International Organisations and the Evolution of Humanitarianism: Cross-perspectives on the Commonwealth and the European Union

Abstract

As international relations actors in the post-Second World War world, international organisations have played a significant role in the standardisation of global policy concepts during the 20th century, and humanitarian assistance has been no exception. While the study of the role of international organisations in shaping a dominant model of humanitarian aid has recently gathered pace, few historians have focused on different, less successful models and interpretations developed by other international organisations. Recently declassified Commonwealth Secretariat records show that discussions within the Secretariat and among member states regarding the potential objectives and scope of Commonwealth humanitarian assistance programmes took place as early as the 1960s, and continued throughout the following decades. This article provides an overview of the origin and evolution of the Commonwealth’s approach to humanitarian assistance since the 1960s. Its objective is to document this hitherto little known aspect of Commonwealth assistance policies, and, based on an initial literature and archival survey, to contribute to the identification of further research questions and gaps in this aspect of Commonwealth history. Although they are very different in nature and scope, the Commonwealth and the European Union share at least one common feature in so far as humanitarian assistance is concerned, namely their difficulty in reaching a consensual definition of it. By exploring the links and discrepancies between, as well as within, each organisation’s approach to humanitarian assistance, and by examining the initiatives of some of their member states, this paper seeks to highlight the plasticity of the definition of humanitarian assistance.

Key Words:

• Africa
• Europe
• humanitarian aid
• international organisations
• International Committee of the Red Cross
• Commonwealth
• European Union
• Department of Humanitarian Affairs

Notes

1. 'The Malta Communiqué (2005) Final Communiqué from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta, 25–27 November 2005, http://assets.thecommonwealth.org/assetbank-commonwealth/action/viewAsset?id=19556&index=11&total=1000&categoryId=22&categoryTypeId=1&collection=CHOGM&sortAttributeId=7&sortDescending=false#imageModal.

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. See in particular chapter 10 of Mazower (2012, pp. 273–304). For an overview of recent historiographical discussions on the global role of international organisations, see, for instance, Iriye (2004) and Reinalda (2009); and thematic issues of international history journals (Kott, 2011; Rodogno et al., 2012).

5. Such studies include Hutchinson (2000), Barnett (2011) and Cox (2009); as well as other studies quoted in this article.

6. The dominant institutional focus, in its realist and functionalist versions, is discussed by Kott (2011). See also Fassin (2012).

7. Michael Barnett’s attempt at such longue-durée analysis, although criticised for some of its shortcomings, is a useful example of this (Barnett, 2011). See also Rodogno (2012).

8. For an illustration of this contrast see Philippe Ryffman’s and Michael Barnett’s respective accounts (Ryfman, 2008; Barnett, 2011).

9. See also Barnett’s chapter ‘Saving slaves, sinners, savages, and societies’ (Barnett, 2011, pp. 57–75).

10. Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, 22 August 1864, https://www.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/120?OpenDocument; see also Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, 12 August 1949, https://www.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=200E2B4090502A4AC12563CD00519EF8.

11. On this topic, see Finnemore’s chapter (1999, pp. 149–168).

12. On the rise of nutritional sciences in international organisations, see Staples (2006, pp. 64–81).

13. See on this topic Johanna Siméant’s thoughts on scholars’ symbolic use of the end of the Cold War in Siméant and Dauvin (2004, p. 13).

14. For a contemporary account of the inclusion of disaster preparedness in humanitarian policy, see Fromuth (1988, p. 178).

15. See, for instance, the discussions in Weiss (2012).

16. For instance, for a study of the International Relief Union in a longue-durée framework, see Hutchinson (2000). On the creation of UNDRO, see Nishimoto (2014).

17. For a first-hand testimony on the history of UNDRO, see Peter Macalister-Smith (1980); see also Nishimoto (2014).

18. Resolution 66/232 of the United Nations Security Council (United Nations, 1966), 2006-152, Rhodesia, Miscellaneous Correspondence Part 2, COMSEC; Report on the Work of the Sanctions Committee, January 1971–June 1973, n.d., 2005-101 Ottawa Circular Papers, COMSEC, Arnold Smith Papers.

19. Minutes of Commonwealth Sanctions Committee Meeting, 10 December 1971, 2004-048 Rhodesia: Internal Affairs, COMSEC; ibid.; Report on the Meeting between Mr Anyaoku and Sir John Carter, Chairman of the Sanctions Committee, at the Guyana High Commission at 10.00 am, on 2 March 1972, n.d., 2004-48 Rhodesia, Internal Affairs, COMSEC; Report on the Work of the Sanctions Committee, January 1971–June 1973; Arnold Smith, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, May/June 1975, Commonwealth Humanitarian Assistance to Southern Africa, Background Note by Secretary-General, n.d., 2006-141 Heads of Government Meeting 1975 Kingston Part 2, COMSEC, Arnold Smith Papers; Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, June 1977. Draft Report of the Sanctions Committee, July 1975–May 1977, n.d., 2009-161 Heads of Governments Meeting Lancaster House 1977, Part 2, COMSEC, Shridath Ramphal Papers.

20. Ottawa Final Communiqué, 1973, 2005-101 Ottawa Heads of Governments Meeting 1973, COMSEC.

21. Report on the Work of the Sanctions Committee, January 1971–June 1973; Ottawa Final Communiqué.

22. Commonwealth Assistance to Rhodesian Africans and Namibians: Rhodesia, n.d., 2007-140 Countries Aid to Mozambique, 1975–76, COMSEC, Shridath Ramphal Papers.

23. Commonwealth Secretariat (1987, p. 10); Commonwealth Assistance to Rhodesian Africans and Namibians, n.d., 2007-148, Southern Africa 1976, COMSEC, Shridath Ramphal Papers; Smith, Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, May/June 1975, Commonwealth Humanitarian Assistance to Southern Africa, Background Note by Secretary-General, p. 2.

24. Message from the High Commissioner of Zambia to A. Smith, 12 January 1973, 2006-152, Rhodesia, Miscellaneous Correspondence Part 1, COMSEC; Letter from A. Smith to High Commissioner of Zambia, 15 January 1973, 2006-152, Rhodesia, Miscellaneous Correspondence Part 1, COMSEC.

25. Emeka Anyaoku, Possible Relations with UN Sanctions Committee, 8 March 1972, 2004-066 Rhodesia Exchange with UN Sanctions Committee, COMSEC; Minutes of the Meeting of the Sanctions Committee, 31 March 1976, 6, 2007-009 Sanctions Committee 1976 Circulated Papers and Minutes, Part 1, COMSEC.

26. Arnold Smith, Telegram, 27 April 1974, 2006-141 Heads of Governments Meeting Kingston, Part 1, COMSEC, Arnold Smith Papers.

27. J. R. Syson, Letter to M. Malhoutra, 1 June 1977, 2008-013 HGM 1977 Background Papers, COMSEC; see also Commonwealth Assistance to Rhodesian Africans and Namibians; and Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, June 1977. Draft Report of the Sanctions Committee, July 1975–May 1977.

28. Report on the Commonwealth Committee on Southern Africa, June 1977–June 1979, n.d., 7–12, 2010-017 HGM 1979 Zambia Background Papers Part 2, COMSEC.

29. Aide Humanitaire Canadienne Aux Vietnamiens, Présent 2e Édition Nationale, 7 May 1970, Les Archives de Radio-Canada, http://archives.radio-canada.ca/guerres_conflits/guerre_vietnam/clips/6132/, accessed 14 April 2015.

30. Official assistance tripled between 1990 and 2000 (Barnett, 2011, p. 3).

31. On the recent history of the humanitarian sector, see Ryfman (2008).

32. On this topic, see the position of one of the founders of Médecins Sans Frontières (Brauman, 2009).

33. Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU), Art. 214-2, in Cremona (2011, p. 13).

34. See Versluys (2009, p. 91).

35. See Darwin (1988, p. 235).

36. See Cox (2009).

37. The Harare Commonwealth Declaration (1991), http://assets.thecommonwealth.org/assetbank-commonwealth/action/viewDownloadFile?CSRF=AC4sa3MAdMJk0IK5mrxS&returnUrl=viewSearchItem%3findex%3d1%261%3d1&id=19499, accessed 14 April 2015.

38. See also the denunciation of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘mass murder’ in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The Auckland Communiqué (1995), http://assets.thecommonwealth.org/assetbank-commonwealth/action/viewAsset?id=19554&index=6&total=36&view=viewSearchItem#imageModal, accessed 15 April 2015.

39. Ibid.

40. The Malta Communiqué (2005) Final Communiqué from the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) in Malta, 25–27 November 2005.

41. Commonwealth Secretariat (2009).

42. Department for International Development (2011); Commonwealth Secretariat (2013).

43. The Durban Communiqué (1999), n.d., http://assets.thecommonwealth.org/assetbank-commonwealth/action/viewAsset?id=19564&index=2&total=6&view=viewSearchItem; Kaberere (n.d.).

44. The Edinburgh Communiqué (1997), n.d., http://assets.thecommonwealth.org/assetbank-commonwealth/action/viewAsset?id=19549&index=3&total=36&view=viewSearchItem#imageModal, accessed 15 April 2015.

45. Barnett (2011).

46. For a glimpse of such rebukes, see Short (2015); Commonwealth Secretariat (2013).