Importance Of Humanitarian Assistance

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1. Introduction It can be said that the history of wars and bloody conflicts is probably as long as the history of the mankind itself. More than six thousand years ago; that is how far modern scientists are able to go back in our history to find physical evidence of two ancient cities, Hamoukar and Uruk, fighting against each other in a bloody war. The face of the Earth went through significant changes since that time as the technical and economic development changed also the way we live and understand the world around us. Numerous civilizations perished and were born. Numerous inventions were discovered and numerous diseases disappeared. However, no matter the changes, war and armed conflicts have persevered. They are still present in nowadays…show more content…
The impact always depends on the particular armed conflict and local conditions, however, the most notorious problem is deprivation. Especially when it comes to basic and essential supplies and services. The water reservoirs or pipes have been destroyed or damaged. Food or gas are precious goods as the ordinary business connections have been suspended and farming areas are cover by landmines. The electricity was shut off and there is not enough fuel for the generators. Medical supplies are a scarce commodity. The list could go on. It is not an exaggeration to say that in many cases the question of the access to humanitarian assistance is also the question of life or death. Unfortunately, in recent years, humanitarian actors frequently struggled to provide assistance to civilians in need. According to various international actors, the Syrian conflict, which began in 2011, has triggered the world’s largest humanitarian crisis since the World War II showing the international community that although there are rules governing the humanitarian assistance during the armed conflicts, there are still thousands of civilians who are almost impossible to reach and provide with help. The rules are there, however, the reality shows that there is a problem whether with their application…show more content…
There are two reasons which made me to choose this topic. The first one is outlined above: it is a very urgent and current topic influencing the lives of thousands of people. The second reason is more personal. The field of international law has been in the centre of my academic and personal attention for several years now. Almost since the very beginning of my master studies. I have always been interested especially in those issues concerning armed conflicts, use of force, and post-conflict situations. I took me few years to realize that, for me, there was a denominator common to all these areas. The aim to regulate force and violence and to bring at least some small pieces of humanity and stability into the situations which have instability and jeopardy in their very nature. International humanitarian law has always been very interesting for me as it represents the effort to ‘make war more human’ while still respecting the inevitability of its cruel character. The rules created in order to regulate armed conflicts have to be realistic, otherwise they would not be respected at all. This applies also to the rules of humanitarian assistance. They have to be realistic to be truly respected by the parties to the conflict. For humanitarian assistance to take place, the rules which govern it need to take into account not only the interests of the civilians but also the interests

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