Sanctions and Their Impact on Humanitarian Action
On World Humanitarian Day 2024, PoliSync interviews Dr. Emanuela-Chiara Gillard for a better understanding of sanctions and their impact on humanitarian action.
Q1: Dr. Gillard, can you start by explaining what sanctions are and who typically adopts them?
Dr. Gillard: Sanctions are measures adopted by certain international organizations or by states to achieve specific foreign policy or security objectives, such as ending conflict, promoting compliance with international law or countering terrorism. They can be directed at states, individuals, or entities and may include travel bans, asset freezes, arms embargoes, and restrictions on economic activity. The United Nations Security Council and the European Union are the main actors that impose sanctions, as well as certain states autonomously.
Q2: Which sanctions must humanitarian organizations comply with, and why is this important?
Dr. Gillard: Humanitarian organizations must comply with the sanctions imposed by the countries where they are registered, and those where they operate. Frequently donors also require the organization...
Sayonara 2022 and thanks
As we say sayonara to 2022, I’m putting my feet up and letting myself feel all of the feelings that flood my grateful heart. We’ve come a LONG way since first putting our vague idea of PoliSync onto paper at the end of 2021, and since signing PoliSync into a legal entity in June 2022.
I learned early in my career that in order for the different departments and people in a workplace to function as a cohesive unit, the coordinators and managers of the unit need to understand fully the mechanics and struggles that each individual and department faces. At 22, one month after starting my junior position of account coordinator in the client service department of a small comms agency, I was thrown into the temporary role…
Working with data: like cramming balloons into a car
Working with data can be like trying to cram a bunch of balloons into a small car on a windy day. That’s how I felt often during my 13-month secondment to the UN for its 75th anniversary in 2020.
The UN75 initiative invited people around the world to share hopes & fears for the future & to discuss how actors, including the UN, can better work together to address global challenges. Thanks to the amazing UN75 team & UN country/info offices, data streamed in across the year.
We had the task of…
Building a professional home (the back-story)
I came to Geneva 16 years ago on a 3-month exploratory trip to see if I could find my path forward in life. After 5 years in multicultural marketing/communications, I had the idea of working for an organisation that combines research with the latest in technology & communications to support actors as they address global challenges. I had no clue which organisation it was or what it looked like.
10 days before my return flight to Sydney, two opportunities opened up at the heart of Geneva…