British Humanitarian Assistance: Wartime Planning and Postwar Realities

Abstract

The organisation of post-war relief is the first step in post-war reconstruction. The needs of the countries ravaged by the war will be immense and can be met only by international cooperative action on a very large scale. After the last war, there was considerable delay in organising relief; the scale on which it could be granted was very inadequate; and the financial conditions on which relief was available hampered the subsequent restoration of world economic relations. It is very desirable that plans should be prepared beforehand to provide relief after this war on an adequate scale and on a basis which will promote international recovery. . . . Voluntary organisations should be coordinated and linked up with these Relief Missions.1