Wars and natural disasters are the cause of indescribable suffering. It is a moral imperative to offer aid in such situations. Humanitarian aid can save lives and assist the victims of disaster in rebuilding the basis of their existence. What sounds straightforward can be problematic, however: humanitarian organisations today are confronted with many challenges and face numerous dilemmas. They risk being used as instruments for other purposes and becoming politicised; they run the risk of causing unintended harmful side effects; and they must confront military forces in the field that have their own humanitarian ambitions. Caritas Switzerland and Caritas Luxembourg have written Humanitarian Challenges to call attention to these problems, to establish guidelines for their own humanitarian work, and to appeal to the political authorities in their respective countries to deal with these challenges in a reasonable manner while strengthening humanitarian principles.weiterlesen