The purpose of this paper is to examine "political" forces at work that lead some humanitarians to take actions which, in the particular context, may appear completely reasonable to them, but which not only fail to uphold the dignity of the people they purport to serve, but positively violate their rights. As Foucault put it, "the real political task in a society such as ours is to criticize the working of institutions which appear to be both neutral and independent; to criticize them in such a manner that the political violence which has always exercised itself obscurely through them will be unmasked, so that one can fight them." After all, what happens in these personal interactions between humanitarians and refugees at the micro-level can be a "microcosm for the ill-starred relations between (western) humanitarian 'charity' and its target populations. What goes wrong at this level both reflects and affects (infects) what is wrong at the macro level." The post-flight refugee experience typically includes a series of events and encounters with many different actors and institutions that are uniquely stressful and take place in a variety of contexts. They begin with the challenge of getting in-past border patrols and immigration officers. In these situations refugees may also be subjected to cruel and inhuman treatment, but the perpetrators are not employed by humanitarian organizations. For an increasing number of refugees in the South the post-flight experience involves the prolonged suffering that refugees are put through in the process of seeking asylum. Some refugees must endure this process more than once. In many countries, judgments concerning who is a refugee are now being made by staff of the office of the UNHCR. This organization was established to protect the rights of refugees, including the right to asylum. Yet UNHCR staff have been found to be following procedures less favorable than UNHCR itself advises states to respect. Once a refugee has applied for asylum, he must still wait for a decision, sometimes facing years of insecurity.

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refugee humanitarian aid human rights United Nations