Humanitarian Ideals Research Articles

Identity at the margins: data justice and refugee experiences with digital identity systems in Lebanon, Jordan, and Uganda

ABSTRACT This paper examines refugees' experiences with and perspectives on the digital identity systems used by humanitarian organizations to collect, manage, and share their personal data. Through a qualitative study with 198 refugees in Lebanon, Jordan, and Uganda, we show how existing humanitarian identity systems present numerous challenges for refugees. For example, we find that refugees have little to no knowledge of the institutional systems and processes through which their personal data are managed and used. In addition, refugees are typically not able to exercise agency with regard to data that are collected about them (e.g. given choices about the data collected). At the same time, we show how refugees make active efforts to negotiate the various identities available to them, consciously weighing the benefits and constraints associated with different statuses to maximize their access to services, eligibility for employment, and spatial mobility. We engage with Taylor's lens of data justice to make sense of our findings and conclude by highlighting the potential of feminist science and technology study frameworks to further develop theories of data justice that can support analysis of identification systems that serve the interests of the most vulnerable.

Percy Shelley, James Russell Lowell, and the Promethean Aesthetics of EBB's "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point"

Percy Shelley, James Russell Lowell, and the Promethean Aesthetics of EBB's "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" Antony H. Harrison (bio) The composition history of "The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim's Point" is well known: in 1845, Elizabeth Barrett Browning was commissioned separately by the American poet James Russell Lowell (with whom she had corresponded since 1842) and Maria Weston Chapman, the editor of The Liberty Bell, to write a poem for that abolitionist annual, normally published around Christmastime since its inception in 1839.1 She completed the poem late in 1846 and sent it to Lowell on December 23. In agreeing to write for The Liberty Bell, Barrett Browning was motivated by her hatred of slavery as an institution, her epistolary friendship with Lowell (who had previously solicited her work), and her admitted love for America and the Americans. As all scholars of her life and poetry are well aware, EBB2 was the descendant of slave owners in Jamaica, whose plantations had been highly profitable for the Moulton Barrett family. From her first knowledge of it, the "curse" of this family history was burdensome to EBB and demanded repeated exorcism in her writings, poems, and letters alike. As she explained to Robert Browning in 1845, "I would give ten towns in Norfolk (if I had them) to own some purer lineage than that of the blood of the slave!—Cursed we are from generation to generation."3 Similarly, in mid-January of 1847, shortly after completing "Runaway Slave," she wrote to her American friend, Cornelius Mathews: "when I write against slavery, it is not as one free from the curse" (BC 14: 100).4 Despite her adamant belief that slavery was abhorrent, EBB generally admired the inhabitants of a nation in which that institution thrived. In a letter to Lowell from January 1843, she wrote: "From the circumstances of a retired [End Page 53] life & ill health it has happened that I never stood face to face with an American, except in my dreams. But I love the Americans & America for the sake of national brotherhood & a common literature & I honor them for the sake of liberty & noble aspiration—& I am grateful to them, .. very grateful, .. [sic] for their kindness to me personally as a poet" (BC 6: 261–262). On sending "Runaway Slave" to Lowell, she repeated the sentiment: "I have written this poem precisely because, as an Englishwoman ought, I love & honour the American people." But she further explained that the great antislavery cause must always be dear to me,—and for the sake, I will say, as much of American honour as of general mercy & right—In the poem I enclose to you I have taken up this double feeling, (with an application of the case to women especially) perhaps you will think too bitterly & passionately for publication in your country. I do not presume to decide—I leave it entirely, of course, to your judgement—I will only say, for my own part, that in writing this poem, I have not forgotten, as an Englishwoman, that we have scarcely done washing our national garments clear of the dust of the very same reproach. (BC 14: 86–87) In her last sentence EBB refers, of course, to the Slavery Abolition Act passed by Parliament in 1833, which outlawed slavery throughout the British Empire and went into effect on August 1 of the following year. Its full impact was not felt for sixteen years, however: only slaves under the age of six were immediately freed, and it was not until August 1, 1840, that all slaves over the age of six at the time of the bill's enactment were finally released from long periods of continuing "apprenticeship." It is particularly worth observing that in this letter EBB lays out two separate rationales for the abolition of slavery ("this double feeling"). "Honour," of course, falls under a category of values specifically associated at this historical moment with the behavioral (and therefore social) ideals of educated middle and upper class Britons and (presumably) Americans, whereas the terms "mercy & right" suggest foundational humanitarian (and therefore inseparable religious and political) ideals. As EBB's parenthesis indicates, she...

The ICRC and the “humanitarian–development–peace nexus” discussion

Over the past five years, various developments in the international aid policy sphere have resurfaced a decades-old discussion about the link between humanitarian action, development and peace efforts – the so-called “triple nexus”. This discussion focuses on protracted conflicts and fragile settings, as these are environments where humanitarian funding and response are overstretched and where development and peace struggle to take hold.Three important reference points in this policy environment are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs),1the Agenda for Humanity2and the twin United Nations (UN) resolutions on sustaining peace.3These various commitments have been driving development actors to seek ways to engage earlier and remain present in conflict-affected areas.4They have mobilized many donors and organizations around a vision in which humanitarian action works to reduce needs, risks and vulnerability, in addition to responding to needs,5and they have spurred the UN system into organizational reforms to ensure a system-wide coherent effort towards the SDGs, including in places affected by conflict.6They have also been accompanied by renewed calls for, and efforts towards, greater transparency, efficiency, accountability, collaboration and results across the international aid system.Efforts to achieve the right synergy between humanitarian action, development and peace efforts have again regained momentum globally. But they have also raised concerns within the humanitarian community about a shrinking space for neutral, impartial and independent humanitarian action during armed conflict.In this Q&A, Policy Adviser Filipa Schmitz Guinote discusses the International Committee of the Red Cross's (ICRC) policy reflections on the interface between humanitarian action, development and peace, and the so-called “triple nexus” discussion. She unpacks some of the conceptual and practical tensions around humanitarian principles and humanitarian identity in the interaction between humanitarian, development and peace actors. She also outlines the rationale behind the ICRC's work with affected people in protracted conflicts, against the backdrop of an ICRC Institutional Strategy which commits the organization to building sustainable humanitarian impact with affected people and working with others.

‘Helping people is real Jainism’: class privileged diasporic Jains affirm citizenship and multiple belongings through transnational philanthropy to a Jain faith-based organisation in India

ABSTRACT The dominant diaspora-development discourse privileges rational imperatives and focuses on remittances to households while ignoring diaspora philanthropy to organisations. In India, religious organisations receive significant levels of diaspora philanthropy yet the motivations and cultural meanings behind such transfers, or its transnational dimensions are little understood. I examine these themes through in-depth interviews with 24 Jains in UK, U.S.A and Singapore who have supported Veerayatan, a Jain faith-based organisation established by Jain nuns to deliver welfare services in India over an extensive period. I contend that diasporic Jains display a hybrid logic of philanthropy; humanitarian ideals intersect with shared Jain religious norms to motivate giving. Support for Veerayatan is sustained through social capital; embeddedness in lateral networks of co-religionists as well as ties with the nuns in the homeland. This transnational engagement is a marker of citizenship and multiple belongings, of being British, American or Singaporean differently for class-privileged diasporic Jains.

The Inherently Contested Nature of Nongovernmental Accountability: The Case of HAP International

While the principled case for humanitarian accountability is relatively straightforward, the practice is demonstrably more complicated, necessitating constant negotiation among stakeholders. However, despite the wave of research into nongovernmental accountability, few empirical studies have grappled with the phenomenon’s inherently contested nature. This paper foregrounds tensions arising in the elaboration of nonprofit accountability. Its approach is informed by critical constructivist theory, an international relations approach attuned to social power, identity and exclusion, and conceptual contestation; its conclusions are supported by interview data with key stakeholders. Focusing on the Humanitarian Accountability Partnership (HAP) International, it finds that initial consensus on the desirability of beneficiary (downward) accountability quickly gave way to principled disagreements and operational difficulties. Specifically, the initiation stage of HAP was marked by two conflicts—a debate about enforcement and a turf war over control—culminating in rebranding and relocation. The implementation stage was characterized by tensions over certification and intra-organizational struggles over leadership. The contemporary practice of accountability is shown to be a contingent and contested social process, with humanitarian identity and practice ultimately at stake.

The participation of italian nurses in the spanish civil war (1936-1939): identity, ideals and motivations

The Spanish Civil War broke out in July 1936 as a result of social and political tensions. It saw the nationalists and republicans of the Popular Front clash. The conflict ended in April 1939, when the Franco regime began and lasted until 1975. The research aims at investigating the training, organization, identity, ideals and motivations of the Italian nurses who participated as volunteers in this conflict. The research was divided in phases according to Prosopography as a historical research method. Materials from secondary sources were analyzed at cultural sector libraries. Primary sources were then sought from national and international archives. Finally, experts in contemporary history were consulted. During the Spanish civil war, about 1000 Italian nurses participated in the conflict, giving their contribution in the two distinct factions. The anti-fascist volunteers, often not professionally trained, provided assistance throughout the war front while the nurses of the Italian Red Cross, graduated and supported by a militarized health care facility, created a unique and well-organized sector. Despite the limits due to the difficulty of finding the sources, the research shows that both bodies were moved by personal and political motivations. The analysis of personal data and the testimonies outlined important differences in education and social extraction, but also interesting similar elements that they shared in their humanitarian ideals.

Neoliberalism, internationalisation and higher education: connections, contradictions and alternatives

ABSTRACTWe explore the role of neoliberalism within portrayals of internationalisation in higher education (HE). Through an analysis of four features of internationalisation, we suggest that they embody a complex entanglement of neoliberal categories and assumptions with other, primarily progressive humanitarian ideals. This framing of internationalisation has three affects. One, humanitarian ideals coupled with neoliberal categories normalise inequalities, turning internationalisation into a meritocratic global race, focusing on celebrating the possibility of the few who can achieve, instead of the embedded inequalities within the system, which disadvantage the many. Two, this allows neoliberal practices to be advanced through the discourse of internationalisation and its association with progressive humanitarian values. Three, this neoliberal framing does not explain the nature of internationalisation of HE in many nations; we demonstrate this by analysing internationalisation in China, Israel and Cuba. We suggest that internationalisation in HE cannot be adequately explained by analyses which rely on neoliberalism.

Ekstremizam kao činilac sistemske dinamike Zajedničke bezbednosne i odbrambene politike Evropske unije tokom migratorne krize

This paper aims at explaining causes of key changes of European Union 's Common Security and Defense Policy (EU CSDP) characteristics as a reference object in relation to the five-year influx of migrants to the EU between 2013 and 2017. Author casts his assumption according to which the measurable outcome of a large wave of migrants from the Middle East and North Africa to Europe, as well as phenomena such as terrorist and other extremist acts, significantly influence and alter the nature of this supranational policy. Based on theoretical debates about forced migration, the author deployed a relatively new concept of regional humanitarian identity, which is based on norms and values of particular hosting states. The overall performance of the subdivisions of the region - the state, their institutions, and citizens - is conditioned by internal norms that arise as a result of traditional and cultural factors. Analytical and systematic presentation of the conceptual model identified numerous variables whose interactions significantly influence the functioning of a complex system such as the EU CSDP. After having applied systemic dynamics approach, author concludes that by changing the European Union's regional humanitarian identity, a precondition for normative and institutional change of this policy was also made possible.

Pancasila and Pragmatism: Protection or Pencitraan for Refugees in Indonesia?

Since the 1970s Indonesia has been a transit country for refugees searching for resettlement. While it has not signed the 1951 Refugee Convention, Indonesia does allow the UNHCR to operate within its borders. Furthermore, Indonesian President Joko Widodo recently pledged humanitarian assistance to Rohingya refugees in Bangladesh. This paper asks what motivates Indonesia to assist refugees, despite not being a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention? What principles underlie Indonesia’s approach to refugees? Based on interviews conducted with government officials, practitioners, activists and academics in Indonesia, this paper finds that Indonesia is guided by Pancasila (Indonesia’s state ideology) and the preamble to its constitution in playing a humanitarian role in international society. At the same time, however, this humanitarian imperative is in tension with pragmatism. This means that there are a number of problems for refugee protection in Indonesia. This paper argues that while Indonesia is driven by humanitarian ideals in assisting refugees, it must sign the 1951 Refugee Convention to endorse its commitment to Pancasila and the preamble to the constitution, otherwise it risks using these foundations as simply pencitraan, or ‘window dressing’.
 Keywords: Indonesia, refugees, Pancasila

‘“Do the right thing”: encounters with undocumented migrants in contemporary European Cinema’

ABSTRACTThis article analyzes the encounters between European citizens and undocumented migrants in three European migration films – Eternity and a Day (Theo Angelopoulos, 1998, France/ Italy/ Greece/ Germany), Welcome (Philippe Lioret, 2009, France) and Terraferma (Emanuele Crialese, 2011, Italy/ France) – in order to explore a paternalistic tendency in European cinema’s representation of migration from the 1990s and onward. As these films shot by European filmmakers raise awareness about the predicament of child-migrants, the challenges of life in refugee camps, and quotidian forms of discrimination, they also utilize the Other-in-need as an avatar in order to construct a compassionate European identity, one firmly devoted to humanitarian ideals. In these Southern European films, migrant characters and their agency are taken down to he goal of survival facing extremely dangerous situations to make it to a utopian space in Northern Europe. While spectators observe the magnitude of the migrants’ plight, victimization disenfranchises their communities and reinforces their status as precarious subjects fated to permanently orbit the borders of Europe.

Women, biographies, and philanthropic inspiration in nineteenth-century Bengali periodicals

This article reviews conceptions of philanthropy and charity in nineteenth-century colonial Bengali society and examines how Bengali Hindu women appropriated these concepts via Western role models. Bengali Hindu women’s perceptions of the presence or lack of humanitarian ideals in their society, and their search for alternative models and ideals in Western women, are also explored. The focus of this paper is not the tangible results of Bengali women’s charitable work; instead, the primary focus is on how prototypical biographies of Western women — tracts, stories, life narratives, and advice columns — were reconstructed and rewritten in notable Bengali periodicals of the time, to encourage and inspire Bengali women to participate in charitable acts.

Revealing Cosmopolitanism Through an Examination of Informal Elder Care in Seventeenth-Eighteenth Century England and Nineteenth Century Colonial North America

Informal caregiving encompasses the motivations and practices of relatives in looking after family members of all ages with long-term illnesses and disabilities. Only recently has it been differentiated as a distinct role within the nurturance obligations of familial roles. As such, informal caregiving has been recognised through contemporary social movements in many countries, such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the United States. At the same time, there is an increasing interest in caregiving in history which elucidates the care needed and offered at different historical moments. Our aim here is to examine the minutiae and intimacies of care practices between caregiver and the recipient of care in two different periods of time, seventeenth century England and colonial America. We suggest that these data support the notion that care is a fundamental social human dynamic, connecting caregivers from early to contemporary times. Caregivers can be viewed as a shared global community, transcending community and time; at the same time acts of caregiving represent the humanitarian ideals of cosmopolitanism.

TOWARDS A GLOBAL UNDERSTANDING OF THE HUMANE TREATMENT OF CAPTURED ENEMY FIGHTERS

The prevailing narrative instructs us that humane treatment of captured enemy fighters is down to white knights from the western parts of the European continent with their codes of chivalry, or alternatively, the Swiss businessman Henri Dunant. This contribution challenges that narrative for overlooking, or being ignorant of, the way that societies around the world have approached the matter of the captured enemy fighter. Traces of some of the critical principles about humane treatment that we see in our present law can actually be found in much older societies from outside of Europe. A more accurate and representative way of understanding humanitarianism in the treatment of captured enemy fighters can and must be crafted, with the prevailing Euro-centric account balanced with practices, cultures and faiths from elsewhere. The quest to achieve more humane treatment in armed conflict is first and foremost a battle of the intellect. Narratives and conceptualisations that are more inclusive, recognising and appreciating of the ways of the rest of the world are likely to be more effective in communicating humanitarian ideals. This work adopts a new method of approaching the richness and diversity of the treatment of captured enemy fighters over time and space. This new framework of analysis uses six cross-cutting themes to facilitate a broader international and comparative perspective, and develop a more sophisticated level of understanding. The first theme is how older and indigenous societies approached the matter of captured enemy fighters. The second focuses on religions of the world, and what they teach or require. The third section examines the matter of martial practices and codes of ethics for combatants in certain societies. The fourth category engages with colonisation and decolonisation, and regulation (or non-regulation) of the treatment of captives of war. Fifth is the issue of modernisation and the impact it has had on armed forces and fighters, including on the treatment of captives. The final issue is the shift towards formalised agreements, beginning with the first bilateral agreements and then the multilateral codification exercise that began in the mid-19th century and continues to this day. This framework for analysis leads into a final chapter, presenting a fresh and holistic view on the evolution of prisoner of war protections in the international order. It provides a different way of looking at International Humanitarian Law, starting with this effort at a global understanding of the treatment of captured enemy fighters.

Classical and Political Humanitarianisms in an Era of Military Interventionism and the War on Terror

This paper scrutinises the modus operandi of classical and political humanitarianism: the use of ambiguity and prescription to frame calls for international action to protect civilians, and public commentary on jus in bello and jus ad bellum. It does so by innovatively considering the perspectives of belligerents alongside those of humanitarian actors, so as to identify how belligerents have responded to the two humanitarian modus operandi, and to ascertain the connection of humanitarian actors to the wars and international military interventions that they have implicitly or explicitly called for or endorsed. The paper finds that the response of belligerents differs from what both classical and political humanitarians expect. Even where humanitarians maintain ambiguity, the intention to will military action remains present and even the documentation and reporting of violence will bolster military intervention. Such consequences will be perceptible to belligerents, who may restrict humanitarian space. When humanitarians advance jus ad bellum perspectives, the humanitarian identity envisioned by classicists is not necessarily compromised. But belligerents are positively influenced by such perspectives only when those perspectives coincide with their own position.

The rise of global health diplomacy: An interdisciplinary concept linking health and international relations.

Global health diplomacy (GHD) is relatively a very new field that has yet to be clearly defined and developed though there are various definitions given by different experts from foreign policy, global health, diplomacy, international relations, governance, and law. With the intensification of globalization and increasing gaps between countries, new and reemerging health threats such as HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, influenza, severe acute respiratory syndrome, Ebola, and Zika and a gradual rethinking on security concepts framed a new political context. The health problems addressed diplomatically have also become diverse ranging from neglected tropical diseases, infectious diseases, sale of unsafe, counterfeit drugs to brain drain crisis. We see that global health has become more diverse as the actors widened and also the interests appealing not only to the traditional humanitarian ideals associated with health but also to the principles grounded in national and global security. Recently, we are witnessing the increased priority given to the GHD because the issue of health is discussed by various actors outside the WHO to shape the global policy for health determinants. In fact, the area of health has become the part of UN Summit Diplomacy involving the G8, G20, BRICS, and the EU. The recent WHO Pandemic Influenza Framework, UN High Level Framework on Prevention and Control of Noncommunicable Diseases, and the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control are some of the examples of long-term negotiation processes for agreements that took place.

From Liberal Theology toVölkischChristianity? Heinrich Weinel, the Volkskirchenbund, and the Church Struggle in Thuringia

For much of his career, New Testament scholar and systematic theologian Heinrich Weinel promoted theological pluralism, progressive politics, and humanitarian ideals. However, near the end of his life he gave qualified support to the Deutsche Christen, a movement that sought to establish a “German Christianity” informed by Nazi ideology. Examination of Weinel’s published works, unpublished manuscripts, and private correspondence reveals that his support for the Deutsche Christen was a strategic compromise, driven by situational factors and limited ideological affinity rather than a thoroughgoing embrace of volkisch (populist/racist) Christianity. Weinel’s story represents one of many paths to complicity within the German churches during the Third Reich.

A Meiji Christian Socialist Becomes a Spokesperson for Japan: Kawakami Kiyoshi’s “Pilgrimage in the Sacred Land of Liberty”

This paper studies the life and thought of Kawakami Kiyoshi (1873–1949), a Meiji Christian socialist and prominent journalist in late 1890s Japan for the popular newspaper Yorozu chōhō (Complete morning report). Kawakami was one of the six founding members of Japan’s first but short-lived Social Democratic Party (Shakai minshutō, 1901). After the party was forced to dissolve under the Public Peace Police Law (Chian keisatsuhō, 1900) on 16 July 1901, Kawakami left for the USA to take up a postgraduate scholarship at the University of Iowa. While in the USA, he continued his career in the press, establishing himself as a well-respected international journalist. This paper focuses on his earlier thoughts, those developed during his “pilgrimage” to the USA from 1901 to 1907, during which his interests shifted from a gradual social reform to the issue of nascent anti-Japanese agitation in California and the question of Japanese immigration. During this time, he became convicted of the humanitarian ideals of Christianity and the values of sympathy and tolerance found in the chivalrous moral tradition. This journalistic period is under-explored in the literature and yet is essential in understanding Kawakami’s later role in US-Japan relations.

Arms & amelioration: negotiating Quaker peace testimony and settler violence in 1830s Van Diemen's Land

ABSTRACTMembers of the Religious Society of Friends had been among white settlers from the beginning of the colonial project in Australia. As such, voluntarily or involuntarily, their everyday actions contributed to the network of practices which slowly but continuously displaced and annihilated Indigenous communities. Simultaneously, early-nineteenth-century Quakers were members of a community characterized by pacifism and the activism of its members in transnational humanitarian efforts, namely the abolitionist and the prison reform movements. This chapter focusses on how Quaker settlers negotiated universal humanitarian ideals on the one hand and their local involvement in settlement politics on the other. In form of a case study, it investigates the daily life and experiences of one Quaker family, that of Francis Cotton and his wife Anna Maria, during the early 1830s in colonial Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land). It draws on the family's private letters and journals, as well as documents of the colonial administration to explore this particular dimension of Quaker settler life. It is the aim of this essay to find an answer to one core question: How did the Cottons, considering Quaker peace testimony and the Society's collective memory of its North American history of collaborative relationships with Indigenous peoples, negotiate the violence of the Tasmanian frontier?

Enabling change through Education for Children and their Families Experiencing Vulnerability and Disadvantage: The Understandings of Early Childhood Professionals

CHILDREN HAVE AN INALIENABLE right to an education and it is in early childhood that we build the foundations for learning and development. Social inclusion, access, participation and engagement are key to early learning success, a time integral to overall health, wellbeing and future role in society. Children experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage have a high tendency for low educational outcomes. Currently, government policy argues that facilitating change through education can break the cycle of disadvantage and transform the lives of the individual child, their families and the wider community. This qualitative phenomenological study seeks to identify the enablers and barriers in early childhood education and care encountered by its professionals at the ‘frontline’ perspective. Change Ideas is a process by which the humanitarian ideals of a society supports its most vulnerable and disadvantaged, via education, enacting rights as self-actualising human beings through supportive and well-informed everyday practice.

Humanitarian Ideals between the Wars: (Re)Constructing Switzerland through Travel Writing

Swiss authors and travelers Ella Maillart and Annemarie Schwarzenbach set off to drive from Switzerland to Afghanistan in a Ford roadster in late 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II. Their subsequent texts reveal as much about cultural norms prevalent in Switzerland in the late 1930s as they do about the actual journey to Afghanistan. This article explores Ella Maillart's The Cruel Way (1947) and Annemarie Schwarzenbach's All the Roads Are Open (2011) as constructions of the humanitarian principles that the Swiss have come to call their own. Both travel narratives call into question the national value of neutrality while echoing the language of emerging political and legal human rights discourses. The travel narratives of Maillart and Schwarzenbach thus contribute to the development of a literary discourse of human rights that will later become the standard narrative for Switzerland during and following World War II.