From Moria to the UN Security Council

Under the Refugee Convention, people in need of asylum must be given the opportunity to apply for it. This blog examines the fundamental flaws in this system.

Fighting racism and decolonising humanitarian studies

Partnerships between scholars and conflict-affected communities are as unequal as ever. This blog examines the urgent need to address racism and decolonise humanitarian studies.

The politics of humanitarian aid to Myanmar

This blog provides reflections on the politics of humanitarian aid in Myanmar and the challenges of getting humanitarian access in the short term and securing human rights for the future.

Digital dead body management

How can the digitisation of the human rights field re-shape ideas about death and the practices of care and control of the dead in the international space.

Humanitarian wearables and the future of aid in the global data economy

In the aid sector, the onset of ‘digital humanitarianism’  has produced a significant amount of hype with frequent promises that the latest digital device or platform will be a ‘game changer’. 

There must be something I can ‘help with’

A reflection on motivations and impacts of international volunteering.

Governing global health emergencies

While much attention has been given to the securitisation of global health responses – also in the case of Corona – less systematic focus has been given to the partial criminalisation of infectious diseases as a strategy of global health governance.

Humanitarian governance and localisation

While localisation is high on the agenda for humanitarian actors, at present, humanitarian governance does not support the localisation agenda.

New directions in humanitarian governance

Reflections on some of the new directions in humanitarian governance and the ambiguity of some of the principal techniques.

Protecting children’s digital bodies through rights

Children are becoming the objects of a multitude of monitoring devices—what are the possible negative ramifications in low resource contexts and fragile settings?

What can data governance learn from humanitarians?

Over the summer, the World Food Programme (WFP) — the world’s largest humanitarian organisation — got into a pitched standoff with Yemen’s Houthi government over, on the surface, data governance. That standoff stopped food aid to 850,000 people for more than two months during the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

Safeguarding: Good intentions, difficult process

In the wake of the scandal in Haiti revolving around sexual misconduct by Oxfam staff in the aftermath of the 2010 Earthquake, the aid sector is now engaging in ‘safeguarding’ exercises. However, despite good intentions, the safeguarding response has some problematic qualities which need to be discussed.