Assessment of the Current Situation Surrounding Humanitarian Assistance
Recent years have seen the increasing diversification of humanitarian crises – critical
situations that call for humanitarian assistance such as natural and man-made disasters, especially internal conflicts, and changing circumstances surrounding such crises. Japan will
fully consider these situations and international circumstances in delivering humanitarian
assistance.
There are four important elements for Japan to take into account. The first element is that
humanitarian crises are becoming prolonged and more complex. Humanitarian assistance has
intrinsically referred to assistance in a temporary emergency due to a man-made or natural
disaster. Recent years have witnessed situations often described as prolonged humanitarian
crises extending over 10-20 years or forgotten crises in many parts of the world.2 It is often
the case that a number of factors are intricately involved, such as, an ethnic and/or political
feud, a fight over natural resources, and a natural disaster, in addition to a temporary conflict.
The second element is that natural disasters are increasing in number and scale. It is generally
believed that climate change plays a role in this. There is also concern that rapid urbanization
in developing countries increases their vulnerability to natural disasters, which in turn causes
more casualties and economic damage. The increasing number and magnitude of natural
disasters may hamper socioeconomic development of developing countries, which in turn
may bring about political instability.