Abstract
This paper uses a conceptual approach and a qualitative case study to investigate the harm arising from humanitarian aid provision (AP) in Yemen. The country suffers from limited sovereignty and various contesting political actors, which has led to complex and troubled relations between political actors and aid organisations. The paper details the harm posed by AP in Yemen; it finds that main harm of AP is in augmenting the crisis of sovereignty due to the involvement of aid organisations in the power struggles. Findings indicate that harm, in the case of Yemen, is an unintended consequence of various institutional and organisational disparities and it affects the economic and humanitarian situation of the local population. This unintended harm, we argue, stands in contrast with the morally perceived harm of injustice portrayed in the literature. The result of this research is the conceptual rendering of harm both as inevitable and non-moral.
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Notes
- 1.
For convenience, the acronym AO/AOs is used frequently in this paper to refer to international humanitarian aid organisations.
- 2.
One source, however, was examined but later discarded as it provided repetitive data that has already been covered in other sources. This source is Beaumont, P. (2019, January 2). ‘Yemen: Houthi rebels’ food aid theft only tip of iceberg, officials say’. The Guardian. Retrieved from Yemen: Houthi rebels’ food aid theft only tip of iceberg, officials say.
- 3.
The paper is qualitative and does not seek to validate any data, but to showcase the types of harm in Yemen.
- 4.
This quote is translated from Arabic. The original text can be found at: https://www.ru.nl/rscr/@1157586/the-humanitarian-and-relief-assistance/.
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Elayah, M., Ahmed, N. (2022). Humanitarian Aid in Yemen: A Crisis of Sovereignty and Inevitable Harm. In: AlDajani, I.M., Leiner, M. (eds) Reconciliation, Heritage and Social Inclusion in the Middle East and North Africa. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-08713-4_12
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