Between aid and rights: Humanitarian international NGOs responding to the crisis of European refugee protection

Abstract The ongoing crisis of refugee protection in Europe exemplifies a tension between providing humanitarian aid and fighting for human rights. Some recent studies have been highly critical of humanitarian action in this context, suggesting that giving aid to refugees in Europe is a substitute for and suppression of human rights work (Dittmer and Lorenz 2021a; Cuttitta 2018; Ticktin 2016). However, humanitarian aid comprises both, humanitarianism and human rights. This study investigates how humanitarian international non-governmental organisations (INGOs) have striven to protect refugees from North Africa, the Middle East and Ukraine from 2015 to 2023. During this time, many have established new programs in Europe. A content analysis of documents by four humanitarian INGOs shows how they work to integrate both, aid and rights, in their refugee work. This creates certain tensions. For example, the analysis suggests that localisation is one way to integrate human rights into humanitarian action, however at the risk of compromising humanitarian principles.