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Humanitarian
Challenges in Central America: Learning from Recent Armed Conflicts |
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INFO |
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ABSTRACT |
| This study presents what in 1993 was the relatively new concept of "humanitarian space," publicized if not also coined by the Project. Humanitarian space is offered as an elastic and dynamic notion capable of either expansion or contraction through the actions of humanitarian organizations. Such space also varies according to the particular country situation and to such factors as geography, societal considerations, political context, military concerns, and administrative controls. The research examines humanitarian access and its interaction with peace processes in Nicaragua, El Salvador, and Guatemala during the years 1981-1993. "The importance of humanitarian concerns—both as an impetus to and as a beneficiary of diplomatic action—transcends the three countries involved." (xi) | |
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The study directs recommendations to international humanitarian organizations and other external actors as well as to internal actors within the region. It asks whether since "humanitarian efforts appear to have helped shift the balance of political forces in favor of the Sandinista government in Nicaragua and revolutionary movements in El Salvador and Guatemala," such efforts were not after all rather political in their impacts, as indeed suspected by their detractors in the region at the time. The study was based on more than 100 interviews in Central America between November 1992 and February 1993, supplemented by others conducted at UN headquarters and in New York and Washington. An annex reprints the questionnaire used. Published jointly with the Arias Foundation of San Jose, Costa Rica, the study also appeared as Desafios Humanitarias en Centroamérica: Lecciones Apprendidas en los Conflictos Armados, (103 pp.).
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KEYWORDS |
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Humanitarian principles, humanitarian space, humanitarian access, human rights, security, elections, peacekeeping, politicization, warfare, international military forces, sovereignty, funding, reconstruction, relief-to-development continuum, local institutions, civil society, conflict resolution, peace, regional organizations, accountability; El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Costa Rica, Mexico, U.S., UK; UN, ONUVEN, ONUSAL, UNHCR, UNICEF, WFP, Operation Provide Comfort, USAID, NGOs, the Red Cross Movement.
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-brown university | the
watson institute - -Tufts University | Feinstein International Famine Center - |
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FULL
TITLE: Humanitarian
Challenges in Central America: Learning from Recent Armed Conflicts (Occasional
Paper 14)