The effect of failed humanitarian interventions

Abstract

This research examines how failed humanitarian interventions have prolonged the crises in Haiti (2021) and Yemen (2015), revealing the structural costs of aid. While global institutions often describe these missions as urgent responses for the social protection of the affected populations, this study argues that they frequently overlook the local agency essential to plan foreign aid. By comparing two different geopolitical contexts with converging outcomes, the article shows how humanitarian aid becomes disconnected from the people it seeks to assist, essentially becoming part of the problem.
By tracing reports from Human Rights Watch (2018, 2023), the J. Johnston’s book “Aid State. Elite Panic, Disaster Capitalism, and the Battle to Control Haiti” (2024) and case studies such as the UN- MINUSTAH operations in Haiti (2010) and the coalition’s JIAT investigative body for Yemen (2016); the research identifies three key instances that perpetuate the effect of failed humanitarian aid: the inability to rebuild the social contract, the exclusion of local participation, and the persistence of paternalistic practices that strengthen dependency. It is revealed that humanitarianism often operates under external control and limited accountability, eroding legitimacy and fostering local resentment.
This study pretends to give voice to those living in crisis. Haitians and Yemenis express not only the weight of displacement and loss, but also the exhaustion of being constantly “helped” without being heard. Their testimonies call on the international community to reform the ethics of intervention. Finally, it is concluded that true humanitarianism requires humility, a willingness to listen, and to design aid with, not for, those suffering the consequences of global indifference.