Paper details
| Paper authors | Abdul Kadir Khan |
| In panel on | Beyond the Local: Cultural translatability in humanitarian interventions |
| Paper presenter(s) will be presenting |
In-Person / |
Abstract
Localization is one of the main priorities of the current reform efforts of the humanitarian system. The argument of “as local as possible, as international as necessary” of the “Grand Bargain” without a conceptual scoping of the term “local” perplexes the context as an oxymoron. The contested concept of “being local” in the localization agenda is not the binary opposites of international, rather strengthens the local ability to take over the leadership role in humanitarian action. Predominantly, humanitarian space is the center of humanitarian action. In the humanitarian space as an arena, the humanitarian action is not precogitated on adhering to humanitarian principles, rather it derives from the condition of service delivery in crisis that is shaped in practice. Hence, the article examines the scope of the humanitarian space concerning the localization agenda while shaping the Rohingya response in Bangladesh. The Rohingya migrants in Bangladesh from Myanmar are de facto stateless, and they are completely aid dependent. To explore different trajectories of localization of Rohingya response, after an array of document analysis of 50 organizational documents, the study concludes by arguing that, shrinking space of humanitarian action by the way of restrictive policies in Bangladesh is undermining the essence of localization agenda in Rohingya response.
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