Retos de la ayuda humanitaria en conflictos armados prolongados: el rol creciente de los agentes locales

Abstract

Protracted armed conflicts such as Yemen and Syria, the hindering humanitarian aid, the use of starvation as a weapon of war, the increasing violence against humanitarian operations and the difficult access by international agencies to the people in need has become a commonplace. To give greater prominence to local actors and to «invest in people» is a basic shared responsibility according to the Secretary General of the United Nations. However, in 2014, local agents only received directly 0.2 per cent of international humanitarian funding. The challenges of humanitarian aid are, among others, the need for greater understanding between local and international agents of the power dynamics during conflicts and a greater integration of humanitarian aid into broader initiatives aimed at transforming the structural roots of conflicts. The First World Humanitarian Summit held in Istanbul in May 2016 has put the focus on empowering local and national NGOs as a new way of working and make humanitarian aid more effective.