NATO
Logistics
Handbook
October 1997
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Chapter 5: Logistic Support for Peace Support Operations
Humanitarian Missions
505. Humanitarian missions are conducted to relieve
human suffering, especially in circumstances where
responsible authorities in the area are unable, or possibly unwilling,
to provide adequate services and support to the population.
This suffering among large numbers of people may be the result
of natural or man-made disasters such as earthquake, flood,
famine and radioactive or chemical contamination. It may also be
a consequence of war or the flight from political, religious, or
ethnic persecution. Alliance involvement in humanitarian missions
will be determined through the same decision-making process
within NATO as peacekeeping or conflict prevention
missions. Humanitarian missions may be executed in the context of
a peacekeeping or conflict prevention operation, or it may be
a completely independent task.
506. The three principal categories of humanitarian missions are:
- Disaster Relief: Deliberate planning for disaster
relief operations is a difficult task, but analysis of past
natural or man-made calamities can serve as a guide for
national and local authorities to take appropriate
precautions, such as stockage of water purification equipment,
non-perishable food, tents, beds, and blankets.
Potential donor nations may form special response teams
to handle disaster relief, and may establish a stock of
relief supplies, preferably in coordination with the efforts
of UN Department of Humanitarian Affairs (UN-DHA) Geneva. Similarly, NATO Headquarters should be kept informed by member nations of their civil and
military resources which might be contributed to disaster
relief operations outside their national territory, and
establish procedures and guidelines for the employment
of military resources in disaster relief to aid timely response.
- Refugee/Displaced Person
Assistance: Beyond the actions necessary to respond to a disaster, there may also be requirements to deal separately with the
movement of people displaced from their homes voluntarily or
by force either as refugees or displaced persons. A refugee
assistance task force may well become involved in providing the logistic support system to include transportation and its supporting logistic
chain. Adequate transportation assets may be extremely difficult to arrange. Consideration must be given to prioritization of those to be moved, by age,
infirmity, sex or family groups. Negotiations with group
leaders will be required. Transport used for relief supplies
should be considered as the most readily available assets.
- Humanitarian Aid: Humanitarian aid missions may pose significant challenges to any elements assigned this task as they usually occur in conjunction with civil strife or military confrontation. When the requirements for humanitarian aid are caused by a breakdown in the
civil distribution systems, the mission area may encompass a large area or even an entire country. There may be little or no cooperation from authorities who control points of entry or the transportation assets. The relief supplies may likely be considered so valuable that their
delivery is threatened by criminal elements. The greater
the difficulties of the situation, the more likely it is
that Alliance military and civil resources can provide invaluable contributions to national and international relief agencies.
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