Humanitarianism

There are a number of meanings for humanitarianism: humanitarianism, humanism, the doctrine that people's duty is to promote human welfare.

Humanitarianism is a humanistic approach to the suffering of humanity. It has been used to describe a wide number of activities relating to human welfare.

An informal ideology

Humanitarianism is an informal ideology of practice, whereby people practice humane treatment and provide assistance to others; it is the doctrine that people's duty is to promote human welfare.[1]

Humanitarianism is based on a view that all human beings deserve respect and dignity and should be treated as such. Therefore, humanitarians work towards advancing the well-being of humanity as a whole. It is the antithesis of the "us vs. them" mentality that characterizes tribalism and ethnic nationalism. Humanitarians abhor slavery, violation of basic and human rights, and discrimination on the basis of features such as colour of skin, religion, ancestry, place of birth, etc. Humanitarianism drives people to save lives, alleviate suffering and promote human dignity in the middle of man-made or natural disasters. Humanitarianism is embraced by movements and people across the political spectrum. The informal ideology can be summed up by a quote from Albert Schweitzer: "Humanitarianism consists in never sacrificing a human being to a purpose."

A universal doctrine

Jean Pictet, in his commentary on The Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross points out the universal characteristics of humanitarianism:

    The wellspring of the principle of humanity is in the essence of social morality which can be summed up in a single sentence, Whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them. This fundamental precept can be found, in almost identical form, in all the great religions, Brahminism, Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Islam, Judaism and Taoism. It is also the golden rule of the positivists, who do not commit themselves to any religion but only to the data of experience, in the name of reason alone.[2].

Historical examples

Historically, humanitarianism was publicly seen in the social reforms of the late 1800s and early 1900s, following the economic turmoil of the Industrial Revolution in England. Many of the women in Great Britain who were involved with feminism during the 1900s also pushed humanitarianism. The atrocious hours and working conditions of children and unskilled laborers were made illegal by pressure on Parliament by humanitarians. The Factory Act of 1833 and the Factory Act of 1844 were some of the most significant humanitarian bills passed in Parliament following the Industrial Revolution.

In the middle of the 19th century, humanitarianism was central to the work of Florence Nightengale and Henry Dunant in emergency response and in the latter case led to the founding of the Red Cross.


Emergency response

Today, humanitarianism is particularly used to describe the thinking and doctrines behind emergency response to humanitarian crises. In such cases it argues for a humanitarian response based on humanitarian principles, particularly the principle of humanity. Nicholas de Torrente, Executive Director of MSF-USA writes:

    "The most important principles of humanitarian action are humanity, which posits the conviction that all people have equal dignity by virtue of their membership in humanity, impartiality, which directs that assistance is provided based solely on need, without discrimination among recipients, neutrality, which stipulates that humanitarian organizations must refrain from taking part in hostilities or taking actions that advantage one side of the conflict over another, and independence, which is necessary to ensure that humanitarian action only serves the interests of war victims, and not political, religious, or other agendas.
    "These fundamental principles serve two essential purposes. They embody humanitarian action’s single-minded purpose of alleviating suffering, unconditionally and without any ulterior motive. They also serve as operational tools that help in obtaining both the consent of belligerents and the trust of communities for the presence and activities of humanitarian organizations, particularly in highly volatile contexts.[3]


Central Emergency Response Fund

The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) is a United Nations emergency relief fund officially launched on March 9, 2006 by Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The objective of the CERF is to provide urgent and effective humanitarian aid to regions threatened by, or experiencing, a humanitarian crisis. It is anticipated that people living in least developed countries will be the most frequent recipients of CERF assistance.

The CERF was adopted by resolution of the General Assembly on December 15th 2005, and upgrades the loan mechanism under the 1992 Central Emergency Revolving Fund from US $50 million to a total of around $450 million. The CERF is administered by the Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, currently John Holmes, in consultation with humanitarian agencies and coordinators. The Consolidated Appeals Process is the funding mechanism used by the UN and other stakeholders for long term international development.

According to the United Nations, agencies and their partners will be able to access the CERF within the crucial first 72 hours of a crisis. It is therefore hoped that the CERF will meet the three objectives of:

    * Promoting early action and response in order to save lives
    * Enhancing response to time-crucial requirements based on demonstrable needs
    * Strengthening core elements of humanitarian responses to under-funded crises.

As of March 2006, few nations have pledged to contribute to the CERF and fewer still have made contributions, with only a third of the amount requested being raised: about 30 countries have donated around $250 million. OXFAM has criticized wealthy countries for either not donating (e.g. Germany and Japan), or making small contributions (e.g. United States and France).

Allocations

In August 2007, the CERF proved vital in allocating funds (US$ 8.7 million) for the response to the 2007 Sudan floods, in response to a request launched by acting United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator David Gressly on behalf of United Nations agencies in the country.[1]

In February 2008, in response to a request by Resident Coordinator for Cameroon Sophie de Caen, the CERF allocated US$ 4.7 million to the humanitarian operations in response to the inflow of Chadian refugees into Cameroon, in the aftermath of the 2008 battle of N'Djamena.[2]