Humanitarian assistance is to providevoluntary gratuitous assistance to the population affected by various emergency situations: military operations, natural disasters, etc. The main goal of such events is to alleviate the plight of people in a catastrophe.
History of occurrence
In the 18-19 centuries.The missionary organizations of Europe and North America were engaged in the preaching of Christianity in distant countries and in rendering assistance. Thanks to the activities of religious communities, residents of developed countries realized the importance of humanitarian aid and began to provide them with financial support.
An important stage in the development of internationalhumanitarian law is the emergence of the "Red Cross". The first international committee of this organization met in 1863. The Red Cross began its activities during the Franco-Prussian War (1870–1871). He assisted the victims and organized a mail communication between prisoners of war and their families.
Humanitarian assistance in the Russian Empireappeared even earlier: at the beginning of the Crimean War (1853), at the suggestion of Grand Duchess Elena Pavlovna, the Holy Cross Sisters of Mercy community appeared. The organization assisted the wounded on the battlefield.
Женевские конвенции, принятые с 1864 по 1949 гг., form the basis of international humanitarian law. They established principles in accordance with which assistance is provided to combatants and civilians during a war.
The value of humanitarian aid increased after 2World Wars, when many states were in a state of devastation. Established in 1945, the United Nations has set as its goal the strengthening of universal peace, the development of international assistance for the economic recovery of countries.
In the 1960s. the attention of the international community has shifted to developing countries that have gotten rid of colonial dependence and need economic assistance.
Humanitarian organizations within the UN
After the end of World War II, the UN and its specialized agencies are the central figure in the support organization. It is engaged in humanitarian aid to this day.
- Управление по координации является структурным division of the UN Secretariat. This body is responsible for mobilizing various organizations to provide humanitarian assistance in a particular situation. It has at its disposal the Emergency Response Fund (CERF), through which it provides operational material support to the affected regions.
- The United Nations Development Program is engaged in restoring disaster-affected regions.
- The World Food Program provides assistance in all refugee situations.
- UNICEF protects children in cases that threaten their survival.
Non-governmental organizations
Besides the most famous humanitarian organization- “Red Cross”, there are other international associations that are engaged in providing assistance. “Doctors Without Borders” is an organization that works both in the process of armed clashes and in peacetime. She is engaged in the provision of affordable medical care: vaccination, the implementation of preventive measures, work in hospitals. Amnesty International provides assistance to people in prison and prisoners of war.
Objectives
According to Article 1 of the UN Charter, one of the tasksinternational cooperation is the joint resolution of social, cultural, economic and humanitarian problems. In addition, the international community is committed to the development of human rights and freedoms. Humanitarian assistance is an operational tool aimed at achieving these goals. In emergency situations, it solves the following tasks:
- To ensure the survival and preserve the health of people affected by natural disasters, military conflicts, man-made disasters.
- Restore the independent work of life support services.
- Return to normal state of economic activity and infrastructure.
Principles of rendering
Деятельность «Красного Креста» и «Красного Crescent "has developed 7 principles of humanitarian assistance: humanity, neutrality, impartiality, voluntariness, independence, universality and unity. The Geneva Conventions highlight the principles of humanity and impartiality that characterize humanitarian action.
- Humanity is the sole purpose of providing any medical or social assistance. The meaning of humanitarian action is to protect the person.
- Impartiality requires assistanceprovided without any preference based on race, religious or political beliefs. First of all, help should be provided to those who need it most.
The remaining principles are also applied in humanitarian assistance activities, but they cause various disputes.
- Independence. The organization should be free from financial, ideological, military pressure.
- Neutrality.If the subject provides assistance to victims of the fighting, he may not be interested in a military conflict. Assistance actions should not be interpreted as hostile to any party to the conflict.
Оперативные принципы применяются к конкретным humanitarian assistance activities. They give organizations the rights and responsibilities to effectively assist in a particular situation.
- Free access to victims during armed conflict.
- The right to provide medical care anytime, anywhere.
- The right to help people in the event of a shortage of vital resources.
- Monitoring the distribution of assistance depending on existing needs.
Events
Humanitarian assistance is provided through the following operations:
- Informing government agencies, public associations and international organizations, as well as combining forces.
- Direct provision of medical and material assistance to the affected population. Provision of medicines, food, shelter, etc.
- The organization of access of humanitarian organizations to the victims.
- Provision of technical equipment for emergency response.
Problems
The provision of humanitarian assistance by the statemilitary conflict - a situation that always causes a lot of controversy. In the context of armed confrontation, it is difficult to assess the true intentions of the state that provides support to the victims. In some cases, a country undertakes these actions, guided by its geopolitical interests, for example, wishing to increase its influence in a foreign region, to interfere in the internal affairs of another state. In international law, there is the concept of humanitarian intervention, which means foreign intervention in the internal politics of a country in order to protect human rights and end the threat to security. As an example of this phenomenon we can cite the following situations:
- NATO intervention in the Bosnian war in 1995 and in the Yugoslav conflict of 1999
- The intervention of Britain, France and the United States in the civil war in Libya (2011).
Humanitarian Aid in Russia
In international cooperation to respond toEmergencies on behalf of Russia is the Emergencies Ministry. The body acts on the basis of international agreements of the Russian Federation concluded with the United Nations, NATO, ICOGO, the EU, the UAE and other countries. According to the report on the results of the activities of the Ministry of Emergency Situations in 2017, Russia sent humanitarian aid to the population of Yemen, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Cuba, Mexico. A total of 36 operations were performed. EMERCOM of Russia assists foreign countries in extinguishing fires, demining, evacuation of seriously ill people. The Russian Federation sent 13 convoys of humanitarian aid to the south-east of Ukraine, in the zone of armed clashes.
