Uneasy Alliance: Military and Civilian Aid Workers Struggle to Work Together in Humanitarian Missions

Strategic Insights -

In a recent seminar in Toronto, aid workers and Canadian Forces personnel discussed the challenges of working together in humanitarian missions. A classic example of a good deed gone bad was presented by Ralph Hazleton, a CARE Canada worker, who recounted the story of a food drop in Goma, Zaire, where aid workers were nearly killed by plummeting bundles of food, much of which was useless. This anecdote highlighted the pitfalls of huge emergency-aid operations and the uneasy relationship between soldiers and civilians in relief or peacekeeping operations.

Key Takeaways:

  • The relationship between soldiers and civilians in humanitarian missions is strained, with soldiers often lacking the sensitivity and knowledge of civilian aid agencies.
  • Despite the challenges, only armies are likely to have the resources necessary to save thousands of lives in Rwanda-size operations.
  • Relief agencies often see soldiers as capable but aggressive, rigid and insensitive, while the military sees aid workers as effective but idealistic, naive, bureaucratic and melodramatic.
  • The distribution of aid and policing of territory can easily become weapons in peace operations, increasing the risk of playing favorites or being perceived as doing so.
  • Aid agencies have complained that peacekeeping forces fail to consult them about conditions in countries where they have been operating for years.
  • The International Red Cross refuses to send relief convoys with military escorts, believing this could compromise its neutrality.
  • CARE, on the other hand, will accept military escorts under certain conditions, if necessary to get supplies to their destinations.

Statistics:

  • Between 200,000 and 500,000 minority Tutsis were slaughtered by local Rwandan Hutu leaders earlier in the year.
  • 1 million Hutu refugees fled from neighbouring Rwanda to Zaire.
  • 40 medical personnel are to be deployed by the Canadian Forces in a field hospital ready for deployment anywhere in the world within 48 hours.
  • 15 days is the assumed timeline for aid workers to arrive at the site of a relief operation after military personnel.

Sources:

  • Ralph Hazleton, CARE Canada worker
  • Defence Minister David Collenette
  • Retired Canadian Forces Lieutenant-Colonel Brian Smith
  • Canadian Feed the Children
  • International Red Cross
  • CARE
  • Canadian Forces
  • Mennonite Central Committee
  • The Globe and Mail article by Paul Knox (no date mentioned)