2013 New York Seminar Explores Challenges to Humanitarian Action

Syrian refugee center on the Turkish border 50 miles from Aleppo, Syria, August 3, 2012.

IPI’s eighteenth annual New York Seminar convened April 17-19, 2013 and explored old and new challenges to humanitarian action in contemporary multifaceted emergencies.

Complex conflict-related crises, such as the one in Syria today, present significant challenges for humanitarian actors: aid risks becoming politicized; warring parties can divert it; nonstate armed groups may prevent access to affected populations; and sovereign states may be wary of outside interference. How have such complex emergencies changed in recent years? And how can the international humanitarian system adapt?

Read the seminar meeting note “Humanitarian Engagement in Contemporary Complex Emergencies” >>