CHAPTER-I

CHAPTER I

Humanitarian Role of Relief Agencies: A Theoretical Framework

In World War II, nearly one million people were killed in two

decades of ethnic conflicts. Thereafter, ethnic conflict has claimed more

than 11 million lives. 1 The expectation that the end of the Cold War

would dampen international tensions and restore peace and stability has

also been belied. The 1990s, in fact, witnessed the most horrendous

massacres of non-combatants. 2 In Europe, numerous ethnic conflicts

broke out. In the Asia-Pacific region, its religious and cultural diversities

holding enormous potential for turmoil, large-scale ethnic strife has been

witnessed, in particular in Indonesia, a multi..:ethnic society, and in Sri

Lanka, where the social and political fabric of the state has been

threatened due to the historical ethnic tensions between the majority

Sinhalese and the minority Tamils. Conflicts in any South East Asian and

South Asian country also tend to involve neighbouring countries, creating

regional instability. 3 World-wide, ethnic conflict results in heavy material

destruction, immense suffering and loss of human lives, undermining tl{e

efforts to promote pol-itical and economic development and political,

economic and social justice.

Larry Diamond and Mark F. Plattner (eds.), Nationalism, Ethnic Cof!flict and Democracy (London: Hopkins University Press, 1995), p. xvii. Raj at Ganguly, "Introduction: The Challenge of Ethnic Insurgency and Secession in South and Southeast Asia", in Raj at Ganguly and I an Macduff (eds.), Ethnic Cof!flict and Secessionism in South and South East Asia: Causes and Dynamics, Solutions (New Delhi: Sage, 2003), p. 9. V.D. Chopra (ed.), Rise o(Terrorism and Secessionism in Eurasia (New Delhi: Gyan, 200 I), pp. 245-8.

Ethnic Group

Urmila Phadnis defines an ethnic group as follows:

"a historically formed aggregate of people having a real or

imaginary association with a specified territory, a shared cluster of

beliefs and values connoting its distinctiveness in relation to similar

groups and recognized as such by others". 4

The term ethnic group is generally accepted as a population that

has the following characteristics:

1. It is large and biologically self-perpetuating.

2. It shares basic cultural values, realized in overt unity in cultural

forms.

3. It makes up a field of communication and interaction.

4. It has a membership that identifies itself-. and is identified by

others-as constituting a category distinguishable from other categories

of the same order. 5

Ethnicity stems out of "the human need to belong, to identify an.d

hence also to exclude". 6 It is seen as a "natural" property of a group due

to its behavioural influence, in the way in which cultural differences are

communicated. These cultural differences may be traced back to one

6

Urmila Phadnis, Ethnicity and Nation-building in South Asia (New Delhi: Sage, 1990), p. 14. F. Barth in idem (ed.), Ethnic Groups and Boundaries: The Social Organisation of Cultural Difference (London: Allen & Unwin, 1969), p. 200. E. Gellner, Thought and Change (London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1964), p. 149.

2

group's economic link::tges and its expenence of social deprivation and

political disadvantages vis-a-vis another group. 7 Ethnicity emerges out of

contact between different ethnic groups who see each other as being

different distinctively and also culturally. 8 The six main features that

differentiate one ethnic group from another are: a collective name; a

common myth of descent; a shared history; a distinctive and shared

culture; an association with a specific territory; and a sense of solidarity. 9

Ethnic mobilization takes place when groups try to motivate themselves

for power and recognition, with the ethnic leadership utilizing ethnic

symbols for social, cultural, political and economic objectives.

Scholars of ethnicity broadly fall under three schools, namely,

objectivists, subjectivists, and syncretistic/composite. 10 Objectivists

concern themselves primarily with the cultural markers of an ethnic

group, such as race, language, and descent. F. Barth, for instance,

includes community, culture, language group, corporation, association or

population group. 11 Historian A.J. Stockwell argues that ethnic identity

may be perceived by various terms like race, culture, religion, language

or place of origin of the group members. 12 The subjectivists take the stand

10

II

12

P.R. Rajeswari, "Ethnicity, Its Causes and Possible Solutions: The case of Sri Lanka", Strategic Analysis XXIII(3), June 1999, p. 485. T.H. Eriksen, Ethnicity and Nationalism: Anthropological Perspectives (London: Pluto Press, 1993 ), pp. 11-12. Ibid., p. 16. Phadnis, n. 4. Barth, "Introduction", n. 5, p. 34. A.J. Stockwell, "The White Man's Burden andBrown Humanity: Colonialism and Ethnicity in British Malaya", The South East Asian Journal of Social Science I 0( I) ( 1982), p. 44.

3

that cultural markers are only a manifestation of particular ethnic identity

distinctiveness and its recognition by others. 13

According to Paul R. Brass, both the subjective and objective

approaches to the study of ethnicity pose some difficulties. In his view,

though there is no specific feature associated with all ethnic groups, the

objectivist approach should be clearly distinguished by some cultural

features. He adds:

"The problem with the objective approach is that it is very difficult

to determine the boundaries of ethnic categories on this basis.

Whereas the difficulty with the subjective approach is that they

make it impossible to answer the basic question of how a person

arrives at subjective self-consciousness in the first place". 14

Syncretists urge a balanced approach, taking elements from both

the subjectivist and objectivist views in order to facilitate a better

understanding about the process of origin and growth of an ethnic group

that is characterized by continuity, adaptation and change.

IJ

14 Phadnis, n. 4. Paul R. Brass, Ethnicity and Nationalism: Theory and Comparison (New Delhi: Sage, 1991}, p. 18.

4

Theories of Ethnicity

There are four mam theories of ethnicity, namely, Primordialist,

Cultural Pluralist, Marxist/Neo-Marxist and Modernization-and-

Development approach. 15

The Primordialists' approach pivots around culture. In their view, a

group chooses its own ethnic identity. Ethnic identity is a necessary

condition for the emergence of ethnicity. The main difficulty with the

primordial approach, however, is that it ignores the importance of social

structure. It is unable, for example, to explain the relationship between

different ethnic groups that were once cordial but may now be

antagonistic to each other. 16

The Cultural Pluralists' approach, basically an extension of the

Primodialist one, stresses the dominant-subordinate patterns of relations

that exist among different ethnic groups. For the Cultural Pluralists, the

culturally diversified political systems are the basic reason for ethnic

conflicts. 17 This approach, however, fails to explain the amiable relations

that exist in multi-ethnic and diverse cultural societies.

The Marxists associate ethnicity with pre-modern values, artd

usually describe ethnic mobilization in terms of class-as a class struggle

I'

16

17

Ibid., p. 16. John F. Stack, Jr., "Ethnic Mobilisation in World Politics: The Primordial Perspective", in idem (ed.), The Primordial Challenge: Ethnicity in the Contemporary World (New York: 1986), p. 2. Phadnis, n. 4.

5

111 disguise. 18 Classical Marxism even supported the domination of

historically advanced ethnic groups over historically and economically

backward ethnic groups. 19 For the Marxists ethnicity is acceptable only

when it promotes social revolution. The Neo-Marxists' innovation was to

introduce the importance of external factors and the international context

into the traditional Marxist analysis. Another innovation was the

framework of labour, associating ethnicity with the distribution of

production roles in an international division of labour. 20 Still another

innovation was inter-colonialism, where ethnicity is activated in centre-

periphery exploitative relations. 21

The modernization-and-development approach considers ethnic

identity as a traditional obstacle to development, which is expected to

disappear, ultimately, in the course of development. 22 According to Karl

W. Deutsh, the process of modernization can gradually lead to global

integration. The consequence of modernization, in this view of ethnicity,

is that industrialization, urbanization, schooling, communication and

transport facilities, etc. would lead to assimilation,23 minimizing the

impact of ethnic consciousness. 24 In reality, however, increasing contacts

18

19

20

2 I

22

23

24

Bjorne Hettne, "Ethnicity and Development:An Elusive Relatonship", Contemporary South Asia (Oxford), 2(2), ·1993, p. 123. Rita Jalai and Seymour Martin Lipset, "Racial and Ethnic Conflicts: A Global Perspective", Political Science Quarterly (New York), I 07(4), Winter 1992-93, p. 592. Hettne, n. 18, p. 124. Also see Cynthia H. Enloe, "Ethnicity, the State and the New International Order", in Stack, Jr. (ed.), n. 16, pp. 25-42. Ibid. Eriksen, n. 3, p. 33.

. K. W. Deutsh, Nationalism and its Alternative (New York: Alfred Knopf, 1966), p. 25. Jalai and Lipset, n. 21, p. 585.

6

between culturally diversified people could result m increased ethnic

consciousness. 25

Ethnic Conflict

Ethnic conflict is a widespread phenomenon confronting most

states. These conflicts are shaped by various factors such as demographic

patterns, pre and post-colonial legacies, economic factors, political

aspirations of various ethnic groups, existence of cross-border eth?ic

complications, involvement of neighbouring states, and activities of

international organizations influenced largely by the decisions, actions

and policies of leaders and governments. 26

Barry Posen describes the situation of ethnic conflict as "emerging

anarchy", which occurs when central authority declines and groups

become fearful of their very survival. 27 When the State is unable to

provide security the groups become fearful of their identity and existence

and form organized groups, prepared to indulge in violence that can

threaten to tear apart multi-ethnic societies.

Rodolfo Stavehagen describes ethnic conflict as a confrontation

between contenders who define themselves and each other in 'ethnic'

25

2.6

Walker Connor, "The Politics of Ethnonationalism", Journal of International Affairs 27( I), 1973, p. 23. Michael E. Brown and Sum it Ganguly (eds.), Government Policies and Ethnic Relations in Asia and the Pac{fic (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1997), p. vii. See Barry R. Posen, "The Security Dilemma and Ethnic Conflict", in Michael Brown, Ethnic Conflict and International Securily,Journal of International Security, pp. I 03-24; David A. Lake and Donald Rothchild, "Containing Fear: The Origins and Management of Ethnic Conflict", International Security 21 (2), Fall 1996, pp. 41-75; Milton J. Esman, Ethnic Politics (NewYork: Cornell University Press, 1994), pp. 244-5.

7

terms, i.e. "when national origin, religion, race, language or other cultural

markers are used to distinguish opposing parties". 28 In an ethnic conflict,

one group sees the other's identity as a threat to its own identity and

existence. Jayadeva Uyangoda describes ethnic conflict as a situation

where "social groups and political forces do not appear to see electoral

and parliamentary competition as an effective viable means of political

mobilization".29 In other words, ethnic conflict results when two or more

groups exist within a State boundary diversified on the basis of language,

religion, race and culture and when the State is unable to ensure security

to the ethnic groups, resulting in violence. This violence can pose a threat

to the country's stability, unity, and integrity. Ethnic conflict occurs over

incompatible interests of groups and governments, and is essentially an

internalized military affair.

Ethnic conflicts are often products of colonial and post-colonial

rule. The colonial rulers, particularly the British, drew geographical and

political maps and forcibly distributed the ethnic groups in order to gain

political and geographic dominance. In a multi-ethnic country like Sri

Lanka they co-opted the elite of both the Sinhala and Tamil communities, -

whereas in India they followed the policy of 'divide and rule' .30

28

29

:10

Rodolfo Stavehagen, Ethnic Con.flcits and the Nation-State (New York:St. Martin's Press/UNRISD, -Jayadeva Uyangoda, "Militarisation: Violent State, Violent Society, Sri Lanka", in Kumar Rupesinghe and Khawar Mumtaz (eds.), Internal Conflicts in South Asia (London:Prio/Sage Publications, 1996), p. 118. Shabnam Mallick and Rajarshi Sen, "Ethnic Conflicts in the Indian Subcontinent and International Security"; Asian Journal on Terrorism and Internal Conflicts 5( 16), July 2002, pp. 27-33.

8

Essentially, the tactic was to divide and segregate people into many

groups and isolate them from one another by dividing the country into

many . administrative and political units, giving special privileges to

certain sections of society, thus entitling them to higher professions and

authority. The privileged section may belong to the majority or minority

community. Even after the colonial dispensation ends the stigma of

privileged versus non-privileged lingers, engendering ethnic conflict.

Competition for scarce resources is another major cause of ethnic

conflict. 31 When particular groups benefit from the creation of jobs,

linguistic rights, educational policies, and property rights, it creates

resentment among the deprived groups, thus paving the way for the

emergence of organized groups based on language, religion, caste and

class. 32

According to V esna Pesic, ethnic conflict is caused by the "fear of

the future", lived through the past. 33 Ethnic conflicts emerge because of

accumulated fears about the future and after long experience of various

types. A group's experience with particular sections within the nation

might result in fear about the future among that group, particularly if the

government is unable to provide protection to that group. In the

:n

32

Jan Naderveen Pieterse, "Deconstructing/Reconstructing Ethnicity", Nations and Nationalism, vol. 3, Part 3, March 1997, p. 378. Rajeswari, n. 7, pp. 486-7. Vesna Pesic, "Remarks at the Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation (IGCC) Working Group on the International Spread and Management of Ethnic Conflict, October I, 1994", quoted by David A. Lake and Donald Rothchild, "Containing Fear: The Origins and Management of Ethnic Conflict", International Security 21 (2), Fall 1996, p. 43.

9

contemporary world, most ethnic conflicts have resulted from sub-

national sentiments, demanding either autonomy or secession.

The following factors are conducive to ethnic conflict:

(1) A socially mobilized population group;

(2) The existence of a pool of symbols connoting its

distinctiveness;

(3) The selection, standardization and transmission of such

symbol pools to the community by the leadership; and

( 4) A reference group in relation to whom a sense of relative

deprivation, real or imaginary, is aggregated. 34

Rodolfo Stavenhagen lists seven kinds of situations that might lead

to ethnic conflict, as follows:.

J4

1. Ethnic groups within a state that identifies itself as being

multi-ethnic or multi-national. Such groups may base their

identity on language, religion, nationality or race.

2. Ethnic groups within a state that does not formally recognize

its own multi-ethnic composition .... Here minorities may be

regionally based . . . or they · may be racial, religious,

linguistic or tribal; or a combination of all these elements.

Gonzalez Casanova, "Internal Colonialism and National Development", Studies in Comparative International Development, I (1965): 33, quoted in Phadnis, n. 4, p. 27.

10

3. National minorities that identify with their ethnic kin in a

neighbouring state in which they may have majority status.

4. Multiple ethnic groups within a state in which none enjoys a

particularly dominant position, specifically in recently

independent, formerly colonial countries, in which the State

itself is a relatively weak, artificial construct.. ..

5. Ethnic minorities that straddle international boundaries and

with minority status in each one of the countries ....

6. Ethnic immigrants and refugees resulting from extensive

migrations, particularly from Third World countries into

other Third World countries or into industrialized nations.

7. Indigenous and tribal peoples constitute a special case of

ethnic groups generally being regarded as minorities,

because of the historical circumstances of their conquest and

incorporation into new State structures as well as their

attachment to their land and territory and their secular

resistance to genocide, ethnocid_e and assimilation. 35

Impact of Ethnic Conflict

Ethnic conflict has a direct impact on the stability and sovereignty

of the country. Sometimes, the state structure itself plays a significant

35 Rodolfo Stavehagen, "Ethnic Conflicts and their Impact on International Society", International Social Science Journal (Oxford) 43(127), February 1991, p. 119.

II

role in precipitating the ethnic conflict. The process of nation-building is

itself conflict-ridden, since the creation of a homogenized society-which

is part of the process of modernization and development-conflicts with

diverse ethnic groups and their politicized ethnic identities. Asymmetrical

allocation of resources, the struggle b~tween State power and ethnic

groups, struggle against the subordination of the minority's cultural and

linguistic rights and struggle for political emancipation are some of the

central issues which ethnic nationalism and ethnic conflicts seek to

address. The many instances of the State's resort to genocide and mass

execution when faced with ethnic movements have also undermined the

State's supreme political authority.

Many ethnic conflicts involve neighbouring countries either

because of the involvement of a common ethnic group inhabiting both the

countries or the inflow of refugees into the other country. The

neighbouring states get involved in these conflicts, for defensive reasons,

or to protect the ethnic brethren or for opportunistic reasons. 36 In the

process they can suffer serious consequences of the ethnic conflict that

was generated outside their geographical borders. India's involvement in

Sri Lanka and erstwhile East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) may be seen as

examples.

For an overview of major internal conflicts as late as 1995, see Michael E. Brown (ed.), The lntemational Dimensions of Internal Conflict (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996), pp.4-7.

12

EthGic conflict leads to a large flow of refugees, disrupts regional

and economic activities and leads to military incursions in neighbouring

states. It is characterized by direct and deliberate attacks on civilians,

leading to the death of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people.

The genocide carried out against some particular ethnic groups in Bosnia

and Rwanda are examples in recent memory. 37 Such episodes create

humanitarian emergency situations.

Humanitarian Emergency

A humanitarian emergency is a situation in which large numbers of

people are dependent on humanitarian assistance, especially for food,

water, shelter, and medical care from external sources. 38 According to

Giovanni Andrea Cornia of the UN University, humanitarian emergency

is "a phenomenon which has perhaps the most serious threat to human

security in the present world". 39

37

39

Humanitarian emergencies have the following characteristics:

• They are complex and long lasting.

• They are caused by either man-made or natural disasters.

• They make people dependent on outside agencies for food, water,

shelter and medical care.

Ibid . . Global Humanitarian Emergencies, 1996, http://www.reliefweb.int/, p. I. Tom Boland, "Politics: UN Helpless as Humanitarian Emergencies Increase", http://www.igc.org/, p. 2.

13

• They cause severe destruction of material resources and heavy loss of

human lives.

• They pose a serious threat to human security.

Over the years, humanitarian emergency situations have become

more frequent, more widespread, more complex and long lasting. They

are largely caused by internal conflicts or natural disasters, resulting in

the emergence of refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs). To

mitigate their suffering non-governmental organizations (NGOs),

international organizations and international relief agencies (INGOs)

enter the scene, with programmes of aid and assistance.

Non-Governmental Organizations

Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) may be defined as

voluntary outfits that work with and, mostly on behalf of, others. The

emphasis is on voluntary service. NGOs' work and activities focus on

issues of people's concerns such as human rights and development. Their

functions are to serve under-served or neglected populations, to expand

the _freedom of or to empower people, to engage in advocacy for social

change, and to provide services. The changing role of the State and its

failure to address both the local and global problems paved the way for

the emergence of NGOs as an institutional set-up, private in form but

public in purpose. 40 NGOs are increasingly acting as alternative models to

40 See Lester M. Salamon and Helmut K. An heir, The Emerging Sector: An overview (Baltimore, MD.: Johns Hopkins University Institute for Policy Studies, I 994).

14

support government projects of developmEnt, addressing the needs of the

poor and the marginalized sections by playing a promising interlocutors'

role in a wide range of development activities. NGOs could also be called

private voluntary organizations, transnational social movement

organizations, gross-roots social change organizations, and non-state

-developmental actors. 41

Characteristically, NGOs are non-profit outfits, imbued with a non-

profit motive, private, development-oriented and relatively independent

by nature. In earlier times, NGOs depended upon State support for their

finances but now most of the financial assistance comes from

international agencies. 42

In the post-Cold War era many human rights advocates, gender

activists, developmentalists and groups of indigenous people have become

more visible and vocal in expressing their thoughts and ideas that were

considered to be the exclusive preserve of governments. 43 Encouraging

this trend has been the growing willingness of the international

community to address humanitarian emergencies, and the growing number

and better profile of NGOs that try to mitigate human suffering. 44 The·

Commission on Global Governance, speaking approvingly of the crucial

41

42

44

See Thomas G. Weiss, "Nongovernmental Organisations and Internal Conflict", in Michael E. Brown (ed,), The International Dimensions oflnternal Conflict (Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1996), pp. 435-59. Gerard Clarke, Politics of"NGOs in South East Asia: Participation and protest in the Philippines (New York: Routledge, 1997), pp. 1-24. See Peter J. Spiro, New Global Communities: Nongovernmental Organizations in International Decision Making, No. I (Winter 1995), pp. 45-56. Weiss, n. 41, pp. 435-7. Also see Bertrand Schneider, The Barefoot Revolution: A Report to the Club of Rome (London: IT Publications, 1988).

contribution of NGOs observes that "in their variety they bring expertise,

commitment and grassroots perceptions that should be better mobilized in

the interests of better governance". 45

As formal institutions, NGOs are intended to continue m

existence-they are not merely ad hoc entities. They are self-governing

within their own constitutional arrangements. They are private and

separate from governments, without much capacity to direct societies or

require support from them. They are non-profit institutions, operating

beyond their capacities and trying to mitigate the life-threatening

suffering from internal conflicts. 46 They provide aid and assistance, and

protect the rights of the civilians caught in the throes of internal conflict.

The world's humanitarian safety networks consist of eight types of

actors. 47 They are: (1) host governments, (2) armed opposition groups,

(3) local NGOs that come from within the conflict areas, (4) the United

Nations, (5) donor governments, (6) military forces that assume

humanitarian tasks, (7) the International Committee of the Red Cross

(ICRC), and (8) NGOs based outside the conflict areas.

45

4(>

47

Commission on Global Governance, Our Global Neighbourhood(Oxford: Oxford University Press, I 995), p. 254. One mea:,ure of the sea-change that has occurred is that the commission, composed almost entirely of former government officials and high-level officials from intergovernmental secretariats, devoted so much attention to NGOs.

·See John Borton, "Recent Trends in the International Relief System", Disasters 17(3), 1993, pp. 187-20 I; idem, NGOs and Relief Operations: Trends and policy implications (London: Overseas Development Institute, 1994). See the longer discussion in Larry Minear and Thomas G. Weiss, Mercy Under Fire: War and the Global Humanitarian Community (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1995); idem, Humanitarian Politics. (New York: Foreign Policy Association, 1995).

16

The United Nations network comprises several kinds of

humanitarian agencies, of which the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF), the

World Food Programme (WFP), and the UN High Commissioner for

Refugees (UNHCR) are juridically part of the United Nations.

Donor governments not only contribute resources to UN

organizations and NGOs but they also operate their own activities. The

U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) and the European

Union's Humanitarian Office (ECHO) are some such organizations

responding to natural and man-made disasters.

Since the mid-1980s the military forces, the third outside actor,

have made significant contribution towards humanitarian issues. During

the Cold War, outside soldiers were occasionally mobilized to combat the

consequences of natural disasters, but their contribution was very limited

because of poor co-ordinahon among UN peacekeepers in delivering the

relief and protecting human rights in war zones. 48 Military forces assumed

importance in humanitarian activity in Somalia, Haiti, Rwanda and former

Yugoslavia.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), founded in

1864, is the fourth outside humanitarian actor. The fifth humanitarian

actor comprises private relief groups, or INGOs such as World Vision

International, Save the Children, CARE (Co-operative for Assistance and

4R See Leon Gordenker and Thomas G. Weiss (eds.), Soldiers, Peacekeepers and Disasters (London: Macmillan, 1991 ).

17

Relief Everywhere), IRC (International Rescue Committee), MSF

(Medicines Sans Frontiers), Oxfam (Oxford Committee for Famine

Relief), and CRS (Catholic Relief Service).

NGOs work more effectively than governments. Their low-profile

operations, not overly bounded by the constraints of State sovereignty,

enable them to reach assistance to the victims more expeditiously. 49 Being

non-bureaucratic in nature they go beyond states and set up cross-border

operations, at times when UN organizations and the donor governments

refuse to do so.

NGO Types and Roles.

NGOs may be classified into three types: government-organized,

donor-organized, and quasi-NGOs.

Government-organized NGOs are an extension of the sponsonng

government and reflect its foreign policy orientation. For example, during

the 1980s, a large number of NGOs, including the International Rescue

Committee (IRC) acted as channels for U.S. government aid to refugees

in Pakistan fleeing from the Soviet-backed Afghan government.

As regards donor-organized NGOs, . according to Brown and

Korten, "As donors become interested in NGOs, they also find themselves

49 See Brian H. Smith, More than Altruism: The politics of private foreign aid (Princeton, N.J.: Princeton University Press, 1990).

18

tempted to create NGOs suited to their perceived needs". 5° For example,

in Afghanistan and Cambodia both governments and the UN agencies

created and sustained such NGOs. Donor-organized NGOs mainly are

local NGOs.

Quasi-NGOs (QUANGOs) receive the bulk of their resources from

governments. Governments fund them and their services are aimed at

internationally endorsed objectives that make them different from

government-organized NGOs. NGOs such as the ICRC, Nordic, Canadian

and the U.S. NGOs are largely funded by governments.

Role of NGOs in Conflict

Though NGOs have operational, educational and advocacy roles,

the present study is limited to their role in the context of conflict and

humanitarian needs.

50

The following role ofNGOs in conflict situation may be noted:

• Responding to the humanitarian emergency needs by delivering

emergency relief.

• Providing disaster relief and undertaking active development

•

programmes.

Educating the public and governments .

David L. Brown and David Korten, Understanding Voluntary Organizations: Guidelines for donors. Working Paper No. 258 (Washington, DC.: World Bank, September 1989), p. 22.

19

• Reinforcing the norms promoted by intergovernmental

organizations to promote public education campaigns by helping

states. 51

• Emphasizing structural change and prevention through education.

The NGOs' role in humanitarian emergencies may be seen in terms of six

operational areas, namely, assessment, negotiation, resources mobilization, co-

ordination of delivery of services, and strategic planning.

Assessment

In order to have an effective humanitarian action one should have an idea

of the intensity of suffering. Assessment, however, is a very difficult task,

especially in conflict situations. In case of natural disasters like floods, cyclones

and earthquakes, an assessment can be made more easily because the governments

of countries affected by such natural disasters request outside help and gather

information. But in a conflict situation it becomes difficult to assess the number

and category of affected civilians, what kind of aid and assistance they need and

how emergency relief is to be provided to them. In the circumstances, the NGOs'

assessment is often made on the basis of funds raised by-the institutions that are at

times in confusion due to internal and institutional politics. The government side

and the insurgents would have different views and will tend to be strident about

them. ln conflict zones the UN is quite often involved in making assessments

51 ·See Jamie Leatherman, Ron Pagnucco, and Jackie Smith, International Institutions and Transnational Social Movement Organisations: Challenging the state in a three level game of global political transformation, Working Paper Series 5, WP 3 (Notre Dame, Ind.: Kroc Institute, Fall, 1993).

20

because as an inter-governmental organization it has to heed the government's

request for evaluation in conflict zones. NGOs try to estimate and reach the victims

of humanitarian emergencies by involving both government and UN agencies.

Negotiation

Depending on the intensity of the crisis humanitarian agencies

involve themselves in the demanding task of negotiation. In the post-Cold

War era, the UN played a major role in the negotiating process, especially

with the governments because of its bargaining position. However, NGOs

"have helped or even .taken the lead in some areas, for example, the

Carter Center in Haiti and Bosnia, the Communita' di Saint' Egidio In

Mozambique, and the All Sudan Council of Churches in Sudan". 52

Resource Mobilization

To respond to humanitarian emergencies, enormous human and

monetary sources are required. But the continuous fund-raising requests

can cause donor fatigue. Appeals from diverse organizations for funds

aggravate the problem. 53

Delivery of Services

Delivery of relief goods and servtces 111 the war zones is a

hazardous task. During the Cold War a few private organizations such as

52

53

See Cameron Hume, Ending Mozambique's War: The role ofmediation and good offices (Washington, DC: US Institute of Peace, 1994); Francis M. Deng and Larry Minear, The Challenges of Famine Relief Emergency operation in the Sudan (Washington, DC: Brookings Institution, 1992). Also see Weiss, n. 41, p. 448. Weiss, n. 41, pp.,:l4.7~8.

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21

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the ICRC worked in war zones. After the Cold War, the active

involvement of NGOs in this field has increased. The trend has been to

take the assistance of military forces to deliver relief effectively. The

greater utilization of military forces guarantees relief to the civilians and

also protects the aid workers. 54

Coordination

Co-ordination is required to avoid chaos, confusion and waste.

Many NGOs, IGOs and INGOs have been established exclusively for an

effective coordination. Interaction, for example, is a consortium of some

160 U.S.-based NGOs that provides a forum to improve communications

and promote joint undertakings. Similar examples are the Red Cross

Disaster Steering Committee, International Council of Voluntary

Agencies (ICY A), both based in Geneva, the Disaster Emergency

Committee for British NGOs based in London, and International

Federation for the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). 55

Coordination among NGOs helps not only to reduce duplication of effort

but also ensures geological and sectoral coverage. It is estimated that

"perhaps ten U.S. and another ten European NGOs receive seventy-five

percent of all the public funds spent by NGOs in complex emergencies". 56

54

55

56

Ibid., p. 449. Ibid., pp. 449-52. Andrew Natsios, "NGOs and the UN Complex Emergencies: Conflict and co-operation", Third World Quarterly 16(3), September 1995, pp. 406-7.

22

St,·ategic Planning

No matter how acute the cns1s, it pays to look beyond the

emergency at hand. Analysts and practitioners agree that it is essential to

think creatively about long-term reconstruction and rehabilitation issues. 57

Strategic planning will always help during emergencies to provide better

and effective services to the victims.

Assessment of NGOs' Role

In the international system, NGOs 58 contribute significantly 111

terms of providing valuable information and ideas, advocating for an

effective and constructive change, providing necessary operational

capacity 111 emergencies and 111 development efforts, increasing general

accountability and advocating the legitimacy of the international

supremacy. They may not be the paragons of virtue or ideal expressions

of the civic interest. But they can broaden the global public policy for an

enhanced and legitimate action. NGOs rely on their neutrality to project

themselves. 59

57

5R

59

See Mary B. Anderson and Peter J. Woodrow, Risingfrom Ashes: Development Strategies at times of disaster (Boulder, Colo.: Westview, 1989). Also see Weiss, n. 41, p. 453. The organization is not established, sponsored or controlled by the government. On the contrary, it is set up voluntarily by people and managed by them, to achieve objectives adopted by them. The "Code of Conduct for NGOs in Disaster Relief' spearheaded by the lCRC, Red Crescent, Save the Children, Oxfam, Lutheran World Federation and World Council of Churches lists the important principles that should guide NGOs in disaster response. To the point of redundancy, the first four of these principles reiterate the goals of independence and autonomy. See also Daniel L. Byman, "Uncertain Partners: NGOs and the military", Surviva/43(2), Summer 200 I, pp. 97-110.

23

International organizations often get engaged in ethnic conflicts to

restore regional stability and to maintain the principles of International

Humanitarian Law (IHL). Their basic functions in any ethnic conflict

include providing aid and assistance to victims of conflict, protecting the

refugees and internally displaced persons, preserving the physical

integrity of the victims of conflict and protecting the inalienable rights of

civilians.

International Humanitarian Law guides international humanitarian

relief organizations. 60 They belong to international civil society, which

relies on legal instruments to carry out humanitarian activities.

Humanitarian relief agencies try to give relief to the victims and offer

protection to all those sufferers as their actions are grounded in the

principles of esteem for human life enshrined in the Universal Declaration

of Human Rights (UDHR). According to Article 22 of the UDHR,

everyone has the right to social security through national effort and

international co-operation, whether· it is economic, social, or cultural. 61

But sometimes there are tensions between the State and the relief

agencies when, while involving themselves in internal conflicts, their

actions question or undermine the State's ability and autonomy. 62 The

work and actions of international humanitarian relief agencies provide an

61

62

N ira Wickramasinghe, Humanilarian Relief Organizations and Challenges lo Sovereignty: The case of Sri Lanka (Colombo: RCSS, 1997), p. 4-11. Pramod Mishra (ed.), Human Rights in South Asia (New Delhi: Kalpaz, 2000), pp. 22-9. Wickramasinghe, n. 61, pp. 112-19.

24

international dimension to the t;iven conflict, leading to the

internationalization of the conflict itself.

Conclusion

Most of today's wars are a product of ethnic differences, and take

place within states rather than between states. The ethnic conflict of Sri

Lanka is one such. It is characterized by massive violence and State

oppression. Many intergovernmental organizations, and international

NGOs have been involved in assisting the victims of the conflict, such as

ICRC, Oxfam, CARE, and UNHCR. They work within the purview of

International Humanitarian Law (IHL). The history of the Sri Lankan

ethnic conflict and the profile of relief agencies involved in Sri Lanka and

their activities will be discussed in the ensuing chapters.

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