Uneasy bedfellows? Stabilisation and humanitarian action
A renewed donor interest in stabilising countries affected by political violence, armed conflict and chronic poverty – so-called fragile states – should come as a welcome development to humanitarians who have long complained of the indifference shown to large-scale human suffering in these contexts. In some places, at least, it could mean that humanitarian assistance is no longer used for ‘moral absolution' in the absence of serious political commitment to protecting civilians.
