Skip to main content
  • Sections
  • Search

Center for Strategic & International Studies

User menu

  • Subscribe
  • Sign In

   Ranked #1 Think Tank in U.S. by Global Go To Think Tank Index

Topics

  • Climate Change
  • Cybersecurity and Technology
    • Cybersecurity
    • Data Governance
    • Intelligence, Surveillance, and Privacy
    • Military Technology
    • Space
    • Technology and Innovation
  • Defense and Security
    • Counterterrorism and Homeland Security
    • Defense Budget
    • Defense Industry, Acquisition, and Innovation
    • Defense Strategy and Capabilities
    • Geopolitics and International Security
    • Long-Term Futures
    • Missile Defense
    • Space
    • Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation
  • Economics
    • Asian Economics
    • Global Economic Governance
    • Trade and International Business
  • Energy and Sustainability
    • Energy, Climate Change, and Environmental Impacts
    • Energy and Geopolitics
    • Energy Innovation
    • Energy Markets, Trends, and Outlooks
  • Global Health
    • Family Planning, Maternal and Child Health, and Immunizations
    • Multilateral Institutions
    • Health and Security
    • Infectious Disease
  • Human Rights
    • Civil Society
    • Transitional Justice
    • Human Security
  • International Development
    • Food and Agriculture
    • Governance and Rule of Law
    • Humanitarian Assistance
    • Private Sector Development
    • U.S. Development Policy

Regions

  • Africa
    • North Africa
    • Sub-Saharan Africa
  • Americas
    • Caribbean
    • North America
    • South America
  • Arctic
  • Asia
    • Afghanistan
    • Australia, New Zealand & Pacific
    • China
    • India
    • Japan
    • Korea
    • Pakistan
    • Southeast Asia
  • Europe
    • European Union
    • NATO
    • Post-Soviet Europe
    • Turkey
  • Middle East
    • The Gulf
    • Egypt and the Levant
    • North Africa
  • Russia and Eurasia
    • The South Caucasus
    • Central Asia
    • Post-Soviet Europe
    • Russia

Sections menu

  • Programs
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Analysis
    • Blogs
    • Books
    • Commentary
    • Congressional Testimony
    • Critical Questions
    • Interactive Reports
    • Journals
    • Newsletter
    • Reports
    • Transcript
  • Podcasts
  • iDeas Lab
  • Transcripts
  • Web Projects

Main menu

  • About Us
  • Support CSIS
    • Securing Our Future
Photo: BOUREIMA HAMA/AFP via Getty Images

You are here

  1. Home
  2. Humanitarian Agenda
  3. Analysis
Connect

Analysis

On This Page                               
  • South Sudan
  • Syria
  • Yemen
  • Nigeria
  • Commentaries & CQs

With an unprecedented number of humanitarian crises around the world, the Humanitarian Agenda contributes policy solutions to novel challenges in the modern era. Our program identifies evolving trends and facilitates expert dialogue and analysis across public, private, and NGO sectors. The program seeks to develop and advance avenues for increasing access to suffering populations—particularly in protracted conflicts. Below is a sampling of the program’s global analysis, with a focus on areas with severe humanitarian crises.


South Sudan

CSIS Briefs
Accessing South Sudan: Humanitarian Aid in a Time of Crisis
November 27, 2018 | By Erol Yayboke

The man-made crisis in #SouthSudan has caused devastating human and financial costs. Aid organizations face significant access constraints while addressing the #humanitarian needs of 7 million people, a number that will only grow in the absence of sustainable peace.

 
On Demand Event
Facilitating Humanitarian Assistance in South Sudan
July 17, 2018

The U.S. government and international actors, like the United Nations, have applied sanctions to those blocking South Sudan’s access to humanitarian assistance.


Syria

CSIS Briefs
Cross-border Aid, Covid-19, and U.S. Decisions in Syria
May 8, 2020 | By Will Todman

The UN mandate for cross-border access to northwest Syria will expire in July. CSIS's Will Todman argues that this would be catastrophic for Syria and the broader international community and suggests how the United States can increase its leverage in the renewal debate.

CSIS Briefs
Access for What? Elevating Civilian Protection and Quality Access for Humanitarian Action in Syria
March 25, 2019 | By Melissa Dalton, Hijab Shah

Donors, the UN, and NGOs must coordinate action with firm adherence to humanitarian principles, putting Syrian civilians first, even as the United States and its allies chart political objectives to counter the Syrian government and its supporters.

On Demand Event
Syria's Tragedy, Our Lessons
March 2, 2020

The CSIS Middle East Program and Humanitarian Agenda are pleased to host David Miliband, President and CEO of the International Rescue Committee, to address the ninth anniversary of the Syrian conflict.


  • Yemen

CSIS Briefs
Aid and Conflict: Pitfalls in Yemen
August 16, 2018 | By Jon B. Alterman

No two countries have been as generous to Yemen in the last year as Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, which pledged billions of dollars in aid to the poor and embattled country on the tip of the Arabian Peninsula.

 
On Demand Event
Online Event: Crisis and Survival Amidst Covid-19 in Yemen
April 27, 2020

A discussion on the implications of Covid-19 in Yemen with Lise Grande, the UN humanitarian coordinator for Yemen.

Report
The Humanitarian Crisis in Yemen
April 5, 2018

Expert insights from an event on the complex dynamics and rising stakes of Yemen's humanitarian emergency.

 
On Demand Event
The Humanitarian and National Security Crisis in Yemen: An Update and Path Forward
December 13, 2018

Watch us for a conversation with Senator Todd Young (R-IN) and David Beasley, executive director of the World Food Programme, to discuss the policy solutions and action needed to improve the humanitarian situation in Yemen.

 

Nigeria

To learn more about the Humanitarian Agenda’s work on Nigeria, visit this webpage.
 

Commentaries and Critical Questions

CRITICAL QUESTION
The Impact of COVID-19 on Humanitarian Crises
March 19, 2020 | By Jacob Kurtzer

In the face of the COVID-19 pandemic, CSIS’s Jacob Kurtzer discusses the potentially devastating impacts of the virus on displaced communities and lessons governments can learn from the humanitarian community to address challenges on the horizon.

 
CRITICAL QUESTION
Ambassador Kelly Craft Is Confirmed: What Will She Be Up Against?
August 14, 2019 | By Jacob Kurtzer, John Goodrick

Humanitarian issues are often at the forefront of the United Nations Security Council agenda. As Ambassador Kelly Knight Craft awaits her swearing in as ambassador to the UN, the CSIS Humanitarian Agenda looks at the key challenges she will face when arriving in New York.

COMMENTARY
Venezuela’s Humanitarian Emergency: Putting Principles First
March 25, 2019 | By Jacob Kurtzer

The humanitarian crisis in Venezuela is rooted in political corruption and economic mismanagement. To respond to urgent needs, the United States must separate its own political agenda from genuine offers of humanitarian aid, argues CSIS’s Jacob Kurtzer.

Humanitarian Agenda

  • CSIS Task Force on Humanitarian Access
  • Washington Humanitarian Forum
  • Analysis
    • Denial, Delay, Diversion
    • Northeast Nigeria
    • Conflict in the Sahel
    • Humanitarian Operations during Covid-19
Find Additional Content
Media Queries

Contact H. Andrew Schwartz
Chief Communications Officer
Tel: 202.775.3242

Contact Caleb Diamond
Media Relations Manager and Editorial Associate
Tel: 202.775.3173

Most Recent

Report
Civilian Protection through Civilian Control: An Overlooked Piece of Security Sector Assistance in the Sahel
By Alice Hunt Friend
December 9, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Event: Humanitarian Operations During Covid-19: A Conversation with António Vitorino of the International Organization for Migration
June 29, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Event: Humanitarian Operations During Covid-19: A Conversation with David Beasley of the World Food Programme
June 19, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Event: Humanitarian Operations During Covid-19: A Conversation with Kelly T. Clements and Steven Corliss of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
June 8, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Event: Humanitarian Operations During Covid-19: A Conversation with Michelle Nunn of CARE USA
May 26, 2020
On Demand Event
Online Event: Humanitarian Operations During Covid-19: A Conversation with Peter Maurer of the ICRC
May 18, 2020
View all content associated with this program
Footer menu
  • Topics
  • Regions
  • Programs
  • Experts
  • Events
  • Analysis
  • Web Projects
  • Podcasts
  • iDeas Lab
  • Transcripts
  • About Us
  • Support Us
Contact CSIS
Email CSIS
Tel: 202.887.0200
Fax: 202.775.3199
Visit CSIS Headquarters
1616 Rhode Island Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20036
Media Queries

Contact H. Andrew Schwartz
Chief Communications Officer
Tel: 202.775.3242

Contact Caleb Diamond
Media Relations Manager and Editorial Associate
Tel: 202.775.3173

Daily Updates

Sign up to receive The Evening, a daily brief on the news, events, and people shaping the world of international affairs.

Subscribe to CSIS Newsletters

Follow CSIS
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Instagram

All content © 2020. All rights reserved.

Legal menu
  • Credits
  • Privacy Policy
  • Reprint Permissions