DISCUSS THE CURRENT STATE OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN AFFAIRS AND HOW WORLD LEADERS CAN BE MORE INVOLVED IN SOLVING RELATED CRISIS

International humanitarian affairs have improved over the years. According to Jan Egeland there is 50 percent less war now than in 1989. There are less than one billion people in the world living under the $1 a day threshold when it used to be two billion people living under the same $1 threshold years ago.

In his address, Mr. Egeland confirmed that the researchers of the Human Security Report found 10 genocides in 1989 compared to the only one found last year. Also, indicated that there has been an average of three to five military coups, compared to between 10 and 25 per year in the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. This is a clear indications that the world leaders are doing the best they can to curtail human right problems.

The world leaders are also doing well in reducing humanitarian problems. During the tsunami crisis years ago about ninety nations such as United States happened to be donors of them fifty-five of them deployed military and civil defense assets to helped places like Indonesia and other areas that were affected by the tsunami. Mr. Jan Egeland has the belief that this generation of workers in the United Nations and workers in government services has a better chance at improving the life of much affected people than the older generation, because the world economy is going forward by which poor countries have now grown tremendously over the past decade. In addition there are all kinds of moving and plowing tools available to handle humanitarian issues than before. Transportation has also been made a little faster now than before, so we can get people to help from all around the world in times of crisis. An example is what happened in Libya when United States and its allies (NATO) quickly organized equipment to stop Gadhafi from killing his own people.

Even though there has been such great improvement, there is much more room for improvement. Women are being raped in contemporary wars, while in some countries such as Zimbabwe and other African countries, civilians are not being well protected as well as humanitarian aid not being provided faster enough to improve the life of the affected people.

World leaders should or can also discuss what they can do better to help improve International Humanitarian affairs rather than concentrating on what others can do. As was said at the world leaders’ meeting in New York in the year 2005, the international community through the United Nations also has the responsibility to help protect populations from genocides, war crimes (such as the one with Libya), ethnic cleansings and crimes against humanity.

I believe that a unilateral form of action in tackling international crisis breeds more success. Examples are Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Southern Sudan among many where world leaders through the U.N decided on a common form of approach. Progress was clearly visible. Compared to multilateral operations, in the case of the war In Iraq, where the United States acted on their own, the result is not as desirable as could have been if the world leaders had acted as one.

There is also the possibility of ignoring international crisis just as in Columbia where the war has lasted for about fifty years. I believe that if there had been an intervention by world leaders Columbia would have come to a resolution or would have found a way to settle their differences. Ignoring the problem would not make it go away, one person’s attempt to deal with it can backfire but when world leaders join forces to deal with these crises like they did in Libya, there will be tremendous improvement in the life of innocent and unfortunate people. I understand this help may not happen overnight but a little effort from different angles will eventually speed up the process to assure progress and success.

Reference:

Egeland, Jan. “Arthur C. Helton Memorial Lecture: Holding World Leaders Accountable to Reducing Global Poverty and Protecting Civilians [Rush Transcript; Federal News Service]”

http://www.cfr.org/foreign-aid/arthur-c-helton-memorial-lecture-holding-world-leaders-accountable-reducing-global-poverty-protecting-civilians-rush-transcript-federal-news-service/p13458