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The paradox of humanitarian action.
Cornell University Press
June 2002
282 pages ISBN: 080148796X Paperback
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Non-Fiction
The director of research and former head of the French
section of Medicins sans Frontieres (Doctors Without
Borders), Terry has written a compelling book about the
failure of international humanitarian organizations to take
into consideration a wider political context before
providing aid. This shortsightedness, argues Terry, results
in the paradox that humanitarian aid aimed at alleviating
suffering instead sustains the oppressive action that caused
it. In clear and concise analysis, she begins with the
controversial claim that the aid agencies respond in
knee-jerk fashion to any conflict without further
investigating or even considering the ramifications of their
aid. In four documented cases, Afghan camps in Pakistan,
Salvadoran and Nicaraguan camps in Honduras, Cambodian camps
in Thailand, and Rwandan camps in Zaire Terry details how
aid given to help people often ends up in the coffers of the
combatants. Terry backs up her claim with photocopies of
documents that will be of special interest to scholars of
the 1996 Rwanda massacres. Copyright 2002 Cahners
Business Information, Inc.
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