There is a sense in Washington that the magnitude of the ongoing humanitarian crisis in Pakistan hasn't been fully grasped yet. The latest offensive by the Pakistani military has forced one and a half million people to leave the Swat and Buner districts in less than three weeks. The UN Refugee Agency stated that the fighting is uprooting more people faster than any conflict since the Rwandan genocide. Even before the most recent military operations, half a million people had fled from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) bordering Afghanistan.

It’s happened again.  The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is off of the international radar screen, despite the fact that violence and displacement continue.

Assessing President Obama’s first 100 days in office is all the rage in the United States, especially given the high expectations created by his election and the ambitious agenda that he set for his new administration. But the mainstream media are unlikely to apply humanitarian criteria, so it is left to Refugees International to make an initial assessment.

Humanitarianism is built upon the principles of neutrality and impartiality and the fundamental assertion that aid should be delivered strictly according to need.  However, aid itself can and has often been manipulated for political and strategic ends.  Large deliveries of food and supplies have a monetary value, particularly in areas suffering from conflict where people are exposed to large-scale deprivation.  Aid can also have a legitimizing effect, giving political credibility and power to those people and institutions that are seen to be the intermediaries between aid agencies and the general population.