Non-governmental Organizations in Australia - Essay Example

NON GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS IN AUSTRALIA Student’s name: Institutional affiliation: Introduction Non governmental organizations refer to legally formed organizations that mainly tackle the social issues and issues of political nature. The non-governmental organizations are formed by a group of persons natural or legal who are not government representatives. NGO’s as they are commonly referred globally are a creation of the United Nations which recognizes the participation of organized groups in ensuring that the right of the public in any particular set up is upheld (Bethany, 2008). It has been the tradition of governments globally to fund some of the activities of the Ngo’s. However, in any of such circumstances, the government must not have a representative in the organization (Elmo, 2011). There are NGO’s that operate internationally and others that operate in a certain country or region. The geographical area that is covered by the specific NGO is determined by the activity that the group is targeting. For example, Non Governmental organizations like Amnesty International and the Red Cross work in almost every section of the world while Africog works mainly in Africa. The first two are focused on offering humanitarian help to the persons in need especially in times of calamity while Africog is aimed at ensuring that leadership and governance in African states is at par with the international standards. In this paper, the authorships analyses the way different non governmental organizations deal with the social issues. As noted earlier in this paper, the issues that NGO’s deal with are of social and political nature. The NGO’s that have been analyzed in this paper are those that have their operations in Australia. However, the authorship has been keen in analyzing organizations with an international coverage; such organizations are the best samples in many areas (Bethany, 2008). From the paper, we shall see that non governmental organizations form a vital part of the society and though at times they have been at loggerheads with the governments their works should not go unrewarded. Social problem For the purpose of this paper, we look at the measures that are taken by each of the nongovernmental organizations in disaster management. The issue of funding for disaster management is also considered in this paper. The analysis of cases of disaster management is carried through and later a comparison of these modes of disaster management models is done at the end. The authorships take on these model forms the concluding section of this paper. Amnesty International The description from the website of the organization which operates globally states that the principles that the organization operates in are based on the “Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international standards”. Internationally, the assistance of Amnesty International has been evidenced in the fight for the inclusion of women in leadership activities, has called for the recognition of marginalizes groups in international status and also in the national agenda, and has also been vocal in analyzing the rating of specific governments in ensuring that there is inclusiveness in their activities as well as ensuring that the governments uphold the rights of each citizen in its running (Sofia, 2005). Amnesty International, has been able to solicit help for the targeted groups and its website shows that it has over three million sponsors and associates globally. To ensure that the organization is catering for the social welfare and at the same time be lenient on the financial status of the sponsors, amnesty international has been able to push for an international recognition of all the funding it gets from different sponsors (Bethany, 2008). Internationally, any sponsorship to Amnesty International that is above two dollars is tax deductible. This implies that the sponsors will have to deduct the amount of sponsorship at the rate that is approved by local legislation from the total tax liability (Harold, 2004). One of the current activities of amnesty international in Australia is the push that the organization is doing to have children removed from adult cells. While recognizing the mandate of the federal government in ensuring that law and order is maintained in community by everyone, the organization is also in recognition of the rights and the dangers that face the children. The Hakea adult prison in Western Australia is home to over one hundred and forty children a case that is threatening to the lives and psychological situation of these kids (Elmo, 2011). In ensuring that the minister for Corrective services in Western Australia and the Premier look at the issues in a timely manner, the organization has joined hands with the Australian human rights commission and other legal groups and has taken the matter to the courts (Oliver, & Mitchell, 2012). Due to the pressure that the organization and the other partners in this push, the commissioner for corrective services has already owed up the mistake and has promised to exercise his powers and ensure that the kids are in proper correction facilities by July. In another development, amnesty international has been pushing for the reduction and eventual stoppage of brutality against sorcerers in Papua New Guinea. The organization has been pushing the Bougainville Police Command to come in and control the mob justice that the suspected sorcerers have been subjected to. In the month of April 2013, the police witnessed as a sorcerer was beheaded by the public yet they did nothing. The law in Papua New Guinea allows a reduction of sentence for a convict who claims to have inflicted injury or even murder against a sorcerer. This is one of the laws that amnesty international is against as it is a loophole for citizens to cause injuries to one another in false pretense of sorcery. Amnesty International has been soliciting support from the public through its website to push the commissioner of police, the justice minister and the attorney general to act swiftly. The action plan of Amnesty International includes a petition to have the law changed to the effect that there are no prejudicial acts against persons who are suspected of such acts. Australian Red Cross Red Cross is a non-governmental organization that mainly acts in places where there is acute shortage of some services. Like amnesty international, Red Cross is a society that operates globally and takes the name of the nation it is operating in. Like in Australia, Red Cross is named Australian Red Cross. The services that the Red Cross offers include medicines, food, and first aid among other assistance. Red Cross has a tradition whereby the society acts on neutral grounds. This is mainly due to the nature of its course which includes offering services in places where there is conflict. For example, the Red Cross society will give aid where the government may be fighting with rival political fits for control of regions in a country (Harold, 2004). In such instances, red cross would come in and ensure that the persons who may be wounded in the war are given the medical attention they deserve, that there is no shortage of security for the victims and that there is housing for those who are displaced. In doing so, Red Cross society provides medicine, food, Cloths, tents and even transport for the vulnerable in such communities (Oliver, & Mitchell, 2012). In its funding, the Australian Red Cross accepts donations from the public as well as partnering with a corporation in campaigns that will lead to funding to the organization. In a current program, Red Cross is partnering with Energizer batteries in marketing of smoke batteries (Elmo, 2011). The partnership according to the Red Cross website is aimed at disaster relief and recovery. In the campaign that is carried in the media; print, social and audio visual media the public is informed of $1 contribution that goes into the Red Cross program after a purchase of battery by the public. The campaign which is branded be prepared is aimed at rebuilding the Red Cross society in emergency response system. Apart from the increase in the sales of 9V marked batteries, the campaign will be a tool by Red Cross in giving public education about disaster preparedness. The education program will be run concurrent with the advertisement for the energizer batteries. Public education is one of the ways that Red Cross uses in its programs. The importance of public education is to inform the public on the actions to take should any disaster come to them. This supplements the efforts that are done by the society in ensuring safety of victims in such times (Oliver, & Mitchell, 2012). Another program that Red Cross is running for funding is the Red Cross Tasmania Bushfires 2013 Appeal. The appeal has been one of the most successful in the recent times having toped $1.6 billion by mid April 2013. Among the persons who have contributed to the appeal is the Prince of Wales. Having high profile persons contributing to such an appeal shows the recognition of the services that are offered by the society to the people both locally and internationally. In giving the donation the Prince of Wales explained his satisfaction of the progress of Red Cross in Tasmania where he has already visited. Followings the floods that have hit Kempsey area in the past five weeks, there has been need for humanitarian activity to help the victims of the flood. Red Cross has sent their trained personnel whose main work is to assist the thousand of people who have been affected. Red Cross is not alone in these efforts. There have been hundreds of volunteers in an area which has been hit by floods three times in five weeks (Harold, 2004). The ministry of police has also been instrumental in the foods done in the area. The places that are marked out in this exercise are Gladstone, Crescent Head, Hat Head, Smithtown and Bellbrook. The manager Moray Ralph has cited out medicine relief, information, cleaning up and food and shelter as the aid that is needed and been given to the people in this area (Florence, & Margaret, 2012). The social program is managed by the disaster response department within the Red Cross and so far, the team has been able to visit one hundred and thirty homes by the time this paper was being compiled. The efforts are continuing. As noted in section above, the importance of public education is playing a key role for the volunteers who are working alongside the ministry of police and the Red Cross staff (Melanie, 2008). The assistance has to be coordinated and also effective. The staff is continuing with public education both with the volunteers and with the victims. Action aid Australia As noted above, each of the non governmental organization has an action plan that it takes and the line which it operates in. Aid Action is an international NGO which is aimed at eradicating poverty. The international organization which was formed in 1967 works on the information that is dispersed by the United Nations on the poverty levels in certain counties as well as information that it gets from its research (Miller, 2012). The organization addresses the root cause of poverty and the injustices that are related to poverty. Like the two other orgamn9osationa that have been discussed earlier in this paper, action aid international does not have representatives of any government. However, action aid has received funding from different governments internationally including the federal government of the United States of America and the Australian government (Christina, 2007). The program that was run by the organization in 2008/2009 saw the organization raise up to A$9 million from the people of Australia. The collection of these funds was mainly done by AusAid. This is just one of the successful financial years as the organization has been holding such fundraiser annually. One of the global events that action aid has held is the Hungerfree campaign. The campaign was aimed at ensuring that governments worldwide take their role in ensuring that proper legislation and measures are taken to reduce the rate of hunger internationally. In Australia, the organization set aside an empty classroom in Circular Quay. The classroom was symbolic of the fact that every three minutes a classroom of children died internationally out of hunger. Such classes were held in strategic places across the world. The move prompted various government institutions to come up with various measures in ensuring that the hunger rate was reduced (Freedom house, 2011). Another campaign that is being currently lead by action aid is the move to help the women in Palestine. The organization is running the campaign which is aimed at helping the women in Palestine to get aid and training to support them in sustenance. The organization’s website runs stories of real Palestine women explaining their ordeal with the poverty level. The level of poverty in Palestine has been occasioned by the war that has pitted Palestine and Israel for decades now. The organization is recognizant of the fate of these women whose next information they await is the death of their husbands or arrest by the rival armies in war (Freedom house, 2011). The campaign is aimed at teaching the women in Palestine life skills that are necessary to ensure that they have been able to raise their children the aid is also aimed at ensuring that the women have a revolving fund which shall be used in helping the women establish small and medium enterprises which shall be vital for the societal development. According to Cath Esposito action aid head of operation; the situation if the women in Australian are worsened by the fact that the country is hilly and rocky. This makes it hard for the women to carry out agricultural activities and also for transport to take place. The main economic activity that the women take place in is fishing. This is also a risky affair since the coasts are at times used as battle fields by the soldiers from both sides; Palestine and Israel (Melanie, 2008). The refugee council of Australia The other humanitarian organization that operates in Australia is the refugee council in Australia. This is an umbrella body for other organizational that deal with refugees. The bodies that are encompassed by this organization are those that are formed by refugees and also those that deal with refugees (Australian Government Publishing Service, 1985). The organization is aimed at corporately advocating for the rights of refugees and also improving their welfare and living conditions. The body also allows individual membership for refugees. By 2013, the umbrella body had a membership of one hundred and forty organizations and over five hundred individual members. The body has been able to gain the support of all of these groups in pursuant to the refugee agenda (Christina, 2007). Due to the fact that refugee council of Australia deals with many organizations, the management of funding is always an issue. This has to be well managed to ensure that the origination does not lose the trust that sponsors have on it (Jean, 2013). To ensure that this is attained, the council came up with the Australian refugee foundation. The key role of this foundation is to ensure that the funds that are gotten by the organization are well managed. This in return ensures that the bodies that form part of the organization have their funds which they contribute safeguarded and utilized in a transparent manner (Elmo, 2011). One of the largest campaigns that have been led by the council is the A Just Australia. This is a campaign that was launched in 2002 at ensuring that justice was accorded to the refugees and asylum seekers in the country. The exercise was also aimed at coming up with policies that were applicable and which would ensure that the rights of refugees were not infringed. The campaign brought together a total of one hundred and twenty organizations that deals with refugees (Michael, 2012). The campaign also had the support of close to twelve thousand individual Australians and was overseen by seventy prominent patrons. Comparison of the efforts made by each of these nongovernmental organizations As has been noted throughout the paper; each of the four NGO’s that have been analyzed takes a different role in disaster management. To start with, amnesty international comes in to defend the rights of each and every person in the society. In times of disaster, crime is likely to happen. The authorities’ in question have a tendency of dealing harshly either the persons who have been convicted of crime. Such instances call for the intervention of the amnesty international is vital in ensuring that the rights of the victims and other persons are upheld (Michael, 2012). On the other hand, Red Cross comes in handy in ensuring that all the persons who have been affected by the disaster are well catered for. This includes provision of humanitarian help in the form of food, clothing, medical café and even provision of information. The organization is also vital in disaster management as it takes a neutral part in any situation. While other groups may come in seeking the loopholes to fight the government, the concentration of Red Cross is on the provision of services required by the victims. On its part, action aid carries out campaigns to ensure that the governments put up policies that are aimed at ensuring that the persons who are affected by the disaster are not subjected to hunger and poverty (Melanie, 2008). This is vital as it hastens the rate of recovery from disaster by such persons. The other non governmental organization that comes in handy in disaster management is the council of refuges. In occasions of disaster, there is a high likelihood that there are persons who shall move to seek refuge in other countries. For all such persons who move to Australia, the Australian council for refugees ensures that the other bodies working underneath it are able to work in a timely manner. The fact that there is a foundation for such activities helps in the preparedness of the various refugee centers in the country. The 2002 campaign by the council was vital in ensuring policies necessary for readiness in such instances are in place (Oliver, 2012). References Australian Government Publishing Service, (1985). Commonwealth records. Australia: Author Bethany, B., (2008). Human rights and foreign aid: for love or money? Sydney: Rutledge Christina, T., (2007). Australia's Forgotten Prisoners. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press Elmo, T., (2011). Amnesty International Australia. Australia: Loc Publishing Florence, M., & Margaret, V., (2012). Refugee and Immigrant Students: Achieving Equity in Education. New York: IAP Freedom house, (2011). Freedom in the World 2011. Sydney: Author Harold, V., (2004). 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