Original version

BBC World Service Online

Assignment

Factual

Investigations and journeys into the heart of global events from BBC correspondents.

Assignment: Shaking Hands with the Enemy

Factual: Arts, Culture & the Media

Factual: Life Stories

Factual: Families & Relationships

Factual: History

Factual: Politics

News

Religion & Ethics

Assignment-Shaking Hands with the Enemy

03/07/2014

Shaking Hands with the Enemy

BBC World Service - Assignment, Shaking Hands with the Enemy

The dilemmas faced by charities trying to help people in areas run by militant groups

Are international regulations designed to stop money and equipment reaching terrorist organisations, curtailing vital aid programmes in some of the world's most troubled regions?

In many parts of the world, charities are trying to deliver much-needed aid to desperate people living in areas controlled by militant groups. What do they do when counter-terrorism laws ban them from contact with those de facto authorities? Risk of prosecution has now created a climate of fear in many aid agencies - and the UN wants counter-terrorism policies redrawn to ensure lives can be saved without charity workers risking jail. Tim Whewell reports from Gaza - and talks to aid workers operating in Syria, Somalia and other places - on the practical and moral dilemmas involved.

(Image: The Najar family living in squalor in the Beach Refugee Camp, Gaza. Counter-terrorism regulate cause major legal obstacles for aid agencies working in the territory. BBC Copyright)

BBC World Service

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Assignment

Shaking Hands with the Enemy

Genres

Brand

BBC World Service Online

About BBC World Service