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Iraq: More Challenges Ahead for a Fractured Humanitarian Enterprise

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Iraq: More Challenges Ahead for a Fractured Humanitarian Enterprise Briefing Paper Humanitarian Agenda 2015 Strengthening the humanity and dignity of people in crisis through knowledge and practice Iraq: more challenges ahead for a fractured humanitarian enterprise By Greg Hansen1 DECEMBER 2008 Contents Introduction 2 1. Scepticism about prevailing narratives of success 4 2. Adapting to the Iraqi context 9 3. Dysfunctional co-ordination 12 4. The Status of Forces Agreement and Strategic Framework 14 5. Conclusion 15 UNHCR staff are briefed by US troops near Hurriyah on the situation of displaced persons, September 2008. Photograph by Dan Martin. The Feinstein International Center develops and promotes operational and policy responses to protect and The war in Iraq has gone on longer than World War I and, while violence diminished in the strengthen the lives and livelihoods second half of 2007, nothing has been resolved. The differences between Shia and Sunni, the disputes within the respective communities, and the antagonism against the US occupation of people living in crisis-affected and are all as great as ever. -marginalized communities. The Center Patrick Cockburn, Moqtada al-Sadr and the Fall of Iraq, 20082 works globally in partnership with national and international organizations to bring about institutional changes that enhance 1 Greg Hansen is an independent researcher based in Amman, Jordan. He has worked effective policy reform and promote best since 1994 with a wide variety of humanitarian organizations in the Caucasus, south Asia, the Middle East and elsewhere. Hansen has tracked humanitarian policy and practice. operations in and around Iraq since early 2004. This report is available online at 2 Patrick Cockburn, Moqtada al-Sadr and the Fall of Iraq, Faber and Faber, London, fic.tufts.edu 2008, p253. Introduction is most acute. While some operational hu- manitarian organizations have adapted well Despite a relative reduction in the level of through effective management of security violence in Iraq, as of December 2008 Iraqis and operational challenges, operational Acronyms continue to face serious and persistent capacity still lags behind access: many threats to their safety and welfare due to a accessible needs are not being adequately CAP Consolidated Appeal mix of ongoing conflict, lack of access to met. basic services, spotty performance of Iraqi ICRC International Committee line ministries, serious inefficiencies in the The recently signed Status of Forces of the Red Cross humanitarian apparatus itself, and inad- Agreement (SOFA) means that the gradual equate operational capacity of aid actors withdrawal of the MNF-I is now a certainty. IDP Internally displaced person on the ground. There is a strong likelihood Some humanitarian organizations are of additional violent conflict in Iraq for situated advantageously to sustain and even JCC Joint Coordinating Committee years to come. Humanitarian action that scale up their operations as the context can adapt to a changing Iraq as the Multi- evolves over the next months and years. JMOCC Joint Military Operations National Force-Iraq (MNF-I) draws down Others are now faced with the urgent need Coordinating Committee will be needed for the foreseeable future. to either adapt their modus operandi to a changing Iraq, or to leave. Without a more MNF-I Multi-National Force - Iraq There are an estimated 2.4 million streamlined and independent operational displaced Iraqis and some 2 million Iraqi modality, the UN’s humanitarian apparatus NCCI NGO Coordination Committee refugees in neighbouring countries. is seriously disadvantaged by the shrinking in Iraq Displacement in Iraq has slowed somewhat of the MNF-I umbrella on which it depends. as violence has ebbed in some parts of the It may struggle to be an effective humanitar- OCHA UN Office for the Coordination country. However, despite government ian actor in the months and years to come. of Humanitarian Affairs incentives and political pressures for the return of Iraqis who have fled their homes, PRT Provincial Reconstruction the pace of return (an estimated 180,000 so Purpose and Scope Team far3) indicates low confidence among some In our June 2007 study, Taking Sides of the most victimized Iraqis regarding or Saving Lives: Existential Choices for PSP Private Security Providers the extent and durability of security im- the Humanitarian Enterprise in Iraq4, we provements. In areas experiencing the explored the themes of universality, impli- SOFA Status of Forces Agreement most dramatic security gains, aid agencies cations of terrorism and counter-terrorism, report that compared with two years ago coherence, and security (see Box 1). We SOT Sector Outcome Team when the main preoccupation was with aimed to identify systemic strengths and security, the main demand is now shifting weaknesses in the humanitarian apparatus, UNAMI UN Assistance Mission for Iraq to greater access to basic services such as and assess the outcomes of the choices water and health. Tentative improvements made by its various actors. This Briefing UNDSS UN Department for Security in the security situation in some areas have Paper provides humanitarian practitioners, and Safety resulted in increased expectations. policymakers and donors with a review of new developments in the Iraqi context for UNHCR UN High Commissioner for Since late 2007, few parts of Iraq have humanitarian action since mid-2007. It Refugees been truly off-limits to organizations that takes a forward-looking approach, antici- have made the changes and investments pating new and emerging challenges and UNICEF UN Children’s Fund required for effective operations in reason- calling attention to lessons that have been able safety at bearable cost. Humanitarian learned and spurned by various agencies WFP World Food Programme actors that are not under the MNF-I in their efforts to adapt to the changing umbrella are to some degree present and context. WHO World Health Organisation active in all governorates, even in locations where conflicts are ongoing and insecurity 3 Based on data collected by UNHCR and partners from various sources, IDP Working Group Update, September 2008, p8. 4 Greg Hansen, Taking Sides or Saving Lives: Existential Choices for the Humanitarian Enterprise in Iraq, Humanitarian Agenda 2015 Iraq country study, Feinstein International Center, Tufts University, June 2007. https://wikis.uit.tufts.edu/confluence/display/ FIC/Humanitarian+Agenda+2015--Iraq+Country+Study--Taking+Sides+or+Saving+ Lives--Existential+Choices+for+the+Humanitarian+Enterprise+in+Iraq. 2 Box 1 dysfunctional coordination architecture for the humanitarian response in Iraq. The fourth section surveys the implications for Humanitarian Agenda 2015 -- Four Crosscutting Themes humanitarian actors of the SOFA, with a view to anticipating the measures needed Research conducted by the Humanitarian Agenda 2015 project has been organised to ensure optimum preparedness for the around four cross-cutting themes, which permeate the Iraq case in profound ways: humanitarian enterprise as its operating environment changes with the drawdown Regarding universality, our earlier research confirmed a clear and unambiguous of US forces. The conclusion describes the resonance between Islamic or Iraqi understandings of the ideals of humanitarian dilemmas for donors that arise out of their assistance and protection, on one hand, and the ‘Dunantist’ or principles-based hu- multiple obligations to good humanitarian manitarian ethos underlying many western-dominated humanitarian institutions. As donorship, and a call is made for a compre- we noted, however, humanitarian ideals have the potential to unite, but humanitarian hensive and high-level review of the UN’s practice divides. The visible parts of the humanitarian enterprise in Iraq tend to be humanitarian performance in Iraq. those that have embedded with an unpopular belligerent. Meanwhile, humanitarian actors that have striven to adhere to more principled approaches tend to keep low profiles, to the extent that their activity is largely hidden from view. Little progress has Methodology been made in bridging cultural divides, knowledge gaps and perceptual differences. This research draws primarily on evidence from 45 semi-structured interviews and We observed in mid-2007 that local and international manifestations of terrorism conversations with current and former hu- and counter-terrorism had created a toxic and dangerous political environment for manitarian practitioners since the summer humanitarian actors, serving to increase the scale of civilian needs in Iraq while de- of 2008. Participants were from interna- creasing the capacity and willingness of humanitarians to respond. Aid agencies have tional and Iraqi NGOs, the International tried to adapt to this environment in markedly different ways: some by investing more Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), UN in acceptance, outreach and creative programming, and others by becoming bunker- Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), UN ized and isolated from beneficiary communities. The present review observes that humanitarian agencies and donors in Iraq, humanitarian responses are seriously impaired when agencies lose their proximity Amman and elsewhere. Interviews with with affected people and their communities. aid workers inside Iraq were held online and by telephone. The paper also incor- Our earlier country study on Iraq also noted the dangers inherent in pursuing porates data gathered during research for coherence between political, military, and humanitarian agendas. As US-led forces
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