Essay Example on Humanitarian Governance: Global Emergence of an Order for People's Wellbeing

Introduction

Michael Barnett defines humanitarian governance as any organized or international attempt to save people's lives, enhance their welfare, and reduce their suffering (Barnett, 2013). Humanitarian governance can be approached in a comprehensive manner, such as pertaining to the global emergence of an order geared to improve people's wellbeing. Barnett's research agenda for humanitarians governance was to answer some questions including, what kind of world is being imagined and produced, who governs, how humanitarians governance is organized and accomplished, and by what authority do humanitarians governs. Most humanitarian governance literature focuses strongly on international humanitarian agencies where the study takes a normative and actual point of departure. One of the revolutions in humanitarian governance is the development of an international humanitarian order, the global community's self-conscious effort to relieve distant strangers' suffering. The rapid development literature on humanitarian intervention asks whether a norm of humanitarian intervention is becoming institutionalized in doctrine (Barnett, 2013).

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The Purposes and Objective of Humanitarianism

The purposes of humanitarian action are to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity during and aftermath of human-made crises and natural disasters (Barnett, 2013). It intends to attempt to save lives at risk by treating symptoms and standing clear of politics and states. Humanitarianism can be defined narrowly or broadly, but it is widely perceived as aspiring to make life better. Humanitarian actions include protecting civilians and those no longer taking part in hostilities, provision of food and water, and any other act undertaken for the benefits of affected people, such as facilitating the return to healthy lives and livelihoods. Humanitarianism has been operating in the realm of the sacred and the outside world of profane. One must have human value and understanding of all human situations to be termed as humanitarians.

The Growth of Humanitarian Governance

It has not been easy to understand how the concept of humanitarian governance evolved, with many scholars giving it surprisingly little attention. There have been several lines of inquiry relating to the enlightenment of this humanitarian concept. The first one is the role of civilizing processes. The concept of humanity started to circulate in Europe and North America in the late nineteenth century, and it was favored by the enlightenment of thinkers who subscribed to the view that all humans have equal worth (Calhoun, 2010). Some Christians, such as evangelical, had a belief that all humans are God's children and should have a chance to be saved. Even though there was a common belief between secular and religious communities that all human beings are equally born, it did not mean that all humanity had successfully developed their humanity (Fassin, 2010). Humanity, therefore, did not naturally exist, but it was rather created. Humanitarian governance was only a possibility when people had a proper religion, education, and civilization. Regulating humanity entails creating the humanity of oneself and others.

The Organization of Humanitarian Governance

The humanitarian sector is often described as a network due to the recent wave of globalization and NGOs' dominance. The characterization of humanitarian governance as a network can also be attributed to how the organization comes to help each other to accomplish a particular task that will result in the desired outcome. The use of the term network is intended to show how refugee organizations should work with each other. In organizations, networks are supported to be desirable forms since they are agile, efficient, and democratic. Students of global governance have identified various architecture distinguished by the alternative organizing principles of the market, network, and hierarchies (Barnett 2011). Humanitarian governance has an element of authority where this part of the regime comes as a result of the introduction of those rules supposed to create an even playing surface. For bureaucracies to work well, there must be a well-establish hierarchy. If a hierarchical exist in the relationship to the humanitarian sector, then it is between those who give and those who receive it. Humanitarian governance justifies the act of interference because they are necessary to save lives and reduce human suffering. Humanitarianism has a strong element of paternalism (Barnett 2011). However, not all acts of humanitarianism interference will count since most can be assumed to be operating within the recipient party's consent.

The Techniques of Governance

Humanitarians rule in two stylized ways, which are bureaucracies and violence. The bureaucracy and rationalizing techniques help to determine who gets to be an expert in his domain. Humanitarians try to save lives and alleviate suffering with the presumption that they do so through peaceful means. However, it is not always when the technique of governance uses peaceful means. Sometimes, violence may apply when some power is applied through institutions using sticks to nudge people towards acting in a supposedly in their best interest. The debate over whether it is right to use violence to save lives has been controversial regarding humanitarian intervention. Liberal states might be inclined towards using force for the humanitarian outcome since it will enable the stabilization of their identity as caring, compassionate states (Barnett, 2013). Violence, when it emanates in the name of humanity, might help bring into existence the very international community presumed to exist. Humanitarian governance has four central authorities, which are delegated, rational-legal, expert, and moral. Although all the four authority is present in humanitarian governance, ethical and expert powers are dominant.

Humanitarianism and Representation of Refugee

Humanitarians organizations represent refugees in terms of helplessness and loss (Barnett, 2013). The representation consigns refugees to their bodies, to a mute and faceless physical mass. The reduction of the refugee to the silent image of the frame reinforces a sense of universal primordial humanity. Refugees are considered to be comprehensive victims, which is a generality that makes it difficult to understand that there are individual politics and histories behind the picture of teeming masses of bodies. The image of the refugee as a person is displaced from the protective confines of territoriality. Through the process of resettlement, the refugee is reintroduced into the family of nations. The negative representation of refugees in media and political discourse has generated much academic interest, but no attention has been devoted to investigating how pro-asylum agencies represent the forced migration. However, some press paints a more positive picture of refugees regarding them as a part of the local community. However, the number of media that portray refugees in the right image is limited, and the majority see them negatively.

Unaccompanied Refugee Children

Children have been exposed to a risk of being separated from their relatives and caregivers in the turmoil of conflict and flight. Unaccompanied refugee children are under the age of 18 who have been separated from their parents and take refuge in another country. Some of the reasons that lead to children undertaking dangerous journeys include war and violence in their country, abuse from parents, and the threat of their human rights. Most unaccompanied refugee children cannot articulate the traumas that lead to their decision to migrate. Unaccompanied children usually find themselves in a life-threatening situation, deprived of food and water, and abused by smugglers and government officials. Government officials tend to treat unaccompanied migrant children as migrants first and as children second. The above action results in them being denied the status-blind protection provided under international migration. Unaccompanied children have the right to international protection under international refugee law, human rights law, and humanitarian law. One way of ensuring their welfare is through international treaties where a state should promise to the international community that it will adhere to the agreement it entered into. A child who holds a refugee status cannot be forced to return to the country of origin. Unaccompanied children must be searched for, and the search must not be conducted in a manner that disrupts the refugee community. When the search is completed, there is a need to register them and proper documentation done.

Conclusion

To conclude, the governance of humanity operates in the word of ethics, where it is concerned with others' needs. The economic and security governance operates in the world of politics and power, where each actor is concerned with his own needs. The concept of humanitarian governance is more than just cooperation, and it touches on matters of moral progress. Humanitarian governance has been operating through the name of the world of victims. However, governance has been considered to be about the rule, and the rule is power.