As of Friday, Reuters reports the death toll from the Feb. 6th earthquakes in Turkey and Syria now nears 44,000 between both countries, with rescuers pulling more survivors alive out of the debris almost two weeks since. Aid organizations say survivors will need support for months with so much critical infrastructure destroyed. One professor at the George Washington University says humanitarian assistance is not reaching earthquake victims in northwest Syria and the reason is not for lack of operational readiness.
If you’re looking for more context on this matter, please consider Maryam Zarnegar Deloffre, associate professor of international affairs and director of the Humanitarian Action Initiative at GW’s Elliott School of International Affairs. She is also an Associate Senior Fellow at the Käte Hamburger Kolleg/Centre for Global Cooperation, University Duisburg-Essen, Germany. Her research and publications examine accountability and standard-setting in the humanitarian sector, non-governmental organization (NGO) accountability and legitimacy; NGO interactions; and global governance. Deloffre’s most relevant recent research examines imaginaries of aid, develops relational approaches to understanding the dynamics of global governance, and investigates processes of de-centering the global in humanitarian governance.
“Humanitarian assistance is not reaching earthquake victims in northwest Syria because of failed diplomacy and political failure, not due to a lack of operational readiness. For years, the Assad regime and its ally Russia have politicized and weaponized humanitarian assistance into the opposition-held region,” Deloffre says. “Politicization of aid requires political and diplomatic solutions, unfortunately it does not appear that the United States, European Union or the United Nations have the appetite for this course of action.”
If you would like to speak with Prof. Deloffre, please contact GW Media Relations Specialist Cate Douglass at cdouglass@gwu.edu.
