When America claimed its independence from Great Britain in 1776, its founding fathers couldn’t have foreseen that their country would become involved in as many foreign conflicts as have occurred in the past century. As America became a world power at the turn of the twentieth century due to its military capacity and economic capabilities, the nation became involved in humanitarian crises which even involved mass genocide. The U.S. provided aid in these international crises, sometimes even to the point of supplying military force. Although highly controversial and continually debated, America’s position as a world power will always bring with it the responsibility to aid in humanitarian crises when it is identified that foreign citizens are denied basic, recognized human rights.
The United States became involved in a major humanitarian crisis in 1934, when Nazi Germany began openly discriminating against its Jewish citizens. As Germany invaded many of its neighboring countries, it also
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One distressing example of a current humanitarian crisis involves Bashar Al Assad’s regime in Syria which has displaced 12 million people since 2011. Due to lack of leadership in the Middle East, Assad’s regime sprayed thousands of civilians with chlorine gas in April of 2015, which resulted in numerous injuries and deaths. It was only after the U.S. allocated military forces and provided 4.5 billion dollars in financial assistance to Syrian refugees that the international community became involved. European nations such as France and New Zealand are continuing to accept 24,850 Syrian refugees in the next three years. The U.S. will alone accept 10,000 refugees next year. Overall, without America’s actions in humanitarian crisis, these refugees would continue to suffer at the hands of the Assad
Ambassador to the United Nations serve to add ethos to her argument. Because of the “outside world’s refusal to intervene” during the Bosnian genocide, Power decided to explore “America’s responses to previous cases of mass slaughter” (XV). Throughout the book, Power argues that America was largely inactive in cases of genocide—she utilized several case studies, including the Armenian genocide, the Cambodian genocide, and the Rwandan genocide. These case studies are significant, as they proved a wide, varying degree of scenarios of genocide in which the United States chose not to act. This inaction is central to Power’s argument—she argues that America, due to various reasons, largely had a policy of inaction in cases of genocide.
American involvement in humanitarian intervention is one of the most controversial issues in contemporary US foreign policy. The definition of humanitarian intervention is a military intervention; entering into a country for the purposes of saving lives and protecting citizens from the violation of their human rights. As in all debates, there are always two sides. One side disputes that military force should only be applied when, in the words of former Secretary of Defense Weinberger, ‘a vital national interest is at stake.’ ¹ The opposing side disputes that the US should apply military force to mediate when in the words of former president Clinton, “someone comes after innocent civilians…and it is in our power to stop it, we will stop
Since World War II, America has often been considered and called upon to serve as the world’s policeman. But is it a role we have performed effectively – and perhaps more importantly, is it one that we should continue to play? With opinion polls showing the American people’s overwhelming reluctance to serve a military role in foreign countries, it is time to consider whether the title of “world’s policeman” is one we should keep. Studying American interventions in the world since WWII offer some lessons and insights into both America’s desire – and ability – to police the world, and leads to the unavoidable conclusion that we are the only nation capable of preventing the all-too common atrocities, genocides and acts of aggression that destabilize continents and create untold human suffering.
Humanitarian pre-med is a degree which broadly surveys human health, combining the biological and social sides of medicine. This is an opportunity to set myself aside from other medical school applicants who have majored in biology and chemistry. I’m interested in the process of healing and providing comprehensive care. I want to facilitate a doctor-patient relationship that address the whole patient.
For many years people have argued whether or not the U.S. should intervene in situations where people are suffering. Some people say we should be cautious of intervening in foreign countries. While some people say intervention could help change the world. After reading multiple sources, it is evident that the U.S. should intervene in situations where people in other countries are suffering, even if it means going to war. The U.S. should intervene in these situations because it can help influence our principles of democracy and it will overall help all of humanity.
The humanitarian sectors future depends on if Humanitarian clubs can continue to evolve. Groups that need to continue to evolve are network of states, donors, NGO’s and INGOs. The clubs control many of the resources when it comes to humanitarian services. The humanitarian club members are assigned to build partnerships that are strong with communities and recognize that the system needs to change. There has been a huge push for reform humanitarian services are adapting to the World Humanitarian Summit which will help, improve, and repair the crisis response agenda. The time is expiring and new global powers are trying to adapt and if the fail the consequences could be terrible for humanitarian aid workers and victims who are in disaster situations.
The most important foundation of American relations is the way we manage Foreign Policy. According to the Presentation Foreign Policy is defined, “programs and policies that determine America’s relations with other nations and foreign entities” (qtd. Lanier). The more important areas of Foreign Policy are Diplomacy, Military and security policy, International human rights policy, and Economic policy. Since 9/11 one of the main concerns for security have been to ensure domestic tranquility. However, with the security of America, the U.S. Government has utilized humanitarian efforts to provide aid to foreign citizens and governments in need of help. I believe the U.S. prides itself on providing help to others, or at least reaping the benefits of getting involved.
There are many human rights organizations which ensure that such human rights as freedom are enjoyed by every person. The modern colonial master, therefore, has resorted to psychological colonization. Factors like foreign aid have extensively facilitated this form of colonization. Bearing in mind that foreign aid should not be used for malicious purposes, the US should offer this aid using a rational pre-determined approach.
Sudan can be characterized as a country in which the center neglects and exploits its peripheries in the South, the East and the West. Darfur, the Western region of Sudan, has suffered from social inequality, environmental crisis, identity-based conflict, competition over resources, and weak and corrupt governance. The vast majority of Darfuris are Muslim and represent a multitude of ethnic and linguistic groups which share similar physical and cultural characteristics. Pastoral nomads and sedentary farmers have a conflictual relationship primarily due to environmental stress and land rights. Since 2003, Darfur been plagued by violent conflict, internally displaced people, refugees and genocide. The United Nations has described the
American foreign policy has forever been a controversial topic in international discussions. Questions regarding America’s military presence, intent and use of force have long been centers of controversy and debate. Recent American involvements in the Syrian Civil War and the conflict with ISIS have raised questions about the ethics of US involvement and her justifications for force. As ISIS began to grow stronger and the list of crimes it committed began to augment, America began to use force to combat ISIS’s growth citing legal American precedents and humanitarian urgency as the major justifications for involvement. However, critics of American involvement contend that America’s involvement violates both American and international law,
The key objections to humanitarian intervention include the conflict of interests with the self-interested state and sovereignty, the difficulty of internal legitimacy, the problematical Responsibility to Protect (R2P) doctrine, and the debate over legality of intervention. The issue of morality stands as an overarching issue which touches on all of these. Overall, one finds that despite a moral imperative to intervene, humanitarian intervention should not occur but is perhaps the lesser of a series of evils.
An emergency response is an effort by public safety personnel and citizens to mitigate the impact of an incident on human life and property. But, when it comes to a crisis or a major disaster this can become very difficult. Because, when something so damaging and drastic happens, there’s really no fixing or changing the situation. All people or emergency responses can do is try their best to fix and help the situation as best as possible. These are things that most emergency response teams are prepared for and trained for.
The Syrian Humanitarian Crisis is the result of conflict between the government headed by President Bashar al-Assad and the citizens. When the citizens’ peaceful demands for greater democracy and freedom were met with governmental oppression, the protesters became more violent. Eventually, Free Syrian Army was formed to fight against the government. Amid the chaos, ISIS gained territorial control over parts of Syria.Due to the ongoing conflicts and war, a large number of Syrians are being internally displaced. Many are fleeing their homes and becoming refugees in countries such as Turkey, Jordan, Lebanon, Russia and Iraq. According to the UN, Syrians are now the highest refugee population in the world, with more than half of them being children.
In March 2011, peaceful protests in the southern Syrian city of Deraa devolved into a full-blown civil conflict. Within the last five years, more than 12.2 million people have been impacted, with 7.6 million people displaced inside Syria and more than 3.8 million displaced in neighboring nations. The majority of refugees are now living in Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, Egypt and Iraq. The current concern about the humanitarian crisis is whether the aid is reaching refugees or being diverted in ways that bolster a prolonged civil war. For this essay’s purpose, aid is defined as “aid and action designed to save lives, alleviate suffering and maintain and protect human dignity during and in the aftermath of man-made crises and natural disasters, as well as to prevent and strengthen preparedness for the occurrence of such situations.”
The Syrian refugee crisis has received massive media coverage. People around the world are trying to comprehend the desperate, complicated situation surrounding Syria. The civil war in Syria is the worst crisis in our time. Syrians upset at the fact that long promised reforms have not been enacted, began anti-government demonstrations which started the civil war in 2011. The peaceful protests turned ugly, with the government violently putting an end to those protests. Afterward, ordinary citizens took arms, causing the situation to escalate. Syrians are fleeing their homes because of the great violence, which have left thousands dead and millions wounded, a collapsed infrastructure, resulting in a shattered economy, and for the safety of the children. Syrians are either streaming to surrounding countries or risking their lives to travel to Europe.