How do different religious, cultural, and social systems—and the values they support—shape humanitarian action? What are the bases of caring societies? Are there universal values for human well-being? International experts come face to face with the assumptions about human dignity and social justice that guide efforts to rescue and repair communities in crisis.

The original essays explore mandates for humanitarian action in religious traditions, and codes of conduct for the media, military, medicine, and the academy in relief efforts. They explore threats to human welfare from terrorism and gender exploitation and assess international law, the media, and the politics of civil society in a world of war, conflict, and strife.

The contributors: Kofi Annan, Avery Cardinal Dulles, S.J., Rabbi Harlan J. Wechsler, H.R.H. Prince El Hassan Bin Talal, Francis Mading Deng, Maj. Gen. Timothy Cross, Joseph O’ Hare, S.J., Tom Brokaw, Eoin O’Brien, M.D., Jan Eliasson, Timothy Harding, M.D., Paul Wilkinson, Larry Hollingworth, Nancy Ely-Raphel, John Feerick, Michael Veuthey, Edward Mortimer, Kathleen Newland, Peter Tarnoff, Richard Falk, and the editor.

This book, the fruit of a historic conference, is a practical guide to current technologies that can help relief and humanitarian aid workers succeed. Designed to facilitate needed technology transfer to the humanitarian sector, the essays focus on areas where technology is underused and predict where new technological advances may be applied to relief efforts.

The essays cover essential areas: communications technology and infrastructure support and security. They describe how such technologies as personal identification and tagging systems, software radios, wireless networks, and computer-aided language translation can promote safety and manage large groups of people. Other essays outline new technological solutions to such challenges as mine removal, water purification, and energy generation.

The contributors are: Kevin M. Cahill, Frank Fernandez, C. Kumar Patel, Paul J. Kolodzy, Joseph Mitola III, Victor Zue, Jaime G. Carbonell, Stephen Squires, Joseph V. Braddock, Arthur L. Lerner-Lam, Ralph James, William L. Warren, and Regina E. Dugan.

Featuring twelve original essays by leading practitioners, policymakers, and scholars, the book is a state of the field report on problems, threats, and opportunities facing relief efforts in today’s world.

With contributions from such authorities as Bernard Kouchner, founder of Doctors Without Borders, Charles McCormick, CEO of Save the Children, and physicians, military leaders, field workers, and others, the essays confront the most critical issues facing the delivery of effective relief.

The issues include military and civilian cooperation in large-scale disasters, with special attention to the growth of private armies. How traditional nongovernmental organizations and faith-based agencies adapt to new challenges is also explored. Ways to strengthen security for humanitarian workers, refugees, and internally displaced persons and those in transition after wars are also considered.

Bringing together diplomatic, military, medical, legal, political, religious, and ethical perspectives from experiences in Darfur, West Africa, Iraq, Pakistan, and other areas, the essays offer an authoritative inventory of where humanitarian relief has been, and how it must change to save lives and communities in peril.

The contributors to this book, all leading scholars and practitioners, offer invaluable perspectives on many of the most important political, legal, social, and military challenges confronting humanitarian aid in a world of terror and conflict. These original essays explore such topics as human rights and the rights of the displaced, working with local communities to rebuild viable governance, justice, and the rule of law, and maintaining safe spaces for humanitarian relief programs in zones of conflict.

The contributors are: Kevin M. Cahill, Joseph McShane, S.J., Sadako Ogata, Irene Khan, Francis Deng, Mark Malloch Brown, Ghassan Salame, Roland Eng, Jan Egeland, Peter Hansen, David Rieff, Jacques Forster, Dennis McNamara, David Owen, Richard Goldstone, Sasha Tharoor, and Jan Eliasson.

Designed for students, teachers, practitioners, policy-makers, journalists, and other professionals, Basics of Humanitarian Missions covers fundamental concepts, contexts, and problems, in settings that range from floods and earthquakes to medical emergencies, civil strife, and forced migration.