THIS IS ANOTHER in our series of reports designed to keep the stakeholders of the Humanitarianism and War Project and its increasingly wide circle of users current on our work. This report covers the period since February 9 1996.

Research in Progress
Dissemination
A Look to the Future

The Project has given priority in recent months in-country research on humanitarian action in conflict settings. Our forthcoming Occasional Paper, Haiti Held Hostage: The Question for Nationhood 1986-1996, is now being reviewed by the seven-person team which conducted interviews in Haiti in January. Publication of the report in English is expected in the fall; editions in French and Créole will follow. Debriefings are planned for the fall in New York, Washington, and Port-au-Prince. We were very pleased to have had the collaboration of the United Nations University in this effort.

Our case study on Chechnya, delayed earlier in the year due to security and political constraints, is now back on track. Our two consultants Robert Seely and Gregory Hansen spent two weeks in Chechnya, neighboring republics, and Moscow in April, interviewing more than sixty persons involved in the effort to provide protection and assistance. Their interim report shares preliminary findings about the humanitarian extremity of civilians and the conduct of the war by the protagonists and offers preliminary recommendations. It may be downloaded. The final report will appear as a Watson Institute Occasional Paper in late summer, tentatively titled War and the Humanitarian Situation in Chechnya. This highly precarious mission - very few humanitarian agencies are present because of the insecurity - should result in a first-rate and unusual case study. An op-ed by Hansen appeared in the Christian Science Monitor.

In addition to in-country research on selected conflicts, the Project has been proceeding with Economic Sanctions and Humanitarian Action. As noted in previous Status Reports, the initiative is a joint undertaking with David Cortright of the Fourth Freedom Forum and George Lopez of the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Work will be completed this month and published this fall on what is currently known of the impact of sanctions in the former Yugoslavia, Haiti, Iraq, and South Africa. Funds are being sought for follow-on research in the four individual countries to delineate more precisely the humanitarian impacts of sanctions and the extent to which they accomplished their political objectives. The UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs is encouraging the initiative, which it views as picking up where a recent DHA-sponsored study of sanctions left off.

The Project is committed to disseminating findings and recommendations throughout the practitioner community and beyond. Three books are scheduled for publication during the summer. Soldiers to the Rescue: Humanitarian Lessons from Rwanda, by Larry Minear and Philippe Guillot, is due to be published in June in English and French by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development in Paris. A study entitled The News Media, Civil War, and Humanitarian Action is scheduled for publication by Lynne Rienner Publishers in August. Finally, UN Coordination in Complex Emergencies: Lessons from Afghanistan, Mozambique, and Rwanda, by Antonio Donini should also be available by June in the Watson Institute series and on the Internet.

Nongovernmental humanitarian organizations remain a preoccupation in our ongoing work. A recently published piece by Thomas G. Weiss on this subject is, "Nongovernmental Organizations and Internal Conflict," which is taken from a forthcoming volume edited by Michael E. Brown, The International Implications of Internal Conflicts (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1996).

In an effort to make information about research in progress and publications more widely available, we have created this web site on the Internet. Early experience has been positive, with a steady increase in users each month. Please bring the existence of this resource to your colleagues, particularly those in the field.

The year 1996 marks the end of Phase 2 of the Project. (Initiated in late 1991, the Project's Phase 1 extended through 1993, with Phase 2 covering 1994-96.) Before reaching decisions about the precise shape of future initiatives, the Project is reviewing its efforts thus far. To assist in the process, we have retained the services of Giles Whitcomb, a consultant knowledgeable about the policy issues, institutions, research, and dissemination challenges involved. In the coming months, he will solicit the views of a representative sample of agencies and individuals about our activities to date and about future directions they would encourage. If you would like to convey your views, please feel free to contact him in care of the Project. We are asking for the assessment and recommendations to be completed by the early fall so that they may guide us in planning for the future.