A female volunteer hand out free food to car driver during a drive through food bank charity campaign in early morning.

Humanitarian Crises

CIC’s Humanitarian Crises program, building on two decades of work to advance peace, justice, and inclusion in crisis-affected areas, focuses on two main areas:

The humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus
Rights and responsibilities within the global refugee regime

Featured Projects

Justice for Displaced Populations
Together with the Pathfinders Justice for All, CIC working to develop ambitious yet feasible strategies to resolve and prevent justice problems for displaced populations and host communities.
Regional Focus: Post-2021 Afghanistan
As Afghanistan faced mounting crises and ultimately a Taliban takeover across the last two years, CIC stayed engaged through two-track convening, commentary in the media, and expert analysis on the ongoing economic, political, and humanitarian crises.

Addressing the Risks and Inequities People Face in Protracted Crises

CIC seeks to fill important gaps in strategic and policy analysis and advocacy at both global and country levels. We achieve this by focusing on the links between protracted crisis and inequitable development in countries affected by conflict and fragility. The starting points for the program are:

While humanitarian assistance must be guided by bedrock principles of neutrality, impartiality, and humanity, there are many contexts in which such assistance can and should be designed with longer-term human rights and social development goals in mind.
The new development agenda is inclusive of all vulnerable groups and social classes–calling for no one to be left behind, and for the furthest behind to be reached first. Those commitments require development approaches that redound disproportionately to the benefit of countries and communities locked in crisis, and that address the underlying structures and inequities that give rise to “permanent emergencies” in the first place.

Our Latest Resources

All Resources

Publication: Report April 3, 2023 Humanitarian Crises

Aid Strategies in ‘Politically Estranged’ Settings: How donors can stay and deliver in fragile and conflict-affected states

NYU Center on International Cooperation and Chatham House publish a new study, which draws together diverse experiences of situations where relations between donors and national authorities are estranged, as well as examples from other relevant fragile settings, to show how donors and multilateral organizations can design and deliver some forms of development assistance to meet urgent needs, prevent further social and economic disruption and increase resilience, without legitimizing unlawful regimes or fueling further conflict, human rights abuses or large-scale corruption.
Blog December 21, 2021 Humanitarian Crises

Humanitarian Assistance in Afghanistan: What’s Next?

Paul Fishstein
Publication: Report January 4, 2023 Humanitarian Crises

The World’s Humanitarian, Economic, and Political Engagement with Afghanistan

The August 2021 fall of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and its replacement by the Taliban ended a two decade chapter of economic and social development. On top of an already weak economy reeling from COVID-19 and a multi-year drought, the overnight cutoff of most Western aid, freezing of foreign reserve funds, and effective severing of Afghanistan’s links with the global financial system plunged Afghanistan into multiple and overlapping humanitarian, economic, financial, and political crises of almost incomprehensible proportions.
Publication: Policy Brief September 14, 2022 Humanitarian Crises

Colombia’s Support for Venezuelan Migrants and Refugees

This policy brief explores the commendable policy efforts made by successive Colombia administrations to pursue economic and social integration of Venezuelan migrants and refugees in the face of crisis and calls for the international community to increase its financial support for Colombia’s response to the Venezuelan migration situation.
Media March 3, 2022 Humanitarian Crises

Europe’s Open Door for Ukrainians Reinforces a Double Standard on Refugees

Leah Zamore
Publication: Report November 17, 2021 Humanitarian Crises

Demographic and Socioeconomic Changes Induced by the COVID-19 Pandemic in Bangladesh

The COVID-19 pandemic has upended life and livelihoods in Bangladesh. This report calls attention specifically to the impact of COVID-19 on migration – on Bangladeshi migrants themselves, who were compelled to return to their places of origin due to various circumstances during the pandemic, as well as their families and communities.