ABSTRACT
The end of the Cold War and the beginning of the GWOT have to be considered as the two major events in history which completely changed the setting in which humanitarian aid is now conducted. The main enemy of the United States, the Soviet Union, disappeared and the gap was filled with another embodiment of the ‘enemy’: terrorism. Many new actors appeared in the field on both sides – humanitarians and combatants. Conflicts have become more complex and the word ‘humanitarian’ is now interpreted in various ways. There are, as previously mentioned, two different perspectives in international policies as to how to deal with terrorism. The popular one is to treat terrorism as a disease – a human insecurity in itself. The other is based on the prevention of terrorism as founded on root causes. Humanitarian aid today is affected by this political discussion about terrorism and the GWOT in a variety of ways. While state and international donors have their own concerns and policies, these often do not match the NGOs’ (non-governmental organizations’) perception of the situation and their concerns. The beneficiaries carry different burdens caused by this development which are often not even considered. Donor policies on humanitarian actors, who fight on the front line against pervasive threats to human security and the root causes of terrorism, have a huge impact on the beneficiaries and their perception of humanitarian actors.
