BRITISH HUMANITARIAN NGOs AND THE DISASTER RELIEF INDUSTRY, 1942-1985 By ANDREW JONES A thesis submitted to The University of Birmingham for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of History School of History and Cultures College of Arts and Law The University of Birmingham April 2014 University of Birmingham Research Archive e-theses repository This unpublished thesis/dissertation is copyright of the author and/or third parties. The intellectual property rights of the author or third parties in respect of this work are as defined by The Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988 or as modified by any successor legislation. Any use made of information contained in this thesis/dissertation must be in accordance with that legislation and must be properly acknowledged. Further distribution or reproduction in any format is prohibited without the permission of the copyright holder. Abstract This thesis is a history of humanitarian non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Britain, between 1942 and 1985. Specifically, it is focused upon the group of leading agencies linked to the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC), an umbrella body for joint emergency fundraising established in the 1960s. The thesis explores the role of these NGOs in building up an expansive and technocratic disaster relief industry in Britain, in which they were embedded as instruments for the delivery of humanitarian aid. This was problematic, as many principal aid agencies also wished to move away from short-term disaster relief, to focus upon political advocacy connected to international development instead. It is argued that, despite this increasing political focus, humanitarian NGOs were consistently brought back to emergency relief by the power of television, the lack of public support for development, and the interventions of the British government. Aid agencies also actively contributed to this process, as they used apolitical disaster relief to generate public support and drive institutional growth in a crowded marketplace. This analysis complicates linear narratives of a transition from emergency relief to development aid in post-war British humanitarianism, instead presenting the period as characterised by competing and contradictory trajectories. This challenges conceptions of NGOs as bottom-up agents of civil society, by highlighting their competitive tendencies and complex interconnections with the mass media and the state. The rise of NGO humanitarianism also sheds light on broader trends in contemporary British history, such as changing patterns of political engagement, the character of modern activism, and the legacies of empire in the post-imperial period. i Acknowledgements I owe a huge debt of gratitude to my supervisor, Matthew Hilton. Matthew has been patient and supportive throughout my doctoral research, and it has been a pleasure to work with him. Substantial support has also come from many staff members at the University of Birmingham. In particular, I would like to thank Chris Moores, Nick Crowson, Elaine Fulton, Corey Ross, Chris Hill, Kieran Connell, Gavin Schaffer, and Su Lin Lewis. I have been fortunate to be part of a vibrant postgraduate community at Birmingham, many of whom have become lasting friends. My appreciation therefore to Jamie Perry, Daisy Payling, Patrick Longson, Saima Nasar, Amy Edwards, Sam Humphries, Holly Ellis, Robert Brown, Rebecca Crites, Helen Coy, Kelly Waterhouse, Ellis Stacey, and Eliana Hadjisavvas. I would also like to thank Kevin O’Sullivan, for taking an interest in my work and being a welcome source of advice, encouragement and insights. My gratitude also to Tehila Sasson, for providing helpful feedback on earlier chapter drafts. The research for this project was undertaken in a number of archives and institutions. I am grateful for the assistance of the staff at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) Library, the University of Birmingham Cadbury Research Library, the University of Bournemouth Library, The National Archives, and the BBC Written Archives Centre. I would also like to thank John Borton of the Overseas Development Institute, who generously provided me with original documents from his own files. Finally, I would like to thank all of my family and friends who have supported me during the various stages of my doctoral research. James Bulloch and Louisa Oldfield in particular have both been highly engaged in my work. My brothers Stuart Jones and Ross Jones have motivated me throughout the writing up. But above all, I owe a special debt of thanks to my parents, Patrick Jones and Julie Jones, for their unwavering support. ii Contents Images Charts, Graphs, and Tables Abbreviations Page Introduction 1 Chapter One 51 The Emergence of a Disaster Lobby, 1942-1963 Chapter Two 89 Charity or Advocacy? The First Decade of the Disasters Emergency Committee, 1964-74 Chapter Three 150 Humanitarian Governance: NGOs, Disasters, and the State, 1942-74 Chapter Four 185 NGOs and the Technocratic Disaster Relief Industry, 1974-84 Chapter Five 237 Band Aid Humanitarianism: NGOs and Famine in Ethiopia, 1984-85 Conclusions 272 Bibliography 291 iii Images Page Image 1.1 65 Save the Children Fund, ‘Korean Plight Shames Humanity’, May 1958 Image 1.2 80 Daily Mirror ‘shock issue’ on the Congo, January 1961 Image 2.1 92 Oxfam, Christmas press appeal, December 1970 Image 2.2 117 Images from ITN news report on Biafra, 12 June 1968 Image 2.3 118 Oxfam press appeals for Biafra, June/July 1968 Image 2.4 128 Disasters Emergency Committee, ‘East Pakistan Floods’ appeal, November 1970 Image 2.5 133 Disasters Emergency Committee, ‘India/Pakistan relief’ appeal, June 1971 Image 2.6 141 Images from The Unknown Famine, October 1973 (ITV) Image 4.1 225 Disasters Emergency Committee, ‘East African Emergency’ appeal, June 1980 Image 4.2 228 Oxfam press appeals for Cambodia, October 1979 Image 5.1 246 Image from BBC News report on Ethiopia, 23 October 1984 Image 5.2 247 Observer article on famine in Ethiopia, November 1984 Image 5.3 259 Disasters Emergency Committee, ‘Ethiopia Famine’ appeal, April 1983 Image 5.4 260 Disasters Emergency Committee, ‘Famine in Africa’ appeal, July 1984 iv Charts, Graphs, and Tables Page Table 1.1 56 Operational members of the Council of British Societies for Relief Abroad (COBSRA) Graph 2.1 90 Cumulated income of the Disasters Emergency Committee and the Save the Children Fund, 1964-74 (adjusted for inflation) Graph 3.1 172 Annual expenditure by British government on humanitarian aid, 1966-1975 Graph 3.2 172 Annual expenditure by British government on humanitarian aid, as a percentage of total bilateral aid expenditure, 1966-1975 Graph 4.1 186 Cumulated income of the British Red Cross, Christian Aid, Oxfam and the Save the Children Fund, 1973-83 (adjusted for inflation) Graph 5.1 238 Cumulated income of the British Red Cross, CAFOD, Christian Aid, Oxfam and the Save the Children Fund, 1980-89 (adjusted for inflation) Chart 5.1 243 Voluntary donations from the British public to humanitarian NGOs for famine relief in Africa, from 1 April 1984 to 30 September 1985 Graph 6.1 279 Disasters Emergency Committee total fundraising income by decade, 1980- 2013 (adjusted for inflation) v Abbreviations ATV Associated Television AWP Association for World Peace BBC British Broadcasting Corporation BCC British Council of Churches BRCS British Red Cross Society CAAC Central Appeals Advisory Committee CAFOD Catholic Agency For Overseas Development CARE Cooperative for Assistance and Relief Everywhere CIIR Catholic Institute for International Relations COBSRA Council of British Societies for Relief Abroad CRDA Christian Relief and Development Association CRE Christian Reconstruction in Europe CRS Catholic Relief Services DEC Disasters Emergency Committee DFID Department for International Development EEC European Economic Community FAO United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation FCO Foreign and Commonwealth Office FFHC United Nations Freedom from Hunger Campaign FMG Federal Military Government of Nigeria FO Foreign Office GNP Gross National Product JCA Joint Church Aid JFS Joint Funding Scheme ICARS Inter-Church Aid and Refugee Service Department ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross IBA Independent Broadcasting Authority ITA Independent Television Authority ITN Independent Television News ITV Independent Television vi MSF M decins Sans Fronti res NGO Non-Governmental Organisation NSM New Social Movement NSPCC National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children ODA Overseas Development Administration ODI Overseas Development Institute ODM Ministry of Overseas Development OXFAM Oxford Committee for Famine Relief RAF Royal Air Force SCF Save The Children Fund TNA The National Archives UN United Nations UNDRO United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator UNHCR United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees UNICEF United Nations Children's Fund UNKRA United Nations Korean Reconstruction Agency UNRISD United Nations Research Institute for Social Development UNRRA United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration VCOAD Voluntary Committee on Overseas Aid and Development WCC World Council of Churches WDM World Development Movement WFP United Nations World Food Programme WOW War on Want WRY United Nations World Refugee Year vii Introduction Humanitarianism is big business in contemporary Britain. Within the international aid and development sector, the leading non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are all household names, characterised by massive resources, professionalised bureaucracies,