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HSC One-Day Conference: Humanitarian Justice & The State of the Humanitarian System
2 October @ 09:30 - 17:00
About the conference
As is well-documented, the global geopolitical milieu for humanitarian action in all forms is increasingly challenging. State funding for formal humanitarian action is at its lowest for decades, there is a growing disregard for International Humanitarian Law in various conflict contexts, and (poly-)crises derive from interlocking environmental hazards, socio-economic vulnerabilities and ongoing hybrid and protracted conflicts across the world.
These pressures are not only operational challenges. They bring to light issues of legitimacy, effectiveness and relevance, requiring deeper reflections around the sufficiency of current approaches and the need for alternatives. The need for alternatives specifically has been articulated in recent calls for humanitarian justice: a ‘lived need of crisis-affected people for fair, transparent, inclusive and respectful humanitarian responses that are rooted in principles of dignity, solidarity, care and shared responsibility for people, nature and the planet, and that respect International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights’.
How can humanitarianism, as an expression of humanity and solidarity, continue to alleviate suffering under these circumstances? To what extent do existing humanitarian structures reproduce or mitigate injustice? In what ways do non-traditional humanitarian actors, including networks of (affected) people, work to try and reduce disaster risk?
And what role can Humanitarian Justice play as both a critique of and a pathway for transforming contemporary humanitarian action?
Let’s take stock together and look at the state of the humanitarian system.
Call for sending abstracts
The theme for this year is: “Humanitarian Justice & The State of the Humanitarian System”. Please send 100-150 word abstracts for presentations of around 10 minutes to humanitarianstudiescentre@iss.nl
Please note that we have space for approximately 30 presenters/presentations, and so we may not be able to accommodate all proposals.
When submitting your abstract, please indicate which of the following themes it is part of:
– The State of the Humanitarian System
– Humanitarian Justice
– Conflict and IHL
– Environment, climate change, and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR)
– Critical humanitarian studies
– Migration and refugees