to tackle such issues has generally been deficient. However, recent experience (e.g. in the Nuba Mountains, Sudan ) has proven that it is possible and relevant to invest in analysis and policy development related to land tenure while the crisis is still ongoing, in order to develop adequate policies for the post-conflict phase.

The project approach

Building on a review of existing research in this area, action research will then examine innovative, land tenure-related aid interventions to assess how these have actually impacted on the local land tenure situation and how they might be enhanced.

For a methodology and contact details for the lead researchers, see the HPG website.

Small arms survey: The Chad–Sudan Proxy War and the 'Darfurization' of Chad: Myths and Reality

The contention that the Darfurian conflict is being 'exported' to eastern Chad via janjawid militia has received widespread coverage. However, this is a dangerous oversimplification of the ethnic and political dynamics of the region, and most especially neglects the importance of the political crisis in Chad.

Khartoum and N'Djamena have been engaged in an on-again, off-again proxy conflict using one another's rebel movements since the Darfur conflict began in 2003, most intensively since 2005. Khartoum has attempted on multiple occasions to unify the Chadian rebel groups to destabilize or even overthrow the Déby regime. While Déby has survived two attacks on the capital, he has managed to hold on to power through repression and incentives to those who rally to him.

This Working Paper provides the contextual and historical background for understanding the current Chad–Sudan conflict, its complex ethnic components, and the history of the Chadian rebel factions. The paper explains why the current international peacekeeping effort is unlikely to be successful without an accompanying diplomatic push to bring the Chadian opposition— both legal and armed—and the Déby regime to the negotiating table.

The working paper is available for download from Reliefweb.

UNHCR: The Impact of Environmental Degradation on Refugee-Host Relations: a Case Study from Tanzania

While the majority of literature in the field of refugee studies centres on refugees specifically, recent years have seen an increasing amount of research that looks beyond the refugee communities to the other groups and individuals also affected by refugee emergencies. In particular, these studies look at how the host communities – the communities living in the areas where refugees eventually settle, either formally or informally – are impacted by a rapid and often unexpected influx of refugees.

The document is available for download from Reliefweb.

Sometimes refugees bring positive changes to host communities, such as economic growth or the funding of various development projects by international aid organizations that have come to the area in response to the refugee emergency. However, the influx and presence of refugees has also been shown at times to have negative impacts on individuals within a hosting community, or even on the community as a whole. In light of this, it is important to not only investigate the impact of the presence of refugees on the hosting communities, but also to consider how these impacts have then influenced the overall relationship between the two groups. In particular, it is important to determine what might contribute to a contentious or even conflictual relationship. A better understanding of this can ultimately assist those working with refugees in other situations, to plan and implement projects that may lessen the likelihood of such conflict.

One of the most frequently cited negative impacts in recent years, emphasized in particular by the host country governments, is environmental degradation and natural resource depletion. However, it is not only the host governments that claim that refugee camps cause environmental degradation: over the past several decades, there has also been a growing acceptance by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and other organizations working with refugees, as well as by independent researchers, that the presence of refugees often leads to environmental degradation and natural resource depletion both within and around the refugee settlements. As written in the UNHCR manual entitled Key Principles for Decision Making: “Evidence shows that large-scale dislocation of people, characteristic of many recent refugee crises, can create adverse environmental impacts. The scale and suddenness of refugee flows can rapidly change a situation of relative abundance of local resources to one of acute scarcity” (Engineering, 2005: 3).

Forced Migration Review: Humanitarian Reform, fulfilling its promise?

For those who believe in it, it’s about fixing things and improving on them. For the sceptics, it’s about changing things for the sake of change, or replacing one slightly dysfunctional system with another equally dysfunctional one. For those opposed to it, it’s about replacing systems that work (in spite of all their faults and weaknesses) with inappropriate ones that are bound to fail because they have been dreamt up by people in ivory towers who have little real understanding of the situation on the ground.

So it is with humanitarian reform: you have the believers, the sceptics and the opponents. Fortunately, the vast majority of humanitarian practitioners believe in the need for change and adaptation. They recognise the need to improve the way humanitarian organisations do business. They are all too aware of the continuing proliferation and sometimes fragmentation of humanitarian actors and the problems that arise when there is a lack of operational capacity, planning, predictability and coordination. They have seen what happens when some categories of people (such as the internally displaced) are not dealt with in a systematic way or when particular sectors receive inadequate attention. They are all painfully aware of the failings that we have seen in recent years in places like the Congo, Darfur, Liberia and northern Uganda.

The package of humanitarian reforms put forward by the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)1 in 2005 and 2006 is ambitious and far-reaching. It falls into three main areas: first, achieving more adequate, flexible and timely humanitarian financing; second, strengthening the ‘Humanitarian Coordinator’ system; and third, ensuring more systematic and predictable attention to all the main sectors of response, in what has come to be known as the ‘Cluster Approach’.2 Underpinning all this is the need to strengthen our interface with governments and to forge stronger partnerships amongst humanitarian actors – particularly between UN and non-UN actors.
As with any reform process, the proof of the pudding is in the eating. So the question now is whether or not the reforms are working.

Available for download from the Forced Migration Review website.

Iraq: Calls for a “Humanitarian Surge”

On 29^th November 2007, ODI/HPN hosted a discussion entitled “Responding to humanitarian needs in Iraq”. The two main speakers at this event were Agron Ferati, Iraq Country Director, International Medical Corps (IMC) and Peter Kessler, UNHCR.

Both speakers presented a very interesting analysis of the crisis and the humanitarian needs. This included the massive displacement of people both within and outside Iraq, the fact that this crisis affects everyone in Iraq, that women, children and minority groups are especially vulnerable and that with the huge numbers of people fleeing the country Iraq has now become the largest refugee crisis in the world (even larger than Darfur).

To illustrate this, UNHCR gave some approximate figures on displacement, (bearing in mind that these are very approximate as no one knows for sure the numbers affected): 4.5m Iraqis displaced in total, 2m in Iraq, 1.2m in Syria, 500-750k in Jordan, 80k in Egypt, 50k in Lebanon and 200k in the Gulf States. 1 in 7 Iraqis are now displaced. This is the biggest refugee crisis in the Middle East since 1948 and it is the biggest urban crisis that UNHCR has ever faced.

However, an interesting debate came from IMC who argued that due to the recent improvement in the security situation in Iraq, now was the time for a “humanitarian surge”. NGOs need to move in now, step up activities and get a presence on the ground whilst there is this window of opportunity. They argued that it was time to stop doing endless assessments as the situation changes so rapidly; assessments go out of date and are useless in a matter of weeks. Instead agencies need to get in there and do something to make a real difference to the lives of Iraqis. If Iraqi people see a direct difference to their lives this will increase chances of stability in the country.

IMC concluded that this humanitarian surge needs to happen now before the situation deteriorates again. IMC is able to operate because they gain acceptance from local communities and tribal elders and therefore advises that this strategy would also work for other NGOs. Concern was expressed by representatives from other agencies attending the talk regarding the overall insecurity and volatility of the country, plus the apparent lack of multilateral/bilateral funding available for agencies aiming to work in Iraq.

We will therefore have to watch and see over the coming months as to whether agencies heed this call for a “humanitarian surge”, whether the security situation improves enough to allow this and whether enough is done to actually make a difference to the lives of the millions of Iraqi people currently facing the world’s largest crisis.

Migration

• The UNHCR have published a discussion paper on their strategy for dealing with increasing numbers of mobile people, and
• The Forced Migration Review No. 29 is jam-packed with interesting articles about humanitarian reform and its impact on migration, and asks - Is it fulfilling its promise? The contents list is in the longer post (click the link to read it).
  

Forced Migration Review contents:
- Humanitarian action: a Western-dominated enterprise in need of change by John Holmes
- The Global Humanitarian Platform: opportunity for NGOs? by Elizabeth Ferris
- Challenges of collective humanitarian reponse in Sri Lanka by Firzan Hashim
- Unity in diversity - the One UN, UNHCR, and Rwanda by Tim Maurer
- UNHCR, IDPs and humanitarian reform by Jeff Crisp, Esther Kiragu and Vicky Tennant
- Is humanitarian reform improving IDP protection and assistance? by Anne Davies
- Reform in focus: the IFRC perspective by Robert Mister
- Integration and UN humanitarian reforms by Eric Stobbaerts, Sarah Martin and Katharine Derderian
- Insecure environments: the missing piece? by Matthew Benson
- Iraq: towards a field-focused humanitarian reform by Cedric Turlan
- Strengthening the Humanitarian Coordinator system by Claire Messina
- Neglecting the third pillar by Manisha Thomas
- Humanitarian reform: a view from CAR by Toby Lanzer
- Humanitarian reform: saving and protecting lives in DRC by Ross Mountain
- Assessing the impact of humanitarian reform in DRC by Nick Bennett
- The state of humanitarian funding by Peter Walker and Kevin Pepper
- Worlds apart? Muslim donors and international humanitarianism by Mohammed R Kroessin
- Cluster approach - a vital operational tool by Allan Jury and Giammichele De Maio
- Early recovery from disaster: the Pakistan earthquake by Andrew MacLeod