West Asia and North Africa
Keywords:
This chapter reflects on inequalities in humanitarianism in a region marred with conflict: the West Asia and North Africa (WANA) region. The main focus is on how a combination of the security narrative of the Global War on Terror (GWOT), geopolitics at the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) level and a colonial legacy, led to systematic inequalities in the provision of humanitarian aid. In the introduction, a brief history of origins of interventionism and inequalities in WANA is given, followed by a section on the linkage between the GWOT narrative and humanitarianism. In the third section, politics of humanitarianism are exemplified with vignettes of Palestine, Iraq, and an in-depth discussion of the case of in Syria. The chapter concludes that wider persistent problem of structural inequalities led to an erosion of the UN Charter and the ethics of humanitarianism in WANA. Where deemed necessary, suggestions for further readings are given.