London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine to launch new humanitarianism debate series

The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine is launching a new series of debates explores the dilemmas of humanitarianism on 15 November in London.

The challenges and politics of humanitarianism will be discussed by scholars and practitioners at the first roundtable in a new series of debates about emergency relief.

The panellists will share their first-hand experiences from trouble spots across the globe and explore how the idea and practice of humanitarianism have changed significantly in recent times.

The event on Thursday 15 November at the Wiener Library in London is the first of three discussions making up the Bloomsbury Debates on Humanitarianism: Profits, Politics and Power. The series of three debates is co-organised by Birkbeck, University of London; London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM); and Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF).

Speakers at the first event will address questions, including:

• Can the principles of neutrality and independence be upheld during conflict?
• Can and should charities remain non-political in complex emergencies?
• What role is there for the private sector in humanitarian relief operations?
• To what extent should humanitarian agencies work as a branch of states' foreign policies?

The panellists for the first debate are:

•  Sarah Collinson, Research Associate, Overseas Development Institute (ODI)
• Stephen Hopgood, Senior Lecturer, School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS)
• Joanna Macrae, Department for International Development (DFID)
• Fabrice Weissman, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF)

 Alex Colas, Senior Lecturer in International Relations at Birkbeck's Department of Politics, will chair the event. He said: "This debate will be an opportunity to examine current trends in humanitarianism: what works, what is not working, and what dilemmas lie ahead? Since its distant origins on the battlefields of Solferino in 1859, the idea and practice of humanitarianism has undergone significant changes, generally reflecting wider social, economic and political transformations in international society. Over the past two decades, under the guise of 'humanitarian intervention' and in response to 'complex emergencies', the inevitably political character of the category has been especially pronounced. Indeed, many today see humanitarianism as an expression of a specifically liberal way of peace and war or worse, as a form of 'human rights imperialism'."

The first debate, hosted by Birkbeck, takes place on Thursday 15 November from 6:30pm-7:30pm at the Weiner Library for the Study of the Holocaust and Genocide, 29 Russell Square, London, WC1B 5DP.