The Challenges and Efficacy of International Organizations in the Context of Russia’s War in Ukraine

Abstract

International organizations (IOs) demonstrate both agency and pathologies in their humanitarian work. IOs’ operations in war zones hinge on their ability to gain access to vulnerable groups and sites. Such access differs depending on the type of regime the organizations engage with. Working with more transparent and democratic authorities or more closed governments explains the efficacy of some humanitarian efforts and pathological outcomes in others. This essay describes the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Ukraine during 2022 and 2023. Both organizations had more successful outcomes working with the Ukrainian authorities, but they partially failed to fulfill the mandate (ICRC) or were largely restricted in their work (IAEA, ICRC) on Russian controlled territories. This project shows that action by international organizations is possible even in unprecedented scenarios of war. However, working with non-democratic Russian authorities may also lead to pathological outcomes for international organizations, such as the death of detainees whose safe passage the ICRC negotiated, or Russian manipulation of the IAEA monitoring access to a nuclear site with compromised safety. Such stories call for more self-reflectivity on the part of IOs about potential pathological outcomes and courage for ethical action during Russia’s war of aggression in Ukraine.

DISCLOSURE STATEMENT

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

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Notes on contributors

Lidiya Zubytska

Lidiya Zubytska is an Assistant Professor with the Department of Politics at Ave Maria University. She specializes in comparative politics of Eastern European states and foreign policy analysis, including domestic factors shaping foreign policy choices in states undergoing political transition. Her current research projects examine new Ukrainian approaches to diplomacy during wartime and the presidentialization of politics in Eastern Europe. Lidiya Zubytska has held fellowships at the Woodrow Wilson Center for International Scholars in Washington D.C. and the Institute on Russian and Eurasian Studies at Uppsala University (Sweden); as well as teaching positions at the Ukrainian Catholic University and the University of Mary Washington. Prior to her academic path, Lidiya Zubytska worked on civil service reform in the post-Orange revolution Ukraine. She holds a Doctoral degree in Political Science from the University of Kansas, and a Master of Arts degree in International Peace Studies from the Kroc Institute at University of Notre Dame. [email protected]