SHOULD EMERGENCY AID BE NEUTRAL AND UNCONDITIONAL?

TOBY: When we talk about humanitarian aid, we mean support that focuses on the immediate needs of people and communities struck by conflict or disaster. It’s different to development aid, which concentrates on governments, infrastructure and broader issues such as the rule of law.

For the past 30 years I have worked in both crisis and development settings, most recently in Afghanistan. I believe that humanitarian aid must be neutral. By that I mean that it’s given to people in need regardless of their ethnicity, nationality, race, gender or political affiliation. It follows that humanitarian aid should be unconditional: people receive it with no strings attached – or actions expected in return by them or their governments – because a war or disaster has struck their lives.

As a humanitarian operating under the principle of neutrality, you must dismiss all political considerations. This means you provide medicine, food and shelter regardless of which side people are on – or whether they live under a regime that abuses human rights. Most