Analyzing Humanitarian Aid Efficacy: A Study of UN Food Aid to Children in North Korea and the Gaza Strip in 2014–2019
Open AccessThis thesis seeks to answer the following questions: under what conditions does UN assistance successfully ameliorate the humanitarian crises? What factors constrained UN aid programs, particularly when aid recipients pose risks to international security? Comparing the “hard cases” of North Korea and Gaza, which are both major food aid recipients and security concerns, this study examines UNICEF and WFP nutrition assistance to children in North Korea and Gaza from 2014 to 2019, when the food crisis was significant, particularly for children, and the humanitarian aid programs faced similar challenges. The research is based on qualitative and quantitative data, such as UN statistics and reports; other NGO publications; local and international media; and expert interviews. The results show that UN assistance demonstrated efficacy when the aid programs were adequately implemented, and aid reached the target population. In contrast, humanitarian assistance seems to have been impeded by various circumstances, such as sanctions and the blockade; declining levels of donor funding; the paternalistic nature of humanitarian aid; the lack of transparency and aid diversion; and the two regimes’ policies of isolating themselves and posing international security threats. These findings conclude that UN assistance, despite its principle of political independence, has been affected by external and internal factors that include politics. As a result, it is the ordinary people and vulnerable children of North Korea and Gaza who bear the humanitarian burden.
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