The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide, which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. Within it there are three distinct organisations that are legally independent from each other, but are united within the movement through common basic principles, objectives, symbols, statutes and governing organisations.
Médecins Sans Frontières, sometimes rendered in English as Doctors Without Borders, is an international humanitarian medical non-governmental organisation (NGO) of French origin best known for its projects in conflict zones and in countries affected by endemic diseases.Main areas of work include diabetes, drug-resistant infections, HIV/AIDS, hepatitis C, tropical and neglected diseases, tuberculosis, vaccines and COVID. They contribute to patents and intellectual property subjects, also to research and development. In 2019, the group was active in 70 countries with over 35,000 personnel mostly local doctors, nurses and other medical professionals, logistical experts, water and sanitation engineers and administrators. Private donors provide about 90% of the organisation's funding, while corporate donations provide the rest, giving MSF an annual budget of approximately US$1.63 billion.
Humanitarianism is an active belief in the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and logical reasons. One aspect involves voluntary emergency aid overlapping with human rights advocacy, actions taken by governments, development assistance, and domestic philanthropy. Other critical issues include correlation with religious beliefs, motivation of aid between altruism and social control, market affinity, imperialism and neo-colonialism, gender and class relations, and humanitarian agencies. A practitioner is known as a humanitarian.
The following is a timeline of selected notable events in the history of humanitarian aid, international relief and development.
Humanitarian aid is material and logistic assistance to people who need help. It is usually short-term help until the long-term help by the government and other institutions replaces it. Among the people in need are the homeless, refugees, and victims of natural disasters, wars, and famines. Humanitarian relief efforts are provided for humanitarian purposes and include natural disasters and man-made disasters. The primary objective of humanitarian aid is to save lives, alleviate suffering, and maintain human dignity. It may, therefore, be distinguished from development aid, which seeks to address the underlying socioeconomic factors which may have led to a crisis or emergency. There is a debate on linking humanitarian aid and development efforts, which was reinforced by the World Humanitarian Summit in 2016. However, the conflation is viewed critically by practitioners.
Latter-day Saint Charities is a branch of the welfare department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The organization's stated mission is to relieve suffering, to foster self-reliance for people of all nationalities and religions, and to provide opportunities for service.
The British Red Cross Society is the United Kingdom body of the worldwide neutral and impartial humanitarian network the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The society was formed in 1870, and is a registered charity with more than 17,200 volunteers and 3,400 staff. At the heart of their work is providing help to people in crisis, both in the UK and overseas. The Red Cross is committed to helping people without discrimination, regardless of their ethnic origin, nationality, political beliefs or religion. Queen Elizabeth II is the patron of the society.
Humanitarian intervention has been defined as a state's use of military force against another state, with the stated goal of ending human rights violations in that state. This definition may be too narrow as it precludes non-military forms of intervention such as humanitarian aid and international sanctions. On this broader understanding, "Humanitarian intervention should be understood to encompass… non-forcible methods, namely intervention undertaken without military force to alleviate mass human suffering within sovereign borders."
Turkish Red Crescent is the largest humanitarian organization in Turkey and is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
There are a number of meanings for the term humanitarian. Here humanitarian pertains to the practice of saving lives and alleviating suffering. It is usually related to emergency response whether in the case of a natural disaster or a man-made disaster such as war or other armed conflict. Humanitarian principles govern the way humanitarian response is carried out.
People in Need (PIN) is a Czech nonprofit, non-governmental organization based in Prague, Czech Republic, that implements humanitarian relief and long term development projects, educational programs, and human rights programs in crisis regions internationally. Its director is Šimon Pánek. As of 2020, PIN operated in 34+ countries.
Ukrainian Red Cross Society is a non-profit humanitarian and charitable association of Ukraine. It operates in disaster management, health and care, tracing service, youth activities/volunteers, protection of human dignity.
The Swiss Red Cross, or SRC, is the national Red Cross society for Switzerland.
IHH Humanitarian Relief Foundation or İHH is a conservative Turkish NGO, whose members are predominantly Turkish Muslims, active in more than 100 countries.
The Romanian Red Cross (CRR), also known as the National Society of Red Cross from Romania, is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education inside Romania. It is the designated national affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
By the end of February 2011, medical supplies, fuel and food were dangerously low in Libya. On 25 February, the International Committee of the Red Cross launched an emergency appeal for US$6,400,000 to meet the emergency needs of people affected by the violent unrest in Libya. On 2 March, the ICRC's director general reminded everyone taking part in the violence that health workers must be allowed to do their jobs safely.
Humanitarian aid during the Syrian Civil War has been provided by various international bodies, organizations and states. The main effort is coordinated by Jonh Ging of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). In 2014, U.N. Security Council Resolution 2165 authorised humanitarian aid to be supplied via four border crossings not controlled by the Syrian government, generally to supply rebel-controlled territory.
The Kulczyk Foundation is a Polish private foundation founded in 2013 by Grażyna Kulczyk, Jan Kulczyk, and Dominika Kulczyk, who has been the President of the foundation since its establishment. Apart from Dominika Kulczyk, the foundation is managed by Przemysław Pohrybieniuk, the managing director, and the board of directors consisting of Sebastian Kulczyk, Waldemar Dąbrowski, Janusz Reiter, and Grzegorz Stanisławski. The foundation's main objective is to fight against gender inequality and create a more equitable society for women and girls around the world through local educational initiatives, partnerships with communities, and cooperation with NGOs with similar objectives. The foundation also focuses on improving the living standards of people suffering from poverty who lack access to education, healthcare, and other basic human needs, as well as projects aimed at spreading awareness of current gender inequality issues. The foundation has completed more than 200 projects in over 63 different countries.
Foundation for Africa is a Hungarian public benefit organization for development and aid created by a civil initiative. It was first registered in Hungary in 2002 and later in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in 2004. The main aims of the Foundation for Africa is to help development, aid and the forming of civil society through providing help in the fields of education, society and health care in Africa and organizing cultural programs and lectures to introduce the continent to Hungary.
Janina Maria Ochojska-Okońska is a Polish astronomer, humanitarian and social activist, who serves as a Member of the European Parliament (2019–present). She is founder and director of the Polish Humanitarian Action (1992–present).
