How I remember Tommy Olsen from Lesvos, on his phone/computer - documenting crime and helping life seekers. A recent report by NRK highlights a troubling development in the relationship between humanitarian action and border enforcement. Norwegian volunteer Tommy Olsen has been arrested following a European arrest warrant issued by Greece in connection with his work around the Aegean. Aegean Boat Report (ABR) says the accusations include human trafficking, facilitating human

Across the sector, aid budgets are being cut . Multi-year grants are shrinking or not renewed, surge rosters are thinner, risk appetites narrow, and whole programmes close. None of this reduces need. It just moves  it - towards neighbours, diaspora networks, and ordinary people who show up first. In that landscape, treating spontaneous volunteers as peripheral isn’t just out of date; it’s op erationally costly. That’s the backdrop for my analysis in The New Humanitarian: Amid

Spontaneous volunteers on Lesvos, 17 September 2015. Today is the UN International Volunteer Day. It is a day to look squarely at those who act before systems fully spin up. I am thinking in particular of unaffiliated, spontaneous volunteers: neighbours, visitors, bystanders who decide to help when capacity is stretched. They often stand in the shadow of institutions, yet in practice they form part of the response. They are first on site, fill gaps in the early hours, and ta

Spontaneous volunteers and grassroots leaders Christmas day 2015. I learned this on Lesvos. People arrived wet and shaking, and we did what we could with what we had. Then we went home and tried to live as if none of it had happened. Many could not. There was no system in place or plan for them. They fell through the cracks, and for some the cracks were deep. Shock, then silence Most spontaneous volunteers I interviewed in my book described the same pattern. Intense exposure

It should be integrated into policy. On World Mental Health Day, start with an honest premise: crises differ. Some burn hot and fast; by...

Møte med frivillige koordinatorer på Lesvos i 2015. Det var stortingsvalg 8. september 2025. Venstresiden med Arbeiderpartiet i spissen...

Spontaneous volunteer signalling to arriving boat, Lesvos 2015 Lesvos, 04:12 a.m.  A speck on the horizon, a radio call, a clean hand-off - citizens bridging a gap the system hadn’t covered yet. That scene, from the opening of my book, is not just about one shoreline or one year. Versions of it repeat in windstorms that knock out power for a night, in floods that displace a town for a week, and in conflicts that upend whole regions for months. When need outruns capacity, spon

Totalberedskapsmeldingen treffer en nerve. Den erkjenner et mer uforutsigbart risikobilde og løfter ambisjonen på sivil beredskap....