Risk Dumping: Humanitarian Programming in Opposition-held Syria before Al Assad's Run-Off

Abstract

Inaccessible conflict-ridden contexts necessitating humanitarian programming from afar are onerous operational landscapes. Although local staff usually carry the burden of coordinating and implementing projects amidst risk-laden environments, their encounters with safety and security risks are scantly heard and researched. By bringing everyday experiences with humanitarianism in conflict to the forefront, the paper investigates humanitarian action in practice, taking ‘western’-funded and led humanitarian projects in opposition-held Syria as a sample. It interrogates remote humanitarian programming and the perils of the ethically teetering praxis of Duty of Care associated with it and empirically puts the problematically overlooked tradition of ‘Risk Dumping’ on the frontline. Sharing local voices from, and lived experiences in Syria and neighbouring countries including the author’s, the paper explores the frailty of safety and security measures for locals in the Syria response and exposes the blatant absence of ethical and financial accountability towards those actualising internationally funded projects.