Humanitarian Endeavors Research Articles

Contemporary issues in humanitarianism: selected resources

As Tony Vaux points out in his Guest Editorial in this issue, the concept of humanitarianism applies to both war and general disaster, and is based on the principle that ‘in extreme cases of human suffering external agents may offer assistance to people in need, and in doing so should be accorded respect and even “rights” in carrying out their functions’. However, policy makers in humanitarian agencies, and aid workers on the ground, face a bewilderingly complex set of challenges in determining such ‘rights’. Gone are any comfortable certainties about what in the commercial sector is known as ‘the licence to operate’, and claims to the moral high ground of ‘neutrality’ have an increasingly hollow ring. Perhaps more to the point, such assumptions are of little practical use to frontline workers who may risk ambush, abduction, deportation, or even their lives as the result of their professional activities. Nor do outdated road maps help relief agencies to orient their decisions on whether to withdraw or continue providing material assistance in the knowledge that a proportion of it is fuelling the violence or lining the pockets of conflict profiteers. There are no standard ‘off-the-peg’ answers, because each situation must be considered on its own merits. And of course no aid agencies share an identical mandate, or have precisely the same expertise or history of involvement with the affected population – all factors that must be weighed up in deciding what is the appropriate course of action. For reasons of space, we have not sought to cover the areas of early warning, prevention, and mitigation associated with ‘natural’ disasters, although of course the two are always linked, as became very clear in wake of the Asian tsunami in Aceh and Sri Lanka. It has long been recognised that since catastrophic events disproportionately affect the poor and marginalised, they expose and may intensify existing social divides and structural injustice. For instance, in his seminal work on the 1943 Bengal famine, Poverty and Famines: An Essay on Entitlement and Deprivation (OUP, 1984) Amartya K Sen argued that such food shortages do not occur in functioning democracies. Similarly, Roger Plant's, Guatemala: Unnatural Disaster (Latin America Bureau, 1978) showed how the 1974 earthquake triggered an intensification in state violence that was to result in the death or disappearance of 200,000 Guatemalans and create ‘a nation of widows and orphans’. In accordance with the focus of this issue, we have given priority to publications and organisations that reflect on some direct involvement in humanitarian endeavour, rather than giving priority to more policy-oriented or scholarly works or academic institutions. We have included literature on the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, since this was such a defining event for humanitarianism; and some recent publications concerning the US-led invasions of Afghanistan in October 2001 (‘Operation Enduring Freedom’) and Iraq in March 2003 (‘Operation Iraqi Freedom’), since these have significantly redefined the global landscape of policy and practice within which humanitarian agencies operate. Inevitably we can offer only a glimpse of the growing literature in these fields, but we hope in so doing that readers, and particularly those directly involved in humanitarian endeavours, will be encouraged to explore the issues further.

Human Security: Expanding the Scope of Public Health

Human security is an evolving principle for organizing humanitarian endeavours in the tradition of public health. It places the welfare of people at the core of programmes and policies and is community oriented and preventive. It recognizes the mutual vulnerability of all people and the growing global interdependence that marks the current era. Health is a crucial domain of human security, providing a context within which to build partnerships across disciplines, sectors and agencies. These principles have been demonstrated in field programmes in which healthcare delivery featuring multi‐sectoral co‐operation across conflict lines has been used to enhance human security. Such programmes can be a model for collaborative action and can create the sustainable community infrastructure that is essential for human security.

Human security: Expanding the scope of public health

Human security is an evolving principle for organizing humanitarian endeavours in the tradition of public health. It places the welfare of people at the core of programmes and policies and is community oriented and preventive. It recognizes the mutual vulnerability of all people and the growing global interdependence that marks the current era. Health is a crucial domain of human security, providing a context within which to build partnerships across disciplines, sectors and agencies. These principles have been demonstrated in field programmes in which healthcare delivery featuring multi‐sectoral co‐operation across conflict lines has been used to enhance human security. Such programmes can be a model for collaborative action and can create the sustainable community infrastructure that is essential for human security.

Music at court during the reign of Maria Luigia, Duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla: a partial survey

On 20 April 1816 the Imperial Princess Marie Louise, Grand Duchess of Austria and former Empress of France, arrived in the city of Parma, Italy. The daughter of Francis I of Austria (1768-1835, reigned 1806-35) and Marie-Thsrese de Bourbon-Sicily,I Marie Louise (1791-1847) married Napoleon Bonaparte in April 1810 but left him in June 1814, as soon as the collapse of his empire appeared inevitable. Upon Napoleon's downfall and in accordance with the Treaty of Fontainebleau, Marie Louise was assigned to govern the north-central Italian provinces of Parma and Piacenza. Although the official city newspaper, the Gazzetta di Parma (7 June 1814), enthusiastically reported that on 6 June 1814 Her Majesty the Empress Maria Luigia (as the Italians called her) had become the sovereign of the region, in truth the matter of her governance had not yet been fully resolved, for Maria Luisa, Duchess of Lucca, wished to claim the area for her son.2 Finally, one year later, on 9 June 1815, the Congress of Vienna made a final decision, declaring Maria Luigia Duchess of Parma, Piacenza, and Guastalla.3 The decision was to have an enduring positive impact on the social, economic, and cultural life of the provinces. During her reign, with the assistance of her ministers, especially Count Adam Neipperg (1775/6-1829, who became her second husband), Maria Luigia restored the city's cultural life. In the early years of her governance (primarily before the death of Neipperg),4 humanitarian, educational, and artistic endeavors flourished, above all in Parma, where the Duchess made her official home. In her efforts to enrich the culture of the city, music played a prominent role: at court, at church, in the theater, in the streets, at ceremonies and celebrations of every sort in every season, nary an occasion passed without musical performance. The effects of the Austrian ruler and her cabinet on the musical culture

L'humanitaire appartient-il à tout le monde?

“Humanitarian” (as in “humanitarian action” or “humanitarian endeavour”) has become a household word in recent times. Often it has been distinctly misused, as in the expression “humanitarian intervention”. The author of this article, a senior ICRC staff member, gives a reminder that humanitarian action is intended above all to safeguard and promote the welfare of human beings and to shield them from violence and the abuse of power. He then discusses several policy issues which explain or support humanitarian policy. To sum up, he draws some conclusions which should preserve the true nature of humanitarian action in the present circumstances. In particular, he urges that a diversified approach be adopted to achieve the common goal, namely, to protect people in distress.

Media and humanitarian endeavour

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The religiosity variable and personal empowerment in pastoral counseling.

Claims that therapeutic fuzziness and unexplored assumptions contribute to an all-too-ready devaluing or dismissal of what is important to religious clients. Argues that sorting out the client's religiosity components into facets of religion, spirituality, and theology to reflect respectively the process, capacity, and product of meaning-making serves to shed light on why consideration of religiosity is important in therapy. Notes that such processes of discernment provide a bridge between the sciences (e.g. psychology) and humanitarian (e.g. religiosity) endeavors in that both engage in the same meta-process of meaning-making in their search for empowerment, although they do so from different perspectives and different initial suppositions. Concludes that the art of psychotherapy can draw on the content of both science and religiosity to facilitate well-being in clients and in therapists alike.

Inauguration of the International Museum of the Red Cross (Geneva, 29 October 1988)

The International Museum of the Red Cross was inaugurated on 29 October 1988 in the presence of Swiss federal and cantonal government representatives, members of the permanent missions to the United Nations Office in Geneva and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the League and many National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.The Museum, initially conceived to provide the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement with a means of becoming better known, attracting funds and inspiring young people, is the outcome of twelve years of tireless effort. Its purpose is not only to document the creation and expansion of the Movement, but also and above all to pay tribute to man's humanity throughout the centuries. As underscored by Mr. Otto Stich, President of the Swiss Confederation, who cut the inaugural ribbon, the International Museum of the Red Cross is “a testimony to the deed, the word or the look that, in the midst of war, violence and disaster, assists and saves”.This is an accurate portrayal of the Museum, which emphasizes humanitarian endeavours rather than war and violence.

International Committee of the Red Cross: Developing National Societies: An ongoing challenge

Let's face it: a world of peace and justice, devoid of violence and misery, is not around the corner.Stating this unhappy reality is not meant to discourage those of goodwill who keep the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement going. Rather, it is to stress just how important it is in humanitarian endeavour to bring our forces into concert so that we can all pull together. The best use possible must be made of every individual, every penny, if we are going to make headway in this unequal struggle in which we are engaged to assist the victims of war, natural disaster and poverty. Rivalry is all the more shocking when it arises in the area of humanitarian aid as the needs are so enormous and there is more than enough room for everyone. But everyone must find his proper place in the joint effort; effectiveness is impossible without good co-ordination.

David Hosack and the Duel

IN every age there are those who stand out above their contemporaries. Dr. David Hosack was one of these. Practitioner of medicine, lecturer and teacher, biographer and essayist, botanist and geologist, as well as staunch supporter of numerous humanitarian and cultural endeavors, he did many things and did them well. Born in New York City in 1769, he obtained his undergraduate education in private academies and at Columbia and Princeton colleges. In 1789 he enrolled in lecture courses in physic, surgery and mid-wifery offered by Drs. Post, Romayne and Samuel Bard and also attended the practice of physic and surgery . . .

Charles Scott Sherrington 1857-1952; an appreciation.

THE death of Sir Charles Sherrington on March 4, 1952, in his ninety-fifth year, brings to a close a long life devoted to research and teaching in physiology with, at the same time, leadership in a broad field of political, artistic, intellectual and humanitarian endeavors. Knighted in 1922; winner of the Nobel Prize, with Edgar Adrian, in 1932; Fellow and one-time President of the Royal Society, Sir Charles received the Order of Merit, one of Britain's highest awards, more than a quarter-century ago. He gave the Silliman Lectures at Yale in 1904 and the Dunham Lectures at Harvard in 1927. . . .