Photo courtesy of MSF
Former High Commissioner for Refugees, Sadako Ogata, said there were no humanitarian solutions to humanitarian problems because what they required were political solutions.
When states and governments fail their citizens, endangering their lives and making living conditions unbearable, the humanitarian agencies step in. The humanitarians are there because all else has failed and desperate people need help and support.
One such organisation is Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF)/Doctors Without Borders, which held a Health and Humanity Summit in Colombo focusing on issues affecting women’s health, people on the move and humanitarian space in the South Asian region.
“Humanitarianism is emblematic of failure. It means that societies have not figured out a way to live together in peace. Governments are not responding to the needs of the people; the multilateral system we have is unable to bring peace between warring nations so there are failures at multiple levels,” said Dr Unni Karunakara, former MSF International President and Senior Fellow at the Global Health Justice Partnership at Yale Law School.
Women in particular face the brunt of violent conflict during which they must fend for their families, facing sexual abuse and exploitation as they are forced to flee to safer areas. Their health needs are neglected and they are subject to physical and mental trauma that have long lasting effects. Even in developed countries such as the US, women’s rights are under threat from conservative and religious forces.
Many of the violent conflicts around the world are the product of exploitative colonial legacies but the very countries that created the problems are reluctant to take in people looking for safety and a better life for their families.
The rise of authoritarian regimes as a backlash to liberalism is severely curtailing civil space and the ability of citizens to access their right to freedom of expression and information.
In an interview with Groundviews, Dr Karunakara spoke on humanitarianism, global health disparities, the need for regional cooperation and the rolling back of women’s rights.
Why are refugees not welcome in rich countries?
We live in a world where very few leaders are an unifying force. Most leaders get their legitimacy by dividing people and pitting one group against the other. Part of the reason is the economy. While many countries in the region are doing well, such as India, it is largely a jobless growth where there is an educated workforce without jobs. This leads to frustration, so how do you channel this frustration? In India it’s channeled at minorities, in the US it’s channeled at Mexicans coming to take away jobs and in Europe against migrants. What does it mean to be globalised? It means everything can travel except labour. Capital, resources and wealth are going out of the country but when people try to follow that wealth they are pushed back. Citizenship is increasingly used to stop people going to certain countries. We can’t travel freely to each other’s countries in the region. Solutions to these problems have to be found at the highest levels. We have to look at ourselves and decide how we want our societies to be constructed.
What can humanitarian agencies do in seemingly hopeless situations such as Gaza?
You need politicians to do their work but when everything else has failed humanitarian action is essential because we are standing with people at their worst moments in their lives; it is important that we show up and we are standing next to the people in Palestine even when we cannot save them from all of the bombs and all of the killings and all of the terror being unleashed in that region. We don’t go anywhere with the idea that we are solving the problem. We are putting a spotlight on the injustice and the inequity that exist and we are pleading and requesting that the international community comes together and addresses these problems.
Some countries are abusing human rights with impunity. What can humanitarian agencies do in such cases?
States are sometimes the reason why humanitarian action is necessary. States are not always good faith actors and sometimes cause the humanitarian situation that we respond to. Today one of the big flashpoints that you see clash of isms. Liberalism clashing with socialism clashing with Islamism. There are different ideas of how societies should be constructed. There’s always a clash of ideas and that is not something you can solve overnight. We all have universal values. When we came together in 1945 to create the United Nations we agreed to an universal set of values; it is the bare minimum. To be part of a community of nations, it is fair to request that countries respect what they have signed up to. All countries that are members of the United Nations agreed to respect the human rights conventions. But there are problems with how it’s constructed, even the Security Council. In the last ten years, four out of five Security Council members have been part of coalitions that have bombed hospitals and destroyed health facilities so when Security Council itself is behaving with impunity how can it be the policeman of the world? We are at a very important moment in history where we have to rethink how we all come together as people and nations.
While humanitarian agencies have been responsible for great strides in access to health care for the poor and vulnerable, it is still not equitable or fair. What more should be done?
This is where SAARC can play a big role because we have the resources and we have the capacity to look at the problems that face our people and put in the necessary resources. We have capacity to do research and development and we have the capacity to produce medicines in the region. The question is whether we have the political will to do it. To expect market to address the problem is tilting at windmills because the market will always have a profit motive so it is important for states to step in and fill the gap for people who are suffering from diseases that the market will never ever cater to. Our governments should take moral positions and be able to withstand pressures from private and geopolitical interests. These are issues that countries in the region can find common ground. We have the intellectual ability and the scientific ability to bring countries together and foster respect and collaboration.
Why is the summit focusing on women?
We are living in a time where there is a backlash against feminism so even in a country like America, what was taken for granted has been overturned. Then we have the Taliban where you have women in an entire country with no access to education. After decades of making progress there is a downturn in the ability for women to realise their rights to their own bodies and their own autonomy so in that sense, the focus on women is timely and necessary. The conservative rightwing backlash against liberalism says that feminism has gone too far, that women have too much power and should go back to their kitchens.