War

This chapter is about the contradiction between the notion of humanitarianism and war since war itself is a humanitarian catastrophe. This contradiction has become more visible in the context of what are called ‘new wars’ – wars in places like Syria or the Democratic Republic of the Congo as well as the ‘war on terror’. Both humanitarian principles (the idea of lessening the suffering in war especially for non-combatants) and humanitarian assistance are called into question in new wars and what is known as humanitarian space is disappearing. One solution that has been proposed is humanitarian intervention or ‘Responsibility to Protect’ but this also involves a contradiction between ends (saving people from humanitarian disaster) and the methods of war. The chapter concludes by arguing that humanitarianism needs to be recast in relation to human rights.