The 2026 DSAI Annual Conference will explore the current uncertainty in international development as the postwar order faces several challenges, including the decline of multilateralism, the undermining of fundamental democratic principles, and increasing isolationism of several long-standing democracies; the increasing influence of state capitalism in development cooperation; and the exacerbation of existing inequalities by climate change.
The conference will examine how the present situation can be understood and potential ways to shift our focus from ‘conflict, crisis and competition, toward cooperation, consensus, and community.’
The panel engages with this current disruption to the international development system, exploring how international institutions that previously sought to protect civilians have been increasingly eroded in recent conflicts.
The deliberate targeting of civilians and societal infrastructure (including hospitals, aid organisations, and cultural heritage) create significant humanitarian and development consequences, both directly and indirectly resulting in systemic harms and impediments to recovery, as well as weakening international humanitarian structures aimed at safeguarding the vulnerable in conflict.
Through an interdisciplinary discussion on the logics of civilian targeting in conflict and crisis, the panel examines how we can reach a deeper understanding on the issue and produce more effective approaches to prevention and response. The panel moves past the humanitarian mantra of ‘not a target’ to assess the ways in which civilians, personnel, and infrastructure are already targeted and consider how to better address this phenomenon.
Courtney’s contribution to the panel, “Capturing Humanitarian History: Humanitarian Archives, Oral History and the ‘Attacks on Healthcare’ Collection,” presents testimonies from key actors across the humanitarian sector (including WHO, ICRC, MSF, and PHR) on the targeting of healthcare personnel and infrastructure in conflict.
Created as part of the Researching the Impacts of Attacks on Healthcare (RIAH) initiative at HCRI, the ‘Attacks on Healthcare’ Collection is comprised of over 30 interviews and explores the emergence of norms for measuring and responding to attacks, interorganisational debates, and future directions for advocacy and policy.
The collection reveals insights not visible in official documentation and humanitarian records, including the differing positionalities of humanitarian actors on interpretations and responses to attacks on healthcare; behind-the-scenes debates on campaigns and data collection on attacks on healthcare (such as ICRC’s Health Care in Danger and MSF’s Medical Care Under Fire campaigns; and UN Security Council Resolution 2286) and how attacks on healthcare personally and professionally influenced humanitarians to work on the issue.
Using this collection as an example, this paper argues that the oral history methodology (and ‘synchronous’ data collection more broadly) is an irreplaceable supplement to standard archival sources in the fast-paced environments typical of humanitarian operations.