The Politics of Humanity

might be plausible once it is in place, the shaping of it necessarily acknowledges
that states can be crucial actors within humanitarian endeavours.
The next key question is the protection and enforcement of humanitarian
space, which feeds into a consideration of the question of political authority and
sovereignty. Peter Redfield argues that humanitarianism “maintains a complex
relationship to sovereignty, seeking to restrict it and redirect it even while engaging
in parallel activities”.^20 Though it has a broader reach, it makes sense to treat this
problem initially in terms of physical humanitarian space, such as refugee camps
and so-called “safe havens” or “safe areas”.^21 As we have seen, many humanitarians
are traumatised by crucial failings in this area, in places like Srebrenica and the
Rwandan refugee camps, and much of their soul-searching relates to debates about
whether humanitarians can learn from those failings, or conversely are
“condemned to repeat.”^22 There are many interlocking issues here, but they all
relate in some way to the question of how to situate and understand political
authority within humanitarian space. As a starting point, we must exclude the
possibility that these physical spaces can be political vacuums. On the account given
above, this already seems highly implausible in theory. Fiona Terry notes that such a
separation from the political “is seldom possible in practice”.^23
Questions of internal political authority cannot be escaped. If a distribution
of food is to take place within a refugee camp, someone is necessarily in control of
the distribution. So either the food providers, the aid workers, retain that authority
and control the process, or it is de facto ceded to powerful groups within the camp.
It may of course be the case that there is a deliberate process of empowerment at
work, but clearly that will then be a political process negotiated between aid
providers and recipients.
20
21 Redfield, "Sacrifice, Triage, and Global Humanitarianism", 197.
For a detailed account of the latter, see Hikaru Yamashita, Humanitarian Space and
International Politics: The Creation of Safe Areas 22 (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2004).
Terry, Condemned to Repeat? For thorough accounts of the challenges presented to
humanitarians in the context of refugee camps, see Sarah Kenyon Lischer, Dangerous
Sanctuaries: Refugee Camps, Civil War, and the Dilemmas of Humanitarian Aid (Ithaca:
Cornell University Press, 2005). Tony Waters, Bureaucratizing the Good Samaritan: The
Limitations of Humanitarian Relief Operations 23 (Boulder: Westview Press, 2001).
Terry, Condemned to Repeat? , 19.