The Price of Indifference: Refugees and Humanitarian Action in the New Century (A Council on Foreign Relations Book) [Paperback]

Arthur C. Helton (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0199250316 | ISBN-13: 978-0199250318 | Publication Date: May 16, 2002

Refugee policy has not kept pace with new realities in international and humanitarian affairs. Recent policy failures have resulted in instability, terrible hardships, and massive loss of life. This book systematically analyzes refugee policy responses over the past decade and calls for specific reforms to make policy more proactive and comprehensive. Refugee policy must be more than the administration of misery. Responses should be calculated to help prevent or mitigate future humanitarian catastrophes. More international cooperation is needed in advance of crises. Humanitarian structures within governments, notably the United States, as well as the wide variety o international institutions involved in humanitarian action must be re-oriented to cope with new challenges.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"This new and highly original book examines one of the most pressing issues facing the international community today - the issue of refugees. The author provides a very clear review of humanitarian action over the past decade, focusing his analysis on forced displacement and on the role of the United Nations. Mr. Helton not only asks important questions, but also makes ambitious policy recommendations. His book is a welcome contribution to the debate on humanitarian action, and will undoubtedly help us to manage humanitarian challenges better in the future."--Kofi Annan, United Nations Secretary-General

"This book is required reading for anybody who worries about making our world more stable and secure by addressing the plight of 35 million refugees and diplaced people. Arthur Helton makes a compelling case that the world can - and must - do a better job of dealing with displaced populations."-- Kenneth H. Bacon, President, Refugees International, and Former Pentagon Spokesman

"This is an important book which shows how critical the refugee issue is in the conduct of foreign policy. The refugee problem is often ignored by decision makers. But, as this book shows, most recent international crises have featured refugees. Policy makers should heed Arthur Helton's recommendations and address refugee issues, if they are serious about peacemaking."--Richard C. Holbrooke, Vice Chairman, Perseus, LLC, Former U.S. Representative to the United Nations

"Forced displacement has figured prominently in world politics during the last decase and has been one of the triggers for interventions by the UN Security Council, NATO and other regional organizations, and individual states. The Price of Indifference examines the lessons learned from these events with a view towards improving the operational effectiveness of future responses to forcible displacements. Arthur Helton not only provides a detailed analysis of past poliy approaches but also offers a range of policy recommendations for the future with an emphasis on preventive comprehensive measures. This book is invaluable for scholars, policymakers and practitioners alike." --Professor Gil Loescher, Author, The UNHCR and World Politics: A Perilous Path

"This is a monumental work which provides an extraordinary amount of information on refugees, conflict prevention, humanitarian policy, international law, and international organizations. The historical and analytical material, interspersed with first hand observations, makes for lively and engaging reading. The number of policy recommendations is staggering. It is a policy-oriented text which deserves careful reading and re-reading, and one of the best I have ever read."-- Priceton N. Lyman, Executive Director, Global Interdependence Initiative, The Aspen Institute, and Former Director, Bureau for Refugee Programs, U.S. Department of State

"Arthur Helton has completed a monumental task of compiling information on and describing the major refugee and internally displaced problems of the past decade. Standing alone, this research would be very useful background for academics and policy makers. However, Arthur has gone further to examine how conflict prevention or resolution, are linked to refugees and IDP's. Moreover, he has come up with some interesting ideas on how one can better deal with refugee problems and related issues of conflict prevention/resolution."-- Robert B. Oakley, Distinguished Visiting Fellow and Director, Peacekeeping Operations, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defence University, and Former U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Somalia and Zaire

"Masterfully written and innovative, Arthur Helton's book offers a most comprehensive and insightful treatment of refugee issues. This work is a splendid combination of the author's solid academic judgement and his practical familiarity with the subject."-- Sadako Ogata, Resident Scholar, Ford Foundation, Co-Chair, International Human Security Commission, and Former United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

" [A] fascinating book ... [which] relates also to the future ....I will profit from this book in preparing for 2004, ... [when] the General Assembly of the United Nations has to decide how to go on with UNHCR, with what mandate, with what funding."-- Ruud Lubbers, the current United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

"Helton's accessible writing style, his colorful anecdotes, and the extensive scope of his work have the potential to reach diverse audiences that are typically less familiar with international refugee policy. The Price of Indifference is a must-read not only for refugee scholars and activists, but also military personnel, politicians, and diplomats who are involved in international humanitarian operations and who are less knowledgeable of the plight of forced migration."--SAIS Review

About the Author

Arthur C. Helton is a Senior Fellow for Refugee Studies and Preventive Action, Council on Foreign Relations, New York.

Product Details

• Paperback: 328 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (May 16, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0199250316
• ISBN-13: 978-0199250318
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #561,870 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Refugee Policy: Advocating a Proactive Approach, June 13, 2002

By 

Terry Eder-Kaufman (New York, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Price of Indifference: Refugees and Humanitarian Action in the New Century (Hardcover)

Every notable disaster of the past century -- war, famine, civil unrest, earthquake and ecological catastrophe -- has resulted in the massive displacement of people within and across borders of their home countries. The June 7, 2002 New York Times reported that 14.9 million civilians were driven from their countries by war alone last year, and an additional 22 million people uprooted within their countries. It is a natural phenomenon in its own right, yet there has never been a systematic or comprehensive approach to anticipate, gather resources (both financial and intellectual) and make available workable solutions to this devastating predicament. This universal lack of foresight has taken its toll on untold numbers of refugees; some of whom waste years of their lives in flight or languish in refugee camps fearing for their safety, struggling for mere survival; while others achieve the relative fortune of starting their lives over in a new environment.

Now, the reader with even a passing interest in the plight of these unfortunate wanderers, and the expert alike, can explore an extraordinary trove of information on refugee policy and a startling new solution to this monumental problem. THE PRICE OF INDIFFERENCE: Refugees and Humanitarian Action in the New Century, by Arthur C. Helton, sets forth a concise modern history of refugee crises and the structural mechanisms and varied policies that have emerged for dealing with them. Helton depicts numerous strategies such as temporary protection, safe havens, asylum, evacuation, humanitarian corridors, resettlement, internal protection and repatriation, explaining why States have chosen some "solutions" over others as well as revealing the lapsed policy of states that have chosen to remain uninvolved. By analyzing diverse crises of the last decade in Bosnia, Cambodia, East Timor, Haiti, Kosovo, and Rwanda, Helton reveals the full array of policy tools and astoundingly problematic realities of managing refugees.

With an uncanny ability to capture the big picture, Helton also evokes vivid, personally observed details of a wide range of specific refugee crises, often in poetic terms. This book gives you the insider's view of what refugees actually experience:

It was a late Sunday evening in November 2000 when our plane landed in Nairobi, Kenya. As I walked on the runway through the sultry air to the airport arrival hall, I became an unintended witness to the conclusion of the infamous journey of the `lost boys of Sudan', some of whom I had visited in 1993 at the Kakuma refugee camp in northwestern Kenya. There, a remnant of some 17,000 children had come to rest after fleeing in 1988 from fighting in Sudan to Ethiopia, where they were attacked again after the regime of Mengistu Haile Mariam fell in 1991. This prompted a harrowing 600-mile trek by foot to Kenya, with many dying from attacks by wild animals and exposure.
p. 183.

In Helton's words, "[a]t the outset of the twenty-first century, the policy debate is driven by selective apathy and creeping trepidation." He reveals rationales for employing the various options including political motivations, notions of sovereignty, and practicality, among others. With a comprehensive overview of policy options that have been employed in recent history, their successes and failures, Helton envisions putting an end to such inevitable recurring suffering.

Unsatisfied with unpremeditated, unsystematic and less than ideal solutions that spring, almost ad hoc from crises as they arise, Helton offers a striking proposal for two organizations dedicated to assembling resources and a base of experts to anticipate, prevent and ameliorate future predicaments - one inside the U.S. government, and one internationally-based. While some may bemoan a proposal for new agencies, Helton's suggestion is innovative for the policy underlying these proposed organizations: a vehicle for prevention of mass displacement and for proactive, anticipatory mitigation when prevention is impossible or inappropriate. The new national security and foreign policy agenda he presents reflects his heartfelt and lifelong quest for states, organizations and individuals to view the protection of refugees as an obligation to humanity; an obligation that merits foresight.

Arthur C. Helton, one of the world's top experts on refugees and the migration of displaced persons, is Senior Fellow for Refugee Studies and Preventive Action at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York. He previously directed the Refugee Project of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights for twelve years and has written more than 80 scholarly articles on refugee and migration subjects. Helton's book will educate and fascinate policy makers, statesmen, relief workers, and humanitarians, as well as advocates for refugees and enthusiasts of migration, foreign policy, history, diplomacy, politics, and human rights. This comprehensive volume poses important questions and will undoubtedly take its place among the seminal literature devoted to the topic.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Obituary for the Author, February 13, 2006

By 

Smallchief - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: The Price of Indifference: Refugees and Humanitarian Action in the New Century (A Council on Foreign Relations Book) (Paperback)

The author of this book, Arthur C. Helton, was killed on August 19, 2003 in the suicide bombing of the United Nations headquarters in Baghdad. Helton was meeting with UN officials at the time of the bombing.

Smallchief

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Praising the Price of Indifference, February 24, 2003

By 

D. Gilman (NY, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Price of Indifference: Refugees and Humanitarian Action in the New Century (A Council on Foreign Relations Book) (Paperback)

As noted by Arthur Helton, refugees matter. However, they matter not only for humanitarian reasons but also because they are intimately tied to questions of national and strategic interest. By extending the argument beyond the realm of humanitarian charity, Helton effectively makes the case for state intervention in the field and elevates scholarship in the realm of refugee studies.

Moreover, the perspective of The Price of Indifference is a fresh one. Addressing crises from Africa to Afghanistan, Turkey to East Timor and Haiti to the former USSR, his work constitutes a comprehensive account of a decade that was perhaps the most dynamic one in recent memory. And from a discussion of the Cold War models of humanitarian action to the "Mogadishu syndrome" and the CNN effect, Helton covers the prevailing dynamics of all periods. What is more, the book goes so far as to model potential futures depending on which prevailing ideology is adopted (e.g., cooperation or containment).

Not only does the book discuss shortfalls in the national system of humanitarian action (calling for a new separate civilian agency, the Agency for Humanitarian Action), but it also entails a discussion of the international system and its inability to effectively mediate refugee-related crises. In doing so, Helton makes the case for new institutional structures (e.g., the Strategic Humanitarian and Research Entity, or SHARE) which effectively consolidate the fragmented humanitarian components in the UN system.

As we know, the Cold war changed responses to refugee and migration emergencies in fundamental ways. Yet, for all we do know, there is no single answer. Rather, a more varied and comprehensive "policy toolbox" is required. To be helpful, policy needs to be more proactive so that "international coordination" and a "preventive orientation" replace the "selective apathy" and "creeping trepidation" that currently animate refugee responses.

No longer can states hide behind the out-dated Westphalian notion of absolute sovereignty. Rather, certain concerns are obligations erga omnes and the concern of all those within the international community. As a result, a significant attention and backing is given to humanitarian intervention (and its reform).

As Helton notes, recent experience teaches us that expectations should be modest. Yet with a thorough review like the Price of Indifference, one cannot help but hope for a better future for refugees and internally displaced persons worldwide.