The second, related point is to recall the historical context. It is important to
remember that accounts of universal human rights have largely come about as
humanitarian projects. They represent instances where the contingent,
discretionary character of a humanitarian ambition, such as eradicating slavery has,
on paper at least, been overcome. Yet they remain, to the extent that they are
sustained and advocated for by others, humanitarian projects. Even in that temple
of human rights, Amnesty International, it seems that rights, stripped of their
humanitarian hinterland, are inadequate to describe a sustained commitment to
human rights. In his study of Amnesty, Stephen Hopgood notes that in referring to
“the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), it did not do so as
foundation but as corroboration”.^56
The third, is that, as the first section made clear, even a limited account of
humanitarian action comes up, by virtue of the discretionary nature of a
humanitarianism not based on rights, against serious problems of unaccountability
that undermine the force of its declared principles.
The fourth is that a clear distinction relies on an unsustainable humanitarian
pretence of detachment from politics. This may represent a principled
independence from particular political actors, such as states (as will be discussed in
the next chapter), but it is not sustainable in the contemporary, highly organised
and institutionalised engagement of professional humanitarianism with contexts in
which human rights are at issue. This is especially true when emergencies are
institutionalised.^57 For example, UNRWA, technically a humanitarian rather than
human rights actor, could never plausibly claim to have nothing to do with the
human rights of several generations of Palestinians who have lived in its camps. As
de Waal notes:
In politics, humanitarian action is paradigmatically regarded as a state of
exception — it takes place beyond politics. In this sense, humanitarianism is
seen as a moment at which history is suspended and pure humanity is
briefly in focus. This is a necessary fiction for the humanitarian enterprise,
56
57 Hopgood, Keepers of the Flame , 9.
This also relates back to Van Brabant’s point in the previous section about the
importance of the social contract inherent in such relationships.