Humanitarian Justice & The State of the Humanitarian System

About the conference

As is well-documented, the global geopolitical milieu for humanitarian action in all forms is increasingly challenging. State funding for formal humanitarian action is at its lowest for decades, there is a growing disregard for International Humanitarian Law in various conflict contexts, and (poly-)crises derive from interlocking environmental hazards, socio-economic vulnerabilities and ongoing hybrid and protracted conflicts across the world.

These pressures are not only operational challenges. They bring to light issues of legitimacy, effectiveness and relevance, requiring deeper reflections around the sufficiency of current approaches and the need for alternatives. The need for alternatives specifically has been articulated in recent calls for humanitarian justice: a 'lived need of crisis-affected people for fair, transparent, inclusive and respectful humanitarian responses that are rooted in principles of dignity, solidarity, care and shared responsibility for people, nature and the planet, and that respect International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights'. 

You can read the full declaration on Humanitarian Justice here.

How can humanitarianism, as an expression of humanity and solidarity, continue to alleviate suffering under these circumstances? To what extent do existing humanitarian structures reproduce or mitigate injustice? In what ways do non-traditional humanitarian actors, including networks of (affected) people, work to try and reduce disaster risk?

And what role can Humanitarian Justice play as both a critique of and a pathway for transforming contemporary humanitarian action?

Let’s take stock together and look at the state of the humanitarian system.