Something I found amazing when I
first started this class was humanitarian organizations, I thought it was amazing
that there were people out there who were helping those in need, like refugees
or asylum seekers. However, after our discussion of how Humanitarian
organizations or efforts can be play out, I feel so naïve. I remember when I
was in high school, freshman year, I saw a pair of Toms, and thought how awesome
it was for someone like me to buy a pair here and someone in a far-off country
would receive one because of my transaction. What I did not know was how this
would affect the local economy and market of those who craft by hand these material
goods that were now being distributed for free by a more privileged industry. It
sadly doesn’t stop here, it becomes a domino effect of failed market and shut
downs as each component that aids and creates the craftsman products are all
affected. Something innocent as giving to those who I thought were the unfortunate, caused harm to pass onto others.
Humanitarian groups are a double-edged sword in this way. They have the intention to do good, but in that exchange of “good”, is a bad solution or aid that is being given. NGO’s and organization like the UNHCR have become a crutch to the way we handle situations of crisis. Instead of nation-states directly handling or providing support for the human rights issue at hand; most of the time the UNHCR and other organizations are told of the matter and it is shouldered off to them. Essentially, they are given power over lives and are the task force mediator for the human rights everywhere. As we have seen and discussed in class, the UNHCR is stretched thin all over the world. Being so vast and wide, causes issues to arise within UNHCR’s refugee camps, which then in turn causes delays and issues processing refugee accounts and applications as the workload is endless. I was reading an article from the New Yorker, and they stated that, “a public institution that is self-policing is effectively unpoliced and deflecting the critique by claiming the critique is not a serious form of reckoning” (Gourevitch, 2010). When we watched in class how Australia, tried to make themselves unaccountable for intercepting thousands of refugees and asylum seekers at mid-sea and then abandoning them at process centers at Nauru and Papua New Guinea, we were appalled at the lengths the prime minister of Australia will go to avoid giving and providing aid to those who need it. The usage of humanitarian aid is a very political game, especially the origin of where the aid comes from. For instance, the United States has hundreds of organizations that do donations and mission trips to countries like Haiti to build houses and spread support to those in need. Interestingly enough, “ten thousand NGO’s working in Haiti, and in fifty years that country has been receiving humanitarian aid and it is still very poor to this day” Why is this? Haiti has become dependent for the support of others outside of their own country. If we keep offering this certain form of help, we are making matters worse. NPR stated in an article that, “this craze of humanitarianism is called “voluntourism” (Kelto ,2010). For instance, if a group of foreign aid was to visit a refugee camp that is filled with children who are separated from their families and they were young of age, we would be impressionable on them. For us to communicate and interact as family and friends, and then suddenly leave causes a sense of abandonment and even more psychological trauma or damage to take place. Visiting them instills a certain form of hope within refugees, which can raise their spirits and make them feel better about their future for a short duration. However, if there are more groups coming and going from these camps, or institutions then hope begins to dwindle and the thought of ever leaving the “refugee limbo” as it were, begins to become a cruel dream. There needs to be open discussion with NGO's and organizations like UNHCR, to ensure that the acts that are being paid forward are really the best way we can ensure good is being done in all aspects of our mission to preserve human rights.
Humanitarian groups are a double-edged sword in this way. They have the intention to do good, but in that exchange of “good”, is a bad solution or aid that is being given. NGO’s and organization like the UNHCR have become a crutch to the way we handle situations of crisis. Instead of nation-states directly handling or providing support for the human rights issue at hand; most of the time the UNHCR and other organizations are told of the matter and it is shouldered off to them. Essentially, they are given power over lives and are the task force mediator for the human rights everywhere. As we have seen and discussed in class, the UNHCR is stretched thin all over the world. Being so vast and wide, causes issues to arise within UNHCR’s refugee camps, which then in turn causes delays and issues processing refugee accounts and applications as the workload is endless. I was reading an article from the New Yorker, and they stated that, “a public institution that is self-policing is effectively unpoliced and deflecting the critique by claiming the critique is not a serious form of reckoning” (Gourevitch, 2010). When we watched in class how Australia, tried to make themselves unaccountable for intercepting thousands of refugees and asylum seekers at mid-sea and then abandoning them at process centers at Nauru and Papua New Guinea, we were appalled at the lengths the prime minister of Australia will go to avoid giving and providing aid to those who need it. The usage of humanitarian aid is a very political game, especially the origin of where the aid comes from. For instance, the United States has hundreds of organizations that do donations and mission trips to countries like Haiti to build houses and spread support to those in need. Interestingly enough, “ten thousand NGO’s working in Haiti, and in fifty years that country has been receiving humanitarian aid and it is still very poor to this day” Why is this? Haiti has become dependent for the support of others outside of their own country. If we keep offering this certain form of help, we are making matters worse. NPR stated in an article that, “this craze of humanitarianism is called “voluntourism” (Kelto ,2010). For instance, if a group of foreign aid was to visit a refugee camp that is filled with children who are separated from their families and they were young of age, we would be impressionable on them. For us to communicate and interact as family and friends, and then suddenly leave causes a sense of abandonment and even more psychological trauma or damage to take place. Visiting them instills a certain form of hope within refugees, which can raise their spirits and make them feel better about their future for a short duration. However, if there are more groups coming and going from these camps, or institutions then hope begins to dwindle and the thought of ever leaving the “refugee limbo” as it were, begins to become a cruel dream. There needs to be open discussion with NGO's and organizations like UNHCR, to ensure that the acts that are being paid forward are really the best way we can ensure good is being done in all aspects of our mission to preserve human rights.
References
Kelto,
A. (2010, November 02). In S. Africa's Orphanages, Is Doing Good Really Bad?
Retrieved March 03, 2018, from
https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=130998857&sc=17&f=1001
Gourevitch
, P. (2010, November 3). The Moral Hazards of Humanitarian Aid: What Is to Be
Done ... Retrieved March 3, 2018, from
https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/the-moral-hazards-of-humanitarian-aid-what-is-to-be-done
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