Download Blinded by Humanity: Inside the UN's Humanitarian Operations AudioBook Free
How to answer effectively to humanitarian crises is one of the most pressing and apparently intractable problems facing the US. Martin Barber, for many years a senior UN official and with ages of humanitarian experience, here argues that the reason for UN 'failures' or only incomplete successes is not with any insufficient idealism or good motives but with the constraints located on aid staff by ill-considered insurance policies and poor practical application officers are 'blinded by mankind'. Barber reveals an inside report based on personal/hands-on/functional experience in Laos, Thailand, Afghanistan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and, finally, in Abu Dhabi where he recommended the UAE administration on its aid programme. He says of internal problems at hq and the issues of employed in the field. All the major UN activities and problems are here, including refugee work, coordinating humanitarian aid, peacekeeping, the huge problem of 'de-mining', and the complex interior workings of the UN Secretariat. A personal narrative and lessons attracted from immediate experience provide the body for an study of major questions concerning the future of humanitarian response how effectively have international establishments discharged their tasks towards people affected by conflict? Specifically, how do the UN perform? And exactly how might the UN better help such people in the 21st century? Barber analyses recent insurance plan developments designed to enhance the quality and efficiency of the UN's work in humanitarian domains, and assesses the degree to which recent reforms are likely to make the UN a far more effective partner for countries growing from conflict. In the ultimate chapter he highlights seven 'blind spots' whose significance has been regularly ignored or forgotten, and in each case implies a radical new methodology. Based on ages of personal experience and 'insider gain access to', this will be needed for students of international relationships and politics
