De La Salle College of Saint Benilde

School of Multi Disciplinary Studies

Consular and Diplomatic Affairs Program
International Organizations
(INTLORG)

Humanitarian Aid and

Human Rights

Submitted by:
Catalo, Maria Cassandra
Cloma, Geraldine
Valera, Paolo
Submitted to:
Ms. Anna Rhodora Solar

I.

INTRODUCTION

An international organization is an organization which has

membership, scope, or presence in the international community. It is a body
established by formal political agreements between countries that have the
status of international treaties. Under international organizations, we have
international intergovernmental organizations and non-governmental
organizations (NGOs).1
Humanitarian Aid started during the 1800s. During the Battle of
Solferino, around 38,000 people were wounded, dying, or were dead; there
appeared to be little attempt to provide medical care. 2 Henry Dunant was
inspired to organize the civilian population, especially women and girls, to
provide assistance to the injured and sick. He later went on to found the
International Committee of the Red Cross.
The general aim of humanitarian is to help people in third world
countries, particularly the most vulnerable among them, and as a priority
those in developing countries. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is
to save lives during emergencies and their immediate aftermath and natural
disasters, to provide the necessary assistance and relief to people affected
by longer-lasting crisis arising, in particular, from outbreaks of armed
conflict, and maintain human dignity, just to name a few.3
The issues we decided to discuss in our report are the problems that
surround Humanitarian Aid. We believe that, politically and socio-culturally,
these predicaments are the negative feedbacks in our topic. Although
Humanitarian Aid is often seen as something good or positive, there are,
however, some issues that can be contradicting, especially in the
international community. As we dissect further into our paper, these issues
shall be revealed and we will be able to explain why and how we think these
are predicaments.
Our thesis statement is: Although Humanitarian Aid is seen as a
relief from a nations crisis, it is also a political and socio-cultural
predicament.
1International Relations/International Organisations. Retrieved from

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/International_Relations/International_Organisat
ions
2Timeline of events in humanitarian relief retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_events_in_humanitarian_relief_and_
development
3Humanitarian

Aid retrieved from

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanitarian_aid

II.

Theoretical Framework

Humanitarian Assistance in Disaster Situations. Donors should not

compete among themselves to satisfy the more visible needs of the affected
country. Humanitarian assistance should complement rather than duplicate
the measures used by the receiver country. These are some examples of the
practical advice and recommendations offered in the article. It provides
strong evidence that humanitarian assistance can considerably benefit a
country ravaged by disaster if it responds with real needs. Likewise, when
responding with unsolicited donations, or when donors have a misguided
view of those needs, it can also become a burden. This article combines and
updates several publications in the last 15 years. The recommendations and
principles suggested will be a great help to donors and beneficiaries in
making their decisions to maximize the benefits in the short and long terms
for the countries affected by natural and complex disasters. In relation to
our thesis statement, speculations have been made to the states that give
humanitarian aid to countries that were struck by calamities, disasters and
natural phenomenon as an aid in which it can be linked with military
interventions, political and social activities.4
Humanitarian Aid has been a great help in certain grave situations
when basic human needs are scarce due to events that happened. But sadly,
Humanitarian Aid can only provide short-term solutions to the grave
problems that need a long term solution. Also, humanitarian aid may seem a
very firm organization but there are also discrepancies that can happen
inside the organization.
Conflicts adversely affect civilians both directly, and indirectly,
through the resulting "complex emergencies" that protracted conflicts
create. In the immediate area of conflict, the primary aim is preventing
human casualties and ensuring access to the basics for survival: water,
sanitation, food, shelter, and health care. Away from the main fighting, the
priority is to assist people who have been displaced, prevent the spread of
conflict, support relief work, and prepare for rehabilitation.5
Neo-Functionalism. This is based on assumption that efforts to
establish functional organizations at the micro level in non-political sectors
such as energy production and distribution, transportation and
communication control, health protection and improvement, labor standards
4 Pan American Health Organization Humanitarian Assistance in Disaster
Situations 1999 retrieved from http://www.paho.org/english/ped/pedhumen.pdf
5 Branczik , A. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.beyondintractability.org/biessay/humanitarian-aid

and exchanges etc. are least likely to be met with opposition. There is a
greater possibility of successful functioning of such non-political functional
organizations as these can be of mutual advantage to the participating
states. The concept of spillover is similar to that of demonstration effect
as used in the discipline of economics. The underlying belief of the
spillover concept is that cooperation in one area would open new avenues
for similar cooperation in other areas. For example, successful forging of
cooperation in the area of coal and steel production would spill over into
other functional areas like transportation, pollution control etc.

III.

Arguments

a. Argument # 1 Humanitarian Aid as a Relief

Humanitarian Aid is aid and action designed to save lives,
alleviate suffering and maintain and protect human dignity during and
in aftermath of emergencies. Its characteristics that mark it out from
other foreign assistance and development aid:
Intended to be governed by the principles of humanity,
neutrality, impartiality, and independence.
Intended to be short-term in nature and provide for activities in
the immediate aftermath of a disaster.
Material relief assistance
Emergency food aid (short-term distribution and supplementary
feeding programmes)
Humanitarian Aid can also be reconstruction and rehabilitation
and disaster prevention and preparedness. Reconstruction Relief and
Rehabilitation includes repairing pre-existing infrastructure but
excludes longer-term activities designed to improve the level of
infrastructure6.
Examples: Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF)7
The Central
Emergency
Response
Fund
(CERF) is
a
humanitarian fund established by the United Nations to enable more
timely and reliable humanitarian assistance to those affected by
natural disasters and armed conflicts.

6 GHA. (2012). Defining humanitarian aid. Retrieved from

http://www.globalhumanitarianassistance.org/data-guides/defining-humanitarian-aid
7 Central emergency response fund. (n.d.). Retrieved from
http://ochaonline.un.org/cerf/WhatistheCERF/tabid/3534/language/enUS/Default.aspx

CERF is a tool created by the United Nations to pre-position

funding for humanitarian action. It was established to upgrade the
Central Emergency Revolving Fund by including a grant element
based on voluntary contributions by Governments and private sectors
organizations such as corporations, individuals, and NGOs.
The CERF was approved by consensus by the United Nations
General Assembly on 15 December 2005 to achieve the following
objectives:
promote early action and response to reduce loss of life;

enhance response to time-critical requirements;

strengthen core elements of humanitarian response in

underfunded crises

CERF was created by all nations, for all potential victims of

disasters. It represents a real chance to provide predictable and
equitable funding to those affected by natural disasters and other
humanitarian emergencies. It is an enormous undertaking and will
require collective support of all sectors.
b. Argument # 2 Humanitarian Aid as a Political
Predicament
Humanitarian aid became a necessity for those affected by the
tragedy and an apparently response for many who were not affected.
Thousands of people, states, and organizations made donations to the
relief effort, making sure that the assistance that they provide would
put back together all the damages in order to rebuild their
infrastructures, reviving societies due to crisis and further
development of their economy. Victims of disasters and conflicts
receive assistance regardless of their sex, race, language, religion,
political and social position. Although humanitarian aid is always seen
as a life saver but not everyone sees that a lot of issues are happening
behind it.8 Humanitarian assistance has always been a highly political
activity. It has persuaded the political economy of receiver states, and
has always been unfair to the political considerations of donor
governments. Despite the assertion and practices of humanitarian
actors searching to ensure that their actions discuss no military
advantage and are driven solely on the basis of need, the
8 Leriche, Mattew. Unintended Alliance: The Co-option of Humanitarian

Aid in Conflicts. 2004 retrieved from

http://www.carlisle.army.mil/USAWC/parameters/Articles/04spring/leriche.p
df

humanitarian principles of neutrality and impartiality are under

constant assault.9
SOMALIA
Siad Barres regime finally collapsed in 1991 where Somalia was
plunged into a chaotic internal conflict from which it has never
recovered. Somalia has been largely off the foreign policy agenda of
the United States. The national reconciliation conferences over the
past 14 years have failed to produce a state capable of establishing
law and order for the whole country. One reason for this failure is that
powerful Somali warlords persist on preserving their bases of power.
The Transition Federal Government (TFG) arose out of the last
reconciliation conference in Nairobi but the TFG has been incapable
to declare control very far beyond its base in Baidoa. Afterwards, a
rival Islamic coalition, formerly called the Union of Islamic Courts and
now called SICS, gained power over Mogadishu and most of southern
Somalia. Fearing that SICS is harboring al-Qaeda operatives and is
likely to establish a Taliban-style state in Somalia, the U.S. supposedly
granted support to warlords opposed to SICS, unfortunately SICS
defeated these warlords. At the demand of TFG, Ethiopia has recently
sent troops to Baidoa to protect TFG from possible attack by SICS.
There are suspicions that Eritrea might be providing support to SICS
as a counterweight to Ethiopia. SICS and its constituent units have
brought greater stability to the areas where they operate, and gained
public support by establishing courts that have reduced crime.
Moreover, the courts provide social and educational services not
offered by others. The Islamic court movement developed as both a
backlash to the anarchy of warlordism and as a yearning for law and
order. Today, Somalia is universally cited as a failed state.10
c. Argument # 3 Humanitarian Aid as a Socio-Cultural
Predicament
We believe that socio-cultural predicaments can be caused by
the victims behaviour and/or a countrys lifestyle or livelihood. In this
9 Curtis, Devon. Politics and Humanitarian Aid: Debates, Dilemmas and

Dissension. 2001 retrieved from

http://www.odi.org.uk/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinionfiles/295.pdf
10 Ayittey, George. The Somalia Crisis: Time for an African Solution. 1994

retrieved from http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-205.html

argument, it is important that the international community

understand how people live, interpret, and respond to the different
circumstances that can occur in a tragedy. Human behaviour in
emergency situations is described as a flight or fight response
because there are different situations; anything can happen. 11 And
because of that, people respond to disasters differently as a sequence
of feelings like being trapped, of anxiety due to the impossibility of
escape, and of the perception threat and panic. During an emergency
situation, the victims, along with those trying to help, interpret what
happens when tragedy strikes, and how they respond to that situation
according to the influence and the processes of how a person is
competent in one culture, including language, rituals, and values.
Within the concepts of understanding social cultural scope, we also
need to take into consideration the behaviour of each individual
affected, which is based on their characteristics as well. How
behaviour influences and is influenced by the perceived social status
and associated role conferred on the individual by his community. 12
Also, behaviour develops out of many roles modified by individual
differences and molded by social situations. After a disaster has
occurred, communities that are badly affected affect their behaviour.
Ethnicity, socioeconomic levels, acculturation, religion will also
influence the victims recovery from a disaster. For example, during
the 1972 earthquake that hit Managua, Nicaragua, believed that the
earthquake was a punishment by Mother Nature for their wild
behaviours.
The livelihood of a country during an emergency can also be one
of the causes to this problem. In the case of Uganda, in order to
understand the specific characteristics of livelihoods in conflictaffected areas, we need to focus on the importance of liabilities, on
how people cope with vulnerability in all components of a livelihood
system. During a first phase of research in 2009, field reports
generated perspectives from communities, both aid giving and aid
receiving, on impact issues.13 They were able to fill in the gaps in
11 NOHA Psychology in Humanitarian Assistance. Retrieved from NOHA

Psychology in Humanitarian Assistance.pdf

12 Cohen, R. E. (2000). Mental Health Services in Disasters: Manual for

Humanitarian Workers. Retrieved from

http://helid.digicollection.org/en/d/Jh0681e/4.3.html
13 The Impact of Humanitarian Assistance on Livelihoods Affected by Crises

in Uganda: Community, Regional, and National Consultations on Impact

Perspectives. Retrieved from http://www.alnap.org/pool/files/progress-

understanding humanitarian assistance on socio-cultural aspects. For

instance, in Teso and Karmoja, discussions under socio-cultural
contexts, and how it enhanced, held back, or led to no absorption of
humanitarian assistance, pointed to the fact that research should
focus on first understanding the attitude Karamojong towards
insecurity their concerns being environmental safety measures, the
roles of local leaders in the process, previous disarmament; what has
been the impact of the disarmament on the people and their attitudes.
Second, livestock culture and traditions this is something that will
remain a dominant means of livelihood and socio-economic/cultural
domains in Northern Uganda. There has been a deeper understanding
of the complementarities between traditional and modern formal
arrangements and livelihood structures.14
IV.

Conclusion

report-no-2-edited.pdf
14 The Impact of Humanitarian Assistance on Livelihoods Affected by Crises

in Uganda: Community, Regional, and National Consultations on Impact

Perspectives. Retrieved from http://www.alnap.org/pool/files/progressreport-no-2-edited.pdf