Ideas of New Humanitarianism for Disaster Response, Reconstruction and Mitigation - Essay Example

? What Implications Do the Notions Contained within Ideas of ‘New Humanitarianism’ Have for Disaster Response, Reconstruction and Mitigation in the Developing world? by (author’s name) The name of the class The name of the professor The name of the school The city and state where it is located Date Historians of the future will not simply mention the turn of the second and third millennia as a chronological fact. They will note many significant events that happened at the end of the XX century and during the first decade of the XXI century. They will talk about the world socialism fall and the end of the Cold War, half-century-long, about the transition of many countries to democracy, about their formation on free market and open society, about a new stage of economic globalization, in the information space, along with the human values and human rights movements strengthening, about freedoms and the struggle of the world community against international terrorism. First, the very humanitarian message is based on the principle of non-partisan, which prohibits the use of this ideology to struggle for gaining power in society, as well as using techniques of suggestion and propaganda during the humanistic enlightenment. From the outset, the first humanitarians rejected the methods characteristic of religious sermons and political parties’ campaigning, involving public-relations technology, hypnosis, and manipulation of consciousness, because they considered them morally and psychologically unacceptable and even offensive to any free and self-respecting person (Held, 1995). Humanistic teachers and educators scrupulously kept the principle of free choice and critical studies, including (perhaps even primarily) humanitarianism relation to the theory and practice. The philosophy of the new humanitarianism can form the basis for planetary noosphere Ethics, resting on the principles of spirituality, multiculturalism, valeological practices and environmental responsibility But the main reason of why most people gradually became, in turn, consciously practice the ideas of humanitarianism, was that this ideology did not invent anything qualitatively new and did not call for anything. It just points to the existing principles and values ??that were actually recognized, and it was necessary only to clarify, develop and strengthen them. Humanitarianism identified, systematized, explained, but did not invent anything new and, of course, these universal moral, civil, educational, aesthetic, ecological, noosphere and other values were not imposed to anyone (Blackham, 1996). Humanitarian assistance is a kind of grant aid (assistance), means for life, distributed free to residents of areas affected by a humanitarian catastrophe, or standing on its edge. International Court of Justice has determined permissible humanitarian aid for the conditions of armed conflict, such as "providing food, clothing, medicines and other humanitarian aid, but that does not include the provision of weapons, weapons systems, ammunition or other equipment, vehicles and materials that can be used to inflict serious bodily harm or cause death. " Humanitarian aid is different from foreign aid due to its urgency and the fact that it is used to relieve the plight of disaster victims. Any person has a right to receive humanitarian aid in case of disaster. The victim has the right to ask for humanitarian assistance needed to save his or her life and human dignity in a disaster, to receive this assistance from government or other competent organizations. The first organizations, which began providing humanitarian aid, were religious organizations. So-called Missionary Society, which reached their peak in Europe and North America in the XVIII and XIX centuries, was not only engaged in conversion to Christianity, but also provided the inhabitants of various distant countries with humanitarian assistance. They promoted awareness of humanitarian needs in other parts of the world, and in this regard, some particular communities often financed the activities of missionaries. The UN created a special Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). In 2008, the World Day of Humanitarian Aid was established. The UN World Food Program is the world's largest humanitarian organization, providing emergency food aid. In 2006, food aid was provided to 87.8 million people - including 56 million hungry children in 78 countries. UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) directs its efforts to meet the needs of children in crisis situations. Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) was established by the UN in 2005. It provides the address line of a network of international organizations involved in relief work. WHO Committee on the problems of modern society proposed the following classification of disasters: the meteorological - storms, tornadoes, cyclones (typhoons), blizzards, cold weather, unusual heat, drought, etc.; topological - floods, tsunamis, avalanches, landslides, mudflows; telluric and tectonic - earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, etc.; crashes - the failure of engineering structures (dams, tunnels, buildings, mines), shipwrecks, train accidents, pollution, water supply systems and reservoirs, etc. The first three groups are natural disasters (catastrophes), crashes are man-made. Prediction and prevention of disasters and elimination of their consequences are one of the most pressing global problems nowadays. In average, one catastrophe is weekly registered in the world, the liquidation of which involves international forces. More than $ 4 billion are spent annually to conduct rescue operations. The most serious consequences are those of natural disasters. Analysis shows that 90% of them are floods, cyclones, earthquakes and drought. Tropical typhoons take the first place on the total number of victims carried away. Large-scale earthquake damage and losses (of 8 points or more on the Richter scale) are comparable to nuclear explosions. Thus, the number of victims of the earthquake in Messina (Italy, 1908) amounted to 100-160 thousand people, in the Kanto region (Japan, 1923) - 143 thousand people. During the earthquake in Peru (1970), 70 thousand were killed and about a million people were wounded, in Tang Shan (China, 1976) more than 240 thousand were killed and 773 thousand people were injured. The earthquake in Armenia (1989) claimed the lives of about 25 thousand and more than 18 thousand people injured. Suffice it to recollect the recent natural Disaster in Hispaniola Island. The world community decided to provide massive humanitarian aid to Haiti, where the powerful earthquake took place in January, 2010, horrible disaster, which, in fact, destroyed the country. In New York, at the UN headquarters the international conference, attended by representatives of more than 130 countries and several international organizations, was held. As a result, it was decided to allocate 5 billion 300 million dollars to Haiti the following two years. In total this aid amounts to about $ 9 billion. An earthquake in Japan, occurred in March, 2011, claimed the lives of about 300 people, 9500 are reported as missing. Disaster in Japan acted as a catalyst for earthquakes worldwide. It resulted in Earth's axis shift in almost 10 centimeters, which is fraught with the increasing number of earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, tsunamis, etc. More than 17 tones of medicines, medical supplies and hygiene items, delivered in Tokyo on April 4, were sent to the north-eastern region of Japan, destroyed by the quake. Delivery of emergency medical supplies was implemented by AmeriCares-American organization in the aftermath of disasters, at the request of the Japanese government. The Cargoes were delivered to AmeriCares’ partner, in Tohoku University Hospital. From there, aid was sent to medical teams that provide care to the wounded and sick in 14 different hospitals and evacuation centers. On March 11, 2011, at UN New York headquarters UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon stated that the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs would promptly send relief supplies and disaster response team to Japan. Nowadays UN agencies and their partners from non-governmental organizations continue their humanitarian activities in the North Caucasus in connection with the recent earthquake. In particular, the Danish Refugee Council regularly provides humanitarian assistance to IDPs from Chechnya residing in Ingushetia. According to the Committee of the Chechen Republic, in March 63 families were back from Ingushetia to Chechnya. The object of special attention of the International humanitarian organizations is still children. Thus, the UN World Food Program provides daily hot meals to 43.8 thousand pre-school and primary school students. UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) in collaboration with the NGO Caritas Internationalis continued implementing the programs for the kindergartens organization in the territory of Ingushetia. Partner of UNICEF - NGO "Polish Humanitarian Action" - continued to supply drinking water to the population of Groznyy by providing 13 tankers and 150 water tanks to them. In addition, in 9 hospitals in Groznyy, there were incinerators for medical waste installed for reducing the risk of infectious diseases. “Various intergovernmental organizations are also involved in humanitarian assistance. They are the European Union, North Atlantic Treaty Organization, the Organization of African Unity and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The main role is played by the European Union, acting through the Office of Humanitarian Affairs EU, founded in 1992” (Stopford). Over the past fifteen years the amount of the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) has sharply increased. Such organizations as the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and particularly the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, help foreign victims of all sorts of disasters. Religious organizations still play a unique role in international humanitarian community. The widest base on which they rely, allows them to play a primary role in defending the rights and interests of people and to attract public attention to humanitarian problems. As demonstrated by the recent tsunami in Thailand, the earthquake in Haiti and in Japan, local religious communities are far ahead of international organizations, they start meeting immediate humanitarian needs of victims (Hardcastle, R; Chua, A 2010). .The rapid industrial development, the lack of stability and reliability engineering, the lag in the development of means to prevent errors when dealing with technical devices are major causes of growth in the number and extent of man-made disasters. The emergence of some of them, due to the transforming activity of people, is treated as a new factor of disasters. For example, intensive deforestation on mountain slopes leads to denudation, which promotes the convergence of avalanches and landslides; drainage of peatlands is one of the reasons for fires. Thus, some types of disasters are both of natural and anthropogenic origin. In today's world there is a tendency of transition from post-catastrophic improvisation to pre-catastrophic training. The UN created a variety of specialized organizations to assist victims of natural disasters for these purposes. Therefore, the scientific research on the prediction and prevention of natural disasters and the studies of international experience in the liquidation of the negative consequences are of paramount importance. Natural and man-made disasters usually affect the interests of large regions and sometimes global ones. Therefore, the role of international organizations in the coordination of research and preparatory activities in all countries in case of disasters increases substantially. References Building a world community: Humanism in the twenty-first century: Papers delivered at the 10th Humanist world congress 1989/ Ed. by Kurtz P. et al. – NY: Buffalo. 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