When the United Nations sanctions a humanitarian relief operation, how can the numerous and diverse UN, Non-Governmental Organizations and military elements be co-ordinated? This volume provides practitioner perspectives on the question.

When the United Nations sanctions a humanitarian relief operation, how can the numerous and diverse UN, Non-Governmental Organizations and military elements be coordinated? What are the practical, political and institutional considerations and impediments? What can be learned from previous experience? This is a volume of practitioner perspectives: the views of distinguished individuals from all of the concerned professions, including former Special Representatives of the Secretary-General and Force Commanders, as well as senior UN officials and representatives of the NGO community.

Acknowledgements - Glossary - Notes on Contributors - Introduction - PART 1: POLITICAL OVERVIEW - The Political Limits of Humanitarian Assistance
Dr J.Whitman - PART 2: UN PERSPECTIVES - The Future of Peacekeeping
Dr S.Tharoor - Humanitarian Coordination
Dr J.Dedring -The Hidden Costs of Better Coordination
N.Wright - PART 3: INTRA-COMMUNITY PERSPECTIVES - The Integrated Operations Centre: Coping with Complexity
R.Kent - NATO and its New Role
D.Lightburn - Humanitarian Assistance Intervention in Complex Emergencies: Information Requirements in the 1990s
B.Garvelink - Humanitarian Emergencies and the Roles of NGOs
P.Shiras - Coordination is the Key
General Sir D.Ramsbotham - The ICRC in Complex Emergencies: An Outsider or Part of the Team
Lieutenant Colonel B.Doppler - Coordination, Control and Competition: NGOs on the Front Line
J.Bennett PART 4: FIELD COORDINATION OF UN HUMANITARIAN ASSISTANCE - Field Coordination of UN Humanitarian Assistance: Bosnia 1994
General Sir M.Rose - The Experience in Angola: February 1992-June 1993
Dame M.J.Anstee - The Humanitarian Response in Cambodia: the Imperative for a Strategic Alliance
Lieutenant General J.M.Sanderson - The Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance in Mozambique in the Context of ONUMOZ
A.Ajello - The Changing Role of UN Peacekeeping Forces: The Relationship Between UN Peacekeepers and NGOs in Rwanda
Major General R.A.Dallaire - The Role of the Humanitarian Coordinator
Professor M.Walsh - Peacekeepers, Humanitarian Aid and Civil Conflicts
C.Thornberry - PART 5: AFTERWORD - Humanitarian Aid: A Personal View
L.Hollingworth - Index