Humanitarianism in an age of securitisation

The next EARC Arc of Sanctuary webinar is due to take place on 6 October between 13:00-14:00. Details of the session are given below.

Do join us if you can; it’s free and open to all. Contact us (info@easternarc.ac.uk) if you want to join us.

Humanitarian assistance seeks to save lives at risk, based on altruistic motives. According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), there are currently 239 million people worldwide who are in need of humanitarian assistance. Recent funding cuts and a surge in violence against humanitarian aid workers, however, contribute to a political context in which the provision of humanitarian assistance has become increasingly challenging.

As part of the Arc of Sanctuary Events series, this webinar asks what role humanitarian assistance plays in international relations; whether ideas of humanitarianism and ideas of security complement or contradict each other; how the humanitarian sector can and should adapt to changing political climates; and what, if anything, academics involved in the sanctuary movement can learn from current trends in humanitarian assistance.

Yafa El Masri is Lecturer in Geography and Global Development at the University of East Anglia. Her research deals with refugee spaces and alternative forms of humanitarianism that emerge in response to shrinking humanitarian aid.

Soul Park is Lecturer in International Relations at the University of East Anglia. His research deals with security and foreign policy, with particular focus on second-order regional security dynamics in the Indo-Pacific, examining how secondary states navigate, adapt to, and shape evolving regional security architectures.

Moderator: Ulrike Theuerkauf, Associate Professor in Politics and Global Development at the University of East Anglia.