Humanitarianism at home

Exploring practitioners’ perspectives on the relevance of humanitarianism in Australia

Auteurs

  • Daniel McAvoy Deakin University, Australia
  • Annalise Ingram Deakin University, Australia
  • Luke Bearup Deakin University, Australia

DOI :

https://doi.org/10.21153/thl2022art1527

Mots-clés :

humanitarians, Australia, humanitarian action, humanitarian definition, australian bushfires

Résumé

Australia has faced various unprecedented challenges in recent years: the extended bushfire season of 2019–20, wide-spread and increasingly severe storms and flooding, and the grave health and socio-economic impacts of the global COVID-19 pandemic. Such events have prompted greater awareness of our shared vulnerability to disasters. They have also exacerbated food insecurity, homelessness, poverty, family violence, and increased the vulnerability of refugees and people seeking asylum in Australia. Where disasters and similar issues are identified in low-income countries, they are typically framed in terms of humanitarian need and may even be the subject of international humanitarian action. Why is it then, that the language and practices of humanitarianism are not ordinarily applied in Australian settings? What indeed is humanitarianism when it is not international? What, if anything, do international experiences of humanitarianism have to offer in Australian contexts? This paper describes a research program that has been prompted by these questions and shares some preliminary findings concerning the perspectives of Australian practitioners on the relevance of humanitarian values, knowledge, and practices in Australia.

Métriques

Chargements des métriques ...

Téléchargements

Les données de téléchargement ne sont pas encore disponible.

Biographies de l'auteur

  • Daniel McAvoy, Deakin University, Australia

    Daniel lectures at Deakin University in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences. He teaches a range of core and elective units within the Masters of Humanitarian Assistance, including Applied Humanitarian Assistance and Humanitarian Settlement Daniel is also engaged in research on policy and practices associated with state-building interventions, transnational policing, and humanitarian interventions, with a focus on Asia-Pacific (Indonesia and Solomon Islands).

    Daniel has over 20 years’ experience working and researching in humanitarian aid and international development. In addition to 8 years’ involvement with the Australian Aid Programme (Solomon Islands, Iraq, Afghanistan and Middle East Programmes), he has worked with Care International (Iraq, Kosovo, and Aceh), and consulted for UNICEF (Solomon Islands), UNDP (Uganda) and OXFAM GB (UK and India).

    Daniel joined Deakin University in early 2015 after 6 years lecturing at the School of International Development at the University of East Anglia in the UK. In this role he taught a range of undergraduate courses (Politics and International Development; War, Humanitarian Crises and Aid) and convened a Masters module entitled Conflict Peace and Security. He holds a MA (Anthropology of Conflict, Violence and Conciliation) from the University of Sussex​, and a BSc (Geography) and MA (Applied Anthropology and Participatory Development) from the Australian National University.

  • Annalise Ingram, Deakin University, Australia

    Annalise Ingram is a humanitarian practitioner and writer currently working with UN OCHA Myanmar as an Accountability to Affected Populations and Community Engagement Specialist. Prior to this she worked with Australian Red Cross in Australia’s Northern Territory, most recently as Team Leader for Emergency Services. She has also worked in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia in communications and development and holds degrees in media, international studies and Indonesian language.

  • Luke Bearup, Deakin University, Australia

    Dr Luke Bearup is a Research Fellow at the CHL, Honourary Lecturer at the School of Sociology, ANU, and practitioner in humanitarian assistance and development. Luke’s research aims to apply the tools of sociology to understanding local perspectives on social issues and international aid, and involve communities in the design, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of policies and interventions. Luke is working for the WFP as a Senior Analyst, deployed by RedR and Australia Assists to research humanitarian assistance and social cohesion in Amman, Jordan.

Références

Atkinson, C., & S. Curnin, (2020). Sharing responsibility in disaster management policy. Progress in Disaster Science, 7, 100122.

Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Australian Disaster Resilience Handbook Collection: Community Recovery (2018) Retrieved from https://knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/glossary-about/

Australian Government Department of Home Affairs 2018, National Disaster Risk Reduction Framework, www.homeaffairs.gov.au/emergency/files/national-disaster-risk-reduction-framework.pdf

Barnett, M., & T. G. Weiss. (2008). Humanitarianism in Question : Politics, Power, Ethics. Cornell University Press.

Bathurst Free Press and Mining Journal. (1858, 16 June). The Donegal Relief Fund. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article64376666

Boltanski, L. (1999). Distant suffering: Morality, media and politics. Cambridge University Press.

Book, M. & R. Coghlan (2020) Rethinking vulnerability in the era of COVID-19. Centre for Humanitarian Leadership. https://centreforhumanitarianleadership.org/the-centre/news/rethinking-vulnerability-in-the-era-of-covid-19/.

Convery, S. & Henriques-Gomes, L. (2021, 21 November). ‘We need to be alarmed’: food banks in overdrive as politicians allow Australians to go hungry. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2021/nov/21/we-need-to-be-alarmed-food-banks-in-overdrive-as-politicians-allow-australians-to-go-hungry.

COAG. (2011). National Strategy for Disaster Resilience. www.knowledge.aidr.org.au/resources/national-strategy-for-disaster-resilience/

Cohen, I.B., 1984. Florence Nightingale. Scientific American, 250(3), pp.128-137.

Commonwealth of Australia (2020). Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements Report, CoA, released October 28 2020, https://naturaldisaster.royalcommission.gov.au/publications/html-reportISBN: 978-1-921091-45-2 (Print) ISBN: 978-1-921091-46-9 (Online) 519 page

De Waal, A., & de Waal, D. A. (1997). Famine crimes: politics & the disaster relief industry in Africa. Indiana University Press.

Flint, J., P. Henty & B. Hurley (2020). The cost of good intentions in the Australian bushfires – Perspectives from the international humanitarian sector. Humanitarian Advisory Group. Blog. Available at: https://humanitarianadvisorygroup.org/the-cost-of-good-intentions-in-the-australian-bushfires-perspectives-from-the-international-humanitarian-sector/

Hanrieder, T. & Galesne, C. (2021). Domestic humanitarianism: the Mission France of Médecins Sans Frontières and Médecins du Monde. Third World Quarterly, 42:8, pp. 1715-1732.

Harpur, J. J. (1848, 15 January). Original Correspondence: Capital Punishment. Maitland Mercury and Hunter River General Advertiser, p. 4. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/695660?afterLoad=showCorrections

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. (1995). Code of conduct for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs): in disaster relief. Geneva.

Maxwell, D. G., & P. Walker. (2008). Shaping the humanitarian world. Taylor & Francis Group. Oxford.

Olliff, L. (2018). From Resettled Refugees to Humanitarian Actors: Refugee Diaspora Organizations and Everyday Humanitarianism. New Political Science, 40(4), pp.658-674.

Parliament of Australia. (2020, 4 February). Condolences: Australian Bushfires (Speech). https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/genpdf/chamber/hansardr/0fd15237-92f1-4dbd-bab5-e7bba7ee781d/0006/hansard_frag.pdf;fileType=application%2Fpdf

Philaleth. (1833, 13 July). To the Editor of the Perth Gazette. The Perth Gazette and Western Australian Journal. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article641995.

Richey, L.A. (2018). Conceptualizing “everyday humanitarianism”: Ethics, affects, and practices of contemporary global helping. New Political Science, 40(4): pp. 625-639.

Slim, H. (2002). Claiming a humanitarian imperative: NGOs and the cultivation of humanitarian duty. Refugee Survey Quarterly, 21(3), pp.113-125.

Slim, H. (2010). Book review - Humanitarianism and Suffering: The Mobilization of Empathy. Edited by Richard Ashby Wilson and Richard D. Brown. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2008. Perspectives on Politics, 8(4), 1205-1206.

Slim, H. (2015). Humanitarian ethics: A guide to the morality of aid in war and disaster. Oxford University Press.

Tin, D., Hart, A., & Ciottone, G. R. (2020). The case for an Australian disaster reserve force. American journal of emergency medicine.

Wilson, S., Sivasubramaniam, D., Farmer, J., Aryani, A., De Cotta, T., Kamstra, P., Adler, V. and Knox, J., (2020). Everyday humanitarianism during the 2019/2020 Australian bushfire crisis. Available at: https://apo.org.au/node/303465

Victorian Council of Social Service (2020). Perspectives from the frontline: VCOSS Bushfire Recovery Project Consultation Report. https://vcoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/SUB-National-Natural-Disaster-Royal-Commission-FINAL.pdf

Vivekananthan, J. and P. Connors (2019). Crossing the divide: Pacific diaspora in humanitarian response to natural disasters A diasporic perspective. Centre for Humanitarian Leadership. https://centreforhumanitarianleadership.org/research/publications/crossing-the-divide-pacific-diaspora-in-humanitarian-response-to-natural-disasters/

Yeophantong, P. (2014). Understanding humanitarian action in East and Southeast Asia: A historical perspective. Humanitarian Policy Group.

Firefighters fight a blaze in the NSW 2020 bushfires

Téléchargements

Publiée

2022-02-01

Numéro

Rubrique

Articles

Comment citer

« Humanitarianism at home: Exploring practitioners’ perspectives on the relevance of humanitarianism in Australia » (2022) Le Leader Humanitaire, p. Working Paper 022, Feb 2022. doi:10.21153/thl2022art1527.