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.
The HumBORDER project held its closing seminar on 1-2 December 2022 at PRIO. Looking back at the humanitarian borders of Europe from 2015-2022 the first part of the seminar assessed different manifestations and dynamics of these borders.
Report finds ‘Do no digital harm’ has emerged as an important humanitarian imperative, following contributions from PRIO project.
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.
Will the principle of humanity survive the critique of anthropocentrism and a call for post-humanism?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Kaja Borchgrevink
Senior Researcher