Humanitarian Action Aid: Conflicting Issues - Essay Example

Humanitarian Aid Running head: COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS Humanitarian Aid: Conflicting issues from a cultural perspective of Client of University Name of Class Humanitarian Aid 2 Humanitarian Aid: Conflicting issues from a cultural perspective From the perspective of those who are in need, the purpose of aid is clear and definitive. Humanitarian aid is intended to promote survival where the basic means of survival have been devastated by some form of disaster, either natural or manmade. The issue as to whether to give aid would seem a very simple one. However, the repercussions of actions taken in efforts to aid a culture can have long term effects that will fundamentally change that culture. As well, the point of view of the world on the success or failures of those trying to render aid can effect the associations and agencies who make the efforts to promote restoration of survival to areas that are without basic services. In comparing several points of view and writings on the topic of humanitarian aid and the consequences of that aid, an exploration of the long term effects of the consequences of that aid can provide insight into how these efforts can be improved. There is no doubt that when an area is hit with a circumstance that tears the fabric of the social order and renders a society unable to survive on its own that some sort of humanitarian effort should be made to salvage the lives and culture that is in peril. Unfortunately, there are repercussions that must be considered when aid is rendered to areas in conflict or whose culture is in conflict with the aiding culture. Anderson (date) suggests that there are two real dilemmas that must be considered, rather than the commercialized media driven criticisms that plague humanitarian efforts. She says that the two issues that have the most important center of concern are the consideration that aid might result in long-term dependency (p. 139) and that sometimes aid will make areas of the world that are in conflict become more deeply in conflict (p. 141). Both of these circumstances place the intention of aid in conflict with the result, creating a paradox that must be resolved. Humanitarian Aid 3 While Anderson dismisses the concept that the idea that humanitarian aid can be seen as a negative for reasons that are promoted by the world media, Rieff (2002) suggests that there are problems with the view of what humanitarian aid from the West can mean. The unfortunate truth is that the one with the food and supplies holds the power, whether the intention is to use that power or not. According to Reiff (2002), there are some states that few the work of humanitarian aid workers as an extension of the Western world in trying to remake nations into mirrors of democracy (p. 267). While Anderson (date) suggests that the problems that arise from rendered aid lie with those who receive it, Reiff (2002) has suggested that the imposed culture upon the recipients can create issues of hegemony as the West tries to support nations in distress by bringing their ideas into cultures and thus changing them. Of course, this brings into question whether or not technological and ideological influences that are intended for good can be seen as good when a culture is disrupted and forever changed by those influences. An example of how a culture can be forever changed can be seen in the efforts in Rwanda that filled the aftermath of war with Western ideas that has changed the nature of the culture. Ogata (2005) talks about the initiatives that were begun on behalf of the people of Rwanda in order to promote stability within the country. However, these initiatives, a women’s job training program, reintegration programs based on bringing the oppressors and the oppressed together into repatriation, and efforts to overcome ethnic differences and create harmony appear to be based on Western influences rather than the natural instincts of the Rwandan culture (p. 339). In looking at Ogata’s (2005) discussion of the efforts that followed the horrible conflict in Rwanda, the question that comes to mind is whether or not these “improvements’ were desired by the indigenous population, or whether by virtue of providing Humanitarian Aid 4 relief, a certain cultural power existed that could then overwhelm the social structure that existed before the war and genocide. Another problem that exists in war-torn areas is that in order to provide aid, the oppressed must be treated through the graces of their oppressors. According to Barnett and Weiss (date), humanitarian workers have made attempts to work with people who were held in ’safe havens’ in Bosnia that were filled with violence and problems. They have attempted to feed those who were being starved by warlords in Somalia who were bringing on war induced famine with the intent of bringing food with which to sell and use for their ambitious purposes. In Rwanda the genocide itself progressed without much interference, but the influence after of aid workers on the perpetrators of the genocide was intended to save those who were left in the aftermath (p. 1). The problem with attempting to bring aid to these areas is that the political powers and the influences that have created these horrific circumstances are beyond the scope of most workers’ ability to cope. They get into the area without a real understanding of the dynamics they will have to face (Barnett & Weiss, date, pp. 3). As workers attempt to deal with circumstances that they were not prepared to handle, the influence of their own ethics and ideals would quite naturally come forward in an attempt to process the needs of those who are facing difficulties that are foreign and without social foundation for the workers. This can account for the appearance and sometimes the actuality of an appearance of the Western culture attempting to override and ’reform’ the culture for which aid is being rendered. One of the core principles of rendering aid, according to Barnett and Weiss (date), is that in order to provide aid, the workers must not bring it as agents of either side of a conflict (p. 3). This would be difficult in a case where one people is greatly oppressed by another, Humanitarian Aid 5 especially as in Rwanda where the people were being systematically eradicated in order to abolish an entire culture. According to Reich (2005), it is very easy for the lines to become blurred so that one cannot see the intentions of aid which might overlap with the an intent to influence an outcome. He says that “Paradoxically, the more influential the humanitarian ideal has grown, the more incoherent it has become” (p. 272). He goes on to discuss the many ways in which humanitarian efforts attempt to help those who are in conflict. He mentions that this might include “relief, human rights, refugee protection, charity, conflict prevention, conflict resolution, (and) nation building” ( p.272). In trying to protect, in this case, one must ask where the line is drawn between a political agenda and a humanitarian agenda. Therefore, it is unrealistic to boil the issues of humanitarian aid theory down to two conflicts as Anderson (date) suggests are at the cores of the dilemmas that must be faced when the prospect of aid is considered. The changes that may occur to a culture who is put under the pressure of Western ideals that must be catered to in order to see basic services such as food and shelter provided will fall to the pressure of those ideals and become subject to those influences. It is hard to argue that cultures that oppress women, use torture and violence as a source of control, and who oppress their people in order to push aid into the country that can be used by corrupt warlords as practicing their culture and must be respected for those beliefs. However, the theoretical line between interference and assistance requires that a line be drawn between politics and aid. According to Gardner and Lewis (1996), a fundamental change in the study of anthropology came when during the Second World War the U. S. used as many as 91% of the Humanitarian Aid 6 anthropologists in the country in order to achieve dominance over those with whom the U. S. was at war. The power of society and the use of social dominance became more widely understood, leaving anthropologists to retreat from influence over global social order (p. 32). Herein lies the key to the problems that the humanitarian efforts will faced, particularly where political and social ideologies are in place. Ogata (2005) speaks quite naturally about nation building through humanitarian efforts without a sense that morality plays a role in the influences that the West has over the cultures in which the rebuilding would take place (p. 342). However, Reiff (2002) allows for room in the ideologies of humanitarian efforts for the idea that assumptions of right and wrong and influences of outside cultures upon a war-torn culture may cross a line (p. 275). Anderson (date) suggests that the importance of the aid is only relevant to issues of how the long-term affects of that aid given will become a lasting state of affairs, rather than a transitional set of circumstances. It is Barnett and Weiss (date) that acknowledge that the identity of humanitarianism is still in question as the position that those who give aid find themselves within is far more complicated than might be anticipated (p. 5). The morals that send a worker into the field in order to render aid may be the same factors that will not tolerate cultural differences when they are against basic human rights issues. However, it is the definition of these moral judgments that allow for the accusation that the West is attempting to dominate the world culture with ideologies that are specifically Western and may not fit into the foundational elements of the cultural dynamics of other cultures. In looking at the four differing papers on the topic of humanitarian ethics and the influence on cultures, it is clear that it is not at all clear as of yet what the identity of the humanitarian worker is within an Humanitarian Aid 7 environment and what constitutes aid and assistance, rather than influence and cultural subversion. Humanitarian Aid 8 References Anderson, M. B. (date). “You saved my life today but what for tomorrow?”: Some moral dilemmas of humanitarian aid. Found in authors name. (date). Name of book. City of publication: Publisher. Barnett, M. & Weiss, T. (date). Humanitarianism: A brief history of the present. Found in name of author. (date). Name of book. City of publication: Publisher. Ogata, S. (2005). The turbulent decade: Confronting the refugee crises of the 1990s. New York: Norton. Gardner, K., & Lewis, D. (1996). Anthropology, development and the post-modern challenge. Anthropology, culture and society. London [u.a.]: Pluto Press. Rieff, D. (2002). A bed for the night: Humanitarianism in crisis. New York: Simon and Schuster. Read More