Humanitarianism

The humanitarian enterprise currently finds itself at a crossroads. At the tail end of armed international engagements in Afghanistan and Iraq, it is increasingly also faced with new types of emergencies related to climate change, urbanization, and shifting geopolitical dynamics. What is the future of the humanitarian system in light of these challenges? This is the most basic research question that occupies us. Answering it requires investigations into humanitarianism's current character, how it is changing, and how it ought to change.

20/09/2022
ALNAP’s State of the Humanitarian System 2022 Report Released

Report finds ‘Do no digital harm’ has emerged as an important humanitarian imperative, following contributions from PRIO project.

29/08/2022
Case Brief on Israeli–Palestinian Disagreements over Collective Memory During the Peace Process 1993–2001

A case brief just published as part of PRIO's FAIR project examines how the Israeli–Palestinian peace process dealt with radical disagreements over collective memory. It identifies three positions taken towards this specific issue: prescriptive forgetting that avoids the past altogether, strategic forgetting that postpones dealing with it, and transitional justice that recommends addressing it head-on.

15/06/2022
Roundtable with Hugo Slim: The Future of Humanitarian Principles - Recording Now Available

Will the principle of humanity survive the critique of anthropocentrism and a call for post-humanism?

11/03/2022
UN High Commissioner for Refugees Visits PRIO

On Tuesday, 8 March, UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi visited PRIO to participate in a panel discussion. The topic of discussion was how we best respond to global displacement.

03/03/2022
RedLines Project Kick-Off Meeting

The Red Lines and Grey Zones project has been officially launched with a kick-off meeting on the 1st of March. Please find an introduction to the project presented by Kristoffer Lidén above.

11/02/2022
UNRWA’s Philippe Lazzarini Debates Palestinian Refugees at PRIO

What is the current status of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)? What are its main challenges? What types of scenarios can we envision for UNRWA's future?

These were some of the questions discussed today when the PRIO Middle East Centre and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted a roundtable with UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini.

10/02/2022
New Book: Citizen Humanitarianism at European Borders

The new book Citizen Humanitarianism at European Borders, edited by Maria Gabrielsen Jumbert and Elisa Pascucci explores the emerging trend of citizen-led forms of aid at the borders of Europe, in a time of escalating conflict between states and NGOs engaged in migrant search and rescue operations across the Mediterranean.

19/10/2021
MidEast Policy Brief: UN Humanitarian Aid Comes to Syria for Another Year

In a MidEast Policy Brief, Research Professor Pavel Baev writes about the future of UN humanitarian aid to Syria, following the UN Security Council adoption of Resolution 2585 on 9 July 2021. Even though the resolution might appear to be a recycle of the compromise reached at the Security Council in 2020, it is different in many important aspects and will be tested again in 2022, argues Baev.

18/08/2021
New Project on Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiation

The project "Red Lines and Grey Zones: Exploring the Ethics of Humanitarian Negotiation" has received funding from the Research Council of Norway. Starting from consultations with humanitarian practitioners, the project will map problems related to the ethics of negotiation and cross examine these challenges through cases from Syria, Bangladesh, Colombia, Nepal, the Mediterranean and the UN Security Council.

04/06/2021
Russia Readying for Compromise on the UN Humanitarian Aid to Syria

The UN Security Council is to decide on cross-border humanitarian aid to Syria by July 10. In his new blog post ahead of the decision on the controversial issue, Research Professor Pavel Baev looks at how the context of the problem facing the Council has changed from Moscow's perspective since it was last on the table in spring-summer 2020. Baev argues that there are good reasons to assume that Russia is maneuvering toward a compromise supporting the extension of Resolution 2533.