Mission, History, Important Operations and Significance of Refugees International - Coursework Example

ID Number: Nongovernmental Organization: Refugees International Research Paper  Mission Refugees International is humanitarian organization which advocates majorly for displaced people to provide them better support. These displaced people majorly encompass internally displaced and refugees or those people who were stateless. This organization does not accept any form of government funding. The main mission of the organization is to provide protection and lifesaving assistance for all those displaced people, and even to promote necessary solution for every displacement crisis. This humanitarian organization addresses policy changes or need for resources as set by UN agencies or government in order to improve conditions for displaced people or refugees. Refugees International is based in Washington and has offices located in London and New York City (RIJ). The lifesaving assistance can be considered to be major aim of the organization as it takes care of all those refugees who really need support. Its mission even encompasses providing required solution so that displaced people has better life of their own. History Refugees International was founded in the year 1979 by Sue Morton. This was a kind of movement which was basically conducted so as to protect all Indochinese refugees. In the first vital years of the organization Sue Morton had resided in Singapore and Tokyo. The organization was incorporated in United States by the founding director called as Dianne L. Lawson. Refugees Internationals first public actions were witnessed in the form of an ad in Washington Post. This had taken place on July 19, 1979. Through this action Legislative and Executive Branches of US government act was requested by Refugees International to rescue Cambodians and Vietnamese at sea. The day on which this particular ad had appeared on Washington Post Dianne L. Lawson and Sue Morton had participated actively in a peaceful candlelight march. The entire rally was led by Senator Paul Simon and a singer known as Joan Baez, and the march had taken place from Lincoln Memorial to the northern side of White House. As the march ended, the crowd had sung a lovely song known as “Amazing Grace”. However it was more surprising for the crowd when Jimmy Carter, the President, had strode out from White House to announce that there was a US 7th fleet ordered so as to rescue some of the refugees who were fleeing on boats from Southeast Asia for freedom (Aristide, Astri & Aguayo 112). This initiative which was taken by the US government had increased the level of motivation for the Refugees International. They were provided with all forms of moral support and soon there objective of providing life assistance gained importance in public. In the beginning stage Refugees International was powered by only volunteers and later there was more paid staff hired. The expansion of this organization was phenomenal as it grew beyond the boundaries of Southeast Asia in the year 1990. Refugees International had participated efficiently in order to protect Liberian refugees in Kuwaitis and Guinea in Iraq-Jordan desert. There are around 15 field missions conducted by Refugees International to identify needs of displaced people for basic services like healthcare, water, housing, and food, protection from harm and access to education. These needs have always been the primary concern of this humanitarian organization (Schnabel 102). The organization performs their operations based on the findings in relation to humanitarian emergencies. They advocate to aid agencies and policy makers so as to improve lives of majorly displaced people across the globe and then outline strategic benefits of United States’ continuation for funding in terms of foreign aid. In the present scenario the organization majorly focuses on bringing in solution in all situations of displacement crisis which is taking place across Democratic Republic of Congo, Somalia, Colombia, Mali, South Sudan, Syria and Myanmar (Hans & Newman 97). Significant political and societal partners Refugees International has significant societal and political partners. This organization has extended their support across the globe to various countries. There is no such intervention of political parties in the operations which is executed by this humanitarian organization. It can be stated that this organization works independently but requires certain essential support from the government. This support is majorly in the form of providing necessary resources to Refugees International so that they are able to rescue as many people as possible. In all these years of their operations, the organization has not indulged into accepting any form of funding such as UN or government funding. This in turn helps their advocate to become independent and perform their required tasks. However these humanitarian organizations often require funds so as to execute their overall operations. Refugee International majorly acquires their funds from foundations, corporations or individuals. It can be stated that this organization serves the displaced people as an independent organization. The major political party who is involved with this organization is Democratic Party of United States. They are the ones who set forth the essential political changes which are later addressed by Refugees International. There are various UN agencies which work in collaboration with this organization in terms of improving rescue conditions. The members on the board of this organization comprise of some well renowned names such as John Danforth, Queen Noor, Sam Waterston, Matt Dillon, and also there are certain past members of the board like Richard Holbrooke and George Soros. Apart from the political parties and extended support provided by the government, there even exist some societal partners which have always provided required support to the Refugees International. It has always been necessity of the organization to formulate solutions based on their findings on humanitarian emergencies. These findings are generally gained by the organization in accordance with various societal partners. Volunteers who worked with this organization previously can be considered to be major societal partners. On the other hand there are various UN agencies that have been focused on providing required life assistance to displaced people. It can be stated that these agencies help Refugees International to gain expertise in order to serve refugees or simply displaced people (UNHCR 93-95). Societal support even encompass certain non-governmental organizations which handles multiple tasks but this protection and lifesaving assistance for displaced people also is a major area of concern for these organizations. Budget and governance It is a Washington based independent humanitarian organization. The budget of the organization is not funded by the United Nations or the government bodies. The organization has some eminent board members they are Queen Noor, Sam Waterston, John Danforth and Matt Dillon. The organization has the head quarter in the Washington DC; it also has branch office in New York. As the organization does not take any aid from the UN or government bodies the large scale operations of the non-profit NGO are being budgeted significantly. Each year the organization conducts 12-15 field related missions to help the homeless people those field works are generally governed by the eminent leaders of the organization. The activities of the nonprofit NGO are governed by the fearless advocacies and their suggestions are taken seriously by the senior officials of the US administration and the US congress. The financial helps and the budgetary control of the organization are governed or assisted by several fraternities across the world. According to the annual report of the organization, Refugees International gets financial helps from life saving supporters worth $ 75 000, friends ($1000-$2500), benefactors ($ 10000-$ 16000), visionaries gave $ 15000- $ 25000, leaders across the world provided $ 5000- $ 10000. Over the years the organization has achieved patronage of experienced leaders, which has helped the company to allocate its budget for the continuation of the good novel works. The organization has a clear cut objective of providing assistance to the displaced people across the world. To achieve this target the organization has designed its corporate governance and budget according to that. Important operations Currently the organization has taken up lots of important operations in the various politically destabilized areas of the world. Last four years political conditions in Syria are not all stable. Lots of people have left the country and have taken refuge in the neighboring country Libya (Refugees International). The organization is conducting their operations in Libya to help those people. Libya is facing significant political crisis, so the Government of Libya is failing to extend helping hand towards the refugees of the Syria. Refugees International plays important role to help those refugees. Refugees International has an important operation related with the women and girls. Women and girls are impacted by the several political crises, statelessness and displacements. In most of the cases they are the helpless victims of the political aggressions. The organization identifies the distressed situation of the women and they perform several operations like providing shelters and basic health care’s to the women and girls. The organization plays important roles to assess the situation of the internally displaced persons, refuges from the urban areas and asylum seekers (Haddad 78). It also advocates for the adequate funding for the displaced people. Somalis refugees are facing multi dimensional problems in Kenya. Kenyan government has ordered a massive security operation against the terrorist group Al Shabab. Due to that Kenyan police are doing ill-treatments with the Somalis refugees. The organization has extended its helping hand towards those ill-fated refugees also. Apart from all these important operations the organization is focusing towards Myanmar and Democratic Republic of Congo. Significance and influence Refugees International has great significances and influences on the millions lives of distressed, homeless people. Political disturbances cannot be controlled with the help of humanitarian activities but the organization has taken significant efforts to improve the lives of the homeless and stateless people across the world. The organization was started in 1979 and it was citizen’s movement to protect the interests of Indochinese refugees. The organization has great influence on the global leaders and it provokes action and implementations from them. Expert advices of the organization are having significant importance on the global leadership. The nonprofit organization indirectly forces the several actions from the global decision making bodies. June 2014, the organization recommended UN to deploy United Nations peace keepers in Katanga a troubled area of DR Congo. According to their advice, top commander of UN announced the mission in August. It indicates that the organization has significant influence on the UN (Hathaway 2005). Over the years the organization has recommended several advices to the US Government. Recently in July 2014 the organization wrote a letter to US secretary of State Mr. Jhon Kerry, asking for an increase in the US aid related with the displaced Iraqis. The advice has been considered seriously by the US State Department and the matter will be taken up in the US Congress. It is another demonstration of the high level influence of the organization. All the above discussions are clearly articulating that Refugees International has significant influences on the several decision making bodies across the world. Political controversies Recently the organization has faced a political controversy in Myanmar. Due to the violence thousands of Rohingya people are displaced since June 2012. The organization has visited Myanmar several times to demonstrate the humanitarian situation of Rohingya community (Reynolds). The main objective of the organization is to draw the attentions of the international community towards the hellish situation of the community. Government of the country has declined to extend any sorts of help to the affected people (Alexander & Loescher 45-47). The organization has tried to raise the issue before the upcoming meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN. The US president is set to participate in the meeting which is going to be held in November. The Government of Myanmar has not taken this matter in the right sprit. It has raised significant political controversy and the Government of Myanmar does not want any kind of intervention from any third party or organization. Dan Gickman quitted as the President of the Refugees International only after the three months of his appointment. The former Motion Picture Association has told that due to some personal reason he has left the job. But his resignation has created lots of political controversies for the Refugees International. Some of the political analysts or critics are finding many political reasons for this step. Works Cited Aristide, Zolberg, Astri Suhrke & Sergio Aguayo. Escape from Violence: Conflict and the Refugee Crisis in the Developing World. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2000. Print. Betts, Alexander & Gil Loescher. Refugees in International Relations. London: Oxford University Press. 2011.Print. Haddad, Emma. The Refugee in International Society: Between Sovereigns. New York: Cambridge. 2008. Print. Hans, Ginkel & Edward, Newman. In Quest of ‘Human Security. Japan Review of International Affairs, 14 (1). 2000. Print. Hathaway, James. The Rights of Refugees under International Law. New York: Cambridge University Press. 2005. Print. Refugees International. What We Do. 2001. Web. 29 September. 2014. < http://refugeesinternational.org/what-we-do>. Reynolds, Sarnata. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back in Myanmar. 2014. Web. 29 September. 2014. http://refugeesinternational.org/blog/one-step-forward-two-steps-back-myanmar>. RIJ. News and Project. 2014. Web. 16th August. 2014. < http://refugeesinternationaljapan.org/news_projects > Schnabel, Albrecht. Preventing the Plight of Refugees. Peace Review, 13 (1). 2001. Print. UNHCR. The State of the World’s Refugees: Fifty Years of Humanitarian Action. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2000. Print. Read More