Humanitarian Reform

Alexandre-Emile Beguyer de Chan-courtois, 1820-1886. Inspector-general of mines and professor of geology at the Ecole Sup neure des Mines in Paris He made geological explorations m France, Asia Minor, Iceland, and Greenland. As a humanitarian reform to prevent accidents from firedamp, he compelled mine owners to sink two shafts for each coal mine His most important contribution to chemistry was his spiral periodic arrangement of the elements Courtesy Mme. Jean Presne and the Ecole Sup6rieure des Mines, Pans... 

There certainly does not seem to be much scope in the British context for arguments that the railways demanded regulation in order to promote market stability. Bartrip and Burman (1983) comment that railway regulation was more generally necessitated by commercial rather than by humanitarian reforms. For example, they argue that the 1840 Regulation of Railways Act was directly conceived to prevent monopolistic control of railway development (ibid. 77). 

Keywords refugees, forced migration, displacement, humanitarian reform, research, policy,practice, advocacy, global governance, international law... 

This chapter examines the recent history of humanitarian reform and how it has helped address internal displacement and forced migration. It looks at current debates on institutional mandates and responsibilities, as well as the implementation and practice of humanitarian reform. It discusses the failure of the collaborative approach to respond to the needs of, and to provide protection to, internally displaced persons and the shift toward the cluster approach that emphasizes predictable leadership, accountability, and partnership, with reference to the role of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). 

Keywords humanitarian reform, internal displacement, forced migration, collaborative approach, protection internally displaced persons, cluster approach, leadership, accountability. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees... 

This chapter analyses the changes in the architecture for addressing internal displacement brought about by the Humanitarian Reform process initiated in 2005, and its subsequent evolution. It reviews ongoing debates about institutional mandates and responsibilities and examines its implementation in practice, drawing on field experience and recent evaluations of operations where elements of the reform have been applied. 

The failure of the collaborative approach led to a decision by the ERC to commission a comprehensive review of the response system. The Humanitarian Response Review of August 2005 found major shortcomings in humanitarian preparedness and response, finding that as a sector, protection requires special and urgent attention. Its recommendations focused on three key areas humanitarian leadership, funding, and coordination. These became the three initial pillars of the Humanitarian Reform process, later (p. 304) joined by partnership, linked to the development of the Global Humanitarian Platform Principles of Partnership. 

The five years following the humanitarian reform saw major emergencies characterized by large-scale internal displacement in which the cluster approach was applied. In 2011 and 2012, there was a shift in this pattern, as a series of crises in Cote d Ivoire, Lib5ra, Somalia, Sudan, Mali, and Syria triggered major refugee emergencies. 

Street, A., et al. (2009) Review of the Engagement of NGOs with the Humanitarian Reform Process Synthesis Report. NGOs and Humanitarian Reform Project/Intemational Council of Voluntary Agencies, October. 

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