NGOs in conflict situations: Good will alone is not enough

The role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in conflict situations has changed dramatically since the Cold War. Although more cash is now available for humanitarian aid, it is often misused by local warring parties, and increasingly provided under the auspices of military intervention. Moreover, NGOs have also become active in conflict management. This book examines current trends and asks whether various NGO strategies do harm or good.

As is often the case with anthologies, this collection of essays does not deliver a cohesive argument, but some of its parts are certainly very useful. Tobias Debiel and Monika Sticht outline significant trends among humanitarian NGOs. They point to the dominance of some of the major NGOs, and their risk of becoming useful instruments of warring parties or intervention troops. They suggest NGOs should re-focus on ethical norms, provide greater transparency and self-critically evaluate their own performance. Brigitte Fahrenhorst criticises the approach many NGOs take to conflict management. For instance, she berates them for often acting without sufficient analysis of the conflict, and for devoting scant attention to governance issues of the state concerned.

Jens Matthes’ case study takes this issue one step further. He describes how a UN aid consortium tried to force the rebel forces in southern Sudan to comply with international humanitarian law. Although doing so did serve to get international standards incorporated in local norms, in practice it made little difference, because the rebels who were prepared to reform lost ground. As Matthes argues, moreover, the consortium regarded its approach more as a means for safeguarding its emergency assistance than as an attempt to actually foster respect for human rights in rebel-held areas in the long run. Therefore, it did not make use of all opportunities at hand to promote humanitarian law. Better than many of the theoretical essays in the book, this case study spells out what difficult kind of balancing act aid agencies must perform in conflict situations.

Bernd Ludermann