HUMANITARIANISM: Addressing the principle of welcoming all people without

prejudice to color, sexuality, beliefs, and/or status

INTRODUCTION

Humanitarianism is at once a broad dedication to and belief in the fundamental value of

human life. Though lacking an agreed definition, this central ethics of humanitarianism crosses

cultures and history.

In order to lessen suffering and improve conditions for mankind for moral, humanitarian, 

and emotional reasons, those who actively believe in the value of human life engage in acts of k

indness and selflessness. Voluntary emergency relief is under one category, along with support 

for human rights, political activism, development assistance, and domestic philanthropy. Aside fr

om religion, other important problems to consider are the relationship between assistance motiv

ation and social control, market affinity, imperialism and neocolonialism, gender and class dyna

mics, and humanitarian organizations.

Humanitarianism is based on a view that all human beings deserve respect and dignity

and should be treated as such. The study will therefore help in discussing the principles of how

and why humankind has failed to embrace each other with disregard to our differences. The

research will therefore examine the reasoning that is provided by the local community. This

concept builds upon the various insights that have been undertaken by various researchers in

the field of humanitarianism also called as humanitarians to bridge the gap and differences of

people to gain or achieve a society in which everyone is welcome, free, and equal.
ABRIDGED METHODOLOGY

There has been an undeniable interest in recent years in the history of humanitarianism.

It is a field that has grown quickly and, as a field of inquiry, it incorporates a vast spectrum of

subjects: from the history of anti-slavery movements in the eighteenth century, emergency relief

in times of famine in the nineteenth, responses to refugee crises in the twentieth, through to

longer-term development and poverty eradication programs during and after empire. It

embraces both private philanthropy and public assistance, from individual states and

intergovernmental agencies, and intersects with so many other broad themes, from histories of

race and gender, human rights, conflict and security, and even the overall development of

capitalist modernity. Each of these subjects in turn have their own historiographies, and all draw

too on a vast and well-established literature from across the social sciences and humanities.

The study intends to use a cross sectional survey design in addressing the principle of

welcoming all people without prejudice to color, sexuality, beliefs, or status. A cross-sectional

study looks at data at a single point in time. The participants in this type of study are selected

based on particular variables of interest. Cross-sectional studies are often used

in developmental psychology, but this method is also used in many other areas, including social

science and education.

Cross-sectional studies are observational in nature and are known as descriptive research, not

causal or relational, meaning that you can't use them to determine the cause of something, such

as a disease. Researchers record the information that is present in a population, but they do not

manipulate variables.

This type of research can be used to describe characteristics that exist in a community, but not

to determine cause-and-effect relationships between different variables. This method is often

used to make inferences about possible relationships or to gather preliminary data to support

further research and experimentation.

The study will sample at least 2% of the total population of Barangay Bagontapay specifically at

the Purok Katilingban, Public Market. The study will collect both primary and secondary data,

and the quantitative data generated will be analyzed using descriptive statistics which will

include percentage distribution, mean and the frequency counts. The qualitative data from the

study will undergo transcription and reported in themes and sub-themes. The relationship

between the independent and dependent variables will be explained through multiple

regression.

PRELIMINARY LITERATURE REVIEW

Barry Gills (2006) Understanding and coping with ‘difference’ is not a new historical or

intellectual problem, but one of long-standing challenges and difficulty. According to the author,

like ourselves, the ancients had to confront the difficult matter of how to understand ‘difference’

in the world around them, as they attempted to analyses the immense variety and complexity of

the world. Difference is natural. Diversity is natural. Though humanity has for long ages been in

mutual contact among different groups, great diversity has persisted alongside interaction,

communication and proximity.

In today’s environment, despite some mostly mistaken and premature ideas concerning

how ‘Globalization’ (understood incorrectly as some objective and ‘external’ force of history

operating with teleological certainty and deterministically to a prescribed outcome) might

threaten the persistence of human difference and diversity, it is obvious that difference and

diversity continue and perhaps even proliferate. It can be said that difference is being

accentuated, exacerbated or re-emphasized as an intrinsic dialectical aspect of the set of

processes we generally call ‘globalization’. It is, however, also important that while difference

and diversity should be accepted as natural and historically persistent, they not be unduly over-

emphasized and exaggerated or made into a value in themselves simply for their own sake

(i.e., ‘Difference for the sake of Difference’). Some today would point (vociferously perhaps) to

‘fragmentation’ in the world and argue that these tendencies to increased differentiation are

dominant, ‘right’ or ‘symptomatic’ of something fundamental. However, it is also merely a

tautology to argue that ‘fragmentation’ is the cause’ of ‘fragmentation’, just as it has been quite

wrong-headed logically and analytically to argue that ‘globalization’ is the ultimate cause’ of

‘globalization’, as too many have done (I owe a debt to Dong-Sook Shin Gills for this

fundamental insight into the fallacy of tautological reasoning). The idea of difference is at its

potentially most dangerous when it is accompanied by the idea of absolute incommensurability

of cognitive and value systems, i.e., when ‘identity’ is hardened into an extreme and ‘exclusivist’

formulation that renders not only mutual understanding but any form of meaningful human

commonality or ‘sameness’ a practical and logical impossibility. Thus, we can begin by

‘accepting difference’ and embracing the richness of human cultural diversity and see these

conditions as historically natural and ‘good’ and a reflection of ‘the way things are’. At the same

time, we need to avoid the temptation to embrace the argument that since we are all so very

different, we must abandon ‘sameness’ or commonality of perception and purpose in favor of a

‘celebration of difference’ as an intrinsic and high human value, individually and collectively. It is

because this path leads to estrangement between ourselves and the ‘others’ that it contributes

thereby to obstacles to common understanding and action across the boundaries of ‘difference’.

Therefore, as a form of estrangement it may lend itself to the increase of antagonistic attitudes

and even to violent conflict among ‘different’ groups and their exclusivist and often dogmatic

‘identity’.
 With the basic understanding of all humans as brothers and sisters, we can appreciate

the usefulness of different systems and ideologies that can accommodate different individuals

and groups which have different dispositions, different tastes. For certain people under certain

conditions, a certain ideology or cultural heritage is more useful. Each person has the right to

choose whatever is most suitable. This is the individual’s business on the basis of deep

understanding of all other persons as brothers and sisters. Deep down we must have real

affection for each other, a clear realization or recognition of our shared human status. At the

same time, we must openly accept all ideologies and systems as means of solving humanity’s

problems. One country, one nation, one ideology, one system is not sufficient. It is helpful to

have a variety of different approaches on the basis of a deep feeling of the basic sameness of

humanity. We can then make a joint effort to solve the problems of the whole of human kind.

The problems human society is facing in terms of economic development, the crisis of energy,

the tension between the poor and rich nations, and many geopolitical problems can be solved if

we understand each other’s fundamental humanity, respect each other’s right, share each

other’s problems and sufferings, and then make a joint effort.

The humanitarian principles of humanity and impartiality have a basis in IHL. In addition

to regulating the means and methods of warfare, IHL outlines the rights and duties of parties to

an armed conflict and the potential role of humanitarian agencies regarding assistance.

Occupying powers were the only parties originally obligated to provide for humanitarian

assistance. Over time, however, this obligation has been extended to cover other international

and internal armed conflicts, largely through international customary law. In addition, although

the ‘responsibility to protect’ has been recognized as an ‘emerging norm’, it has not developed

into consistent state practice that could provide for legal interventions without state consent in

order to protect civilians. This is evident in the different responses to the recent humanitarian

crises in Libya and Syria, with action authorized in the former but not the latter.
 Three studies examined the possibility that being liked intrinsically by others-for who one

is-reduces self-esteem defense, whereas being liked for what one has achieved does not. All 3

studies contrasted the effects on self-esteem defense of liking based on intrinsic or

achievement-related aspects of self. Study 1 showed that thoughts of being liked intrinsically

reduced defensive bias toward downward social comparison. Study 2 demonstrated that being

liked for intrinsic aspects of self-reduced participants' tendency to defensively distance

themselves from a negatively portrayed other. Study 3 revealed that being liked for intrinsic

aspects of self-encouraged a preference for upward over downward counterfactuals for a

negative event. In all 3 studies, similar reductions in defensiveness were not found when liking

was based on achievements. Discussion focuses on implications for understanding the

functional value of different bases of self- worth.

The overview, the first in a series of five manuals, describes the goals of the AID

(Accepting Individual Differences) curriculum of fostering acceptance and respect for

differences, as exemplified by disabilities. Briefly discussed in the guide's section on the

curriculum's rationale are need, assumptions (such as that handicapped individuals have a right

to acceptance and respect), and goals (with three cognitive objectives and four behavioral

objectives). The section describing the curriculum notes the following four themes of the

curriculum: (1) People are different; people are the same; (2) People learn in different ways: (3)

Even though we are different, we like each other; and (4) A person's appearance seems

significant only when we don't know him or her. There is a common format for the four guides;

instructor activities, lesson activities for primary grade students, and guidelines for appropriate

activities for more advanced students are contained in each manual. Half the overview consists

of a selected bibliography including approximately 81 professional references; 28 recommended

readings for preschool, primary, and middle grade students; 14 biographies and
autobiographies for adults and adolescents; and multimedia materials including thirty 16mm

films, four filmstrips and slides, three videotapes, one audiotape, and two records.

The number of books and articles addressing all of these concerns have expanded

exponentially over the last decade or so, and new journals such as Humanity have appeared

devoted to their historical analysis. Past and Present has not been immune from these

historiographical trends. Recent published pieces given us by Andrew MacDonald on Assyrian

charity collectors, Mark Frost on the ‘overseas aid craze’ in the colonial Straits Settlements,

Michelle Tusan on early humanitarian films and a viewpoint on the history of human rights by

Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann, as well as the responses from Sam Moyn and Lynn Hunt, which

generated a huge amount of interest, particularly online.

Michael Barnett (2005) “This article reflects on two ways in which humanitarianism has

been transformed. First, its purpose has been politicized. Whereas once humanitarianism actors

attempted to insulate themselves from the world of politics, they now work closely with states

and attempt to eliminate the root cause of conflict that place individuals at risk. Second a field of

humanitarianism has become institutionalized; during the 1990s the field and its agencies

become more professional and rationalized. Drawing on various strands of organizational

theory. I examine the forces that have contributed to this transformation. I then explore how

these transformations have changed the nature of what humanitarian organization are what and

what they do. In the conclusion, I consider how the transformation of humanitarianism links to

the relationship between international nongovernmental organizations and world order, including

the purpose of humanitarianism action and its distinctive function in global politics.”

There have been several of these interventions in recent years, many of them providing

wonderful surveys of the field. But what is particularly apparent is that there is a growing number

of historians who have chosen to research the history of humanitarianism as their first

specialization.
 Most studies conducted are focused on the basic humanitarian law. The study will

therefore focus on the principles of humanitarianism and determining the influences and filling

the gap in addressing the principle of welcoming all people without prejudice to color, sexuality,

beliefs, and/or status.

GOAL STATEMENT

The research paper seeks to identify the factors that influences the principle of welcoming

all people without prejudice to color, sexuality, beliefs, or status.

1. To know if principle of welcoming all people without prejudice play out in practice in

humanitarian organizations.

2. To determine on to what extent do differences in color, sexuality, beliefs, and/or status

impact access to humanitarian aid?

3. To assess the ways, do cultural, political, and economic contexts shape understandings

and practices of humanitarianism?

4. To determine if ideas about humanitarianism changed over time, and what factors have

influenced these changes?

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

1. How does the principle of welcoming all people without prejudice play out in practice in

humanitarian organizations?

2. To what extent do differences in color, sexuality, beliefs, and/or status impact access to

humanitarian aid?

3. In what ways do cultural, political, and economic contexts shape understandings and

practices of humanitarianism?
 4. How have ideas about humanitarianism changed over time, and what factors have

influenced these changes?

ABRIDGED METHODOLOGY

There has been an undeniable interest in recent years in the history of humanitarianism.

It is a field that has grown quickly and, as a field of inquiry, it incorporates a vast spectrum of

subjects: from the history of anti-slavery movements in the eighteenth century, emergency relief

in times of famine in the nineteenth, responses to refugee crises in the twentieth, through to

longer-term development and poverty eradication programs during and after empire. It

embraces both private philanthropy and public assistance, from individual states and

intergovernmental agencies, and intersects with so many other broad themes, from histories of

race and gender, human rights, conflict and security, and even the overall development of

capitalist modernity. Each of these subjects in turn have their own historiographies, and all draw

too on a vast and well-established literature from across the social sciences and humanities.

The study intends to use a cross sectional survey design in addressing the principle of

welcoming all people without prejudice to color, sexuality, beliefs, or status. The study intends to

use a cross sectional survey design in addressing the principle of welcoming all people without

prejudice to color, sexuality, beliefs, or status. A cross-sectional study looks at data at a single

point in time. The participants in this type of study are selected based on particular variables of

interest. Cross-sectional studies are often used in developmental psychology, but this method is

also used in many other areas, including social science and education.

Cross-sectional studies are observational in nature and are known as descriptive research, not

causal or relational, meaning that you can't use them to determine the cause of something, such
as a disease. Researchers record the information that is present in a population, but they do not

manipulate variables.

This type of research can be used to describe characteristics that exist in a community, but not

to determine cause-and-effect relationships between different variables. This method is often

used to make inferences about possible relationships or to gather preliminary data to support

further research and experimentation.

The study will sample at least 2% of the total population of Barangay Bagontapay specifically at

the Purok Katilingban, Public Market. The study will collect both primary and secondary data,

and the quantitative data generated will be analyzed using descriptive statistics which will

include percentage distribution, mean and the frequency counts. The qualitative data from the

study will undergo transcription and reported in themes and sub-themes. The relationship

between the independent and dependent variables will be explained through multiple

regression.

TIMELINE

The project is expected to be completed within 32 days with the following indicated as

the activity's duration for every section of the Concept Paper:

Title - 3 days

Introduction - 5 days

Abridged methodology - 5 days

Preliminary literature review - 1 week

Goal statement - 5 days

Research questions - 3 days

Abridged methodology - 5 days

Timeline - 1 day

Reference - 3 days

Reference

Gills, B.K. October 2006. Accepting Difference, Finding Tolerance, Practicing Dialogue.

Holy Island, Arran, Scotland. Globalizations 3(4):423-426.

doi:10.1080/14747730601121909

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248956728_Accepting_Difference_Finding_Tol

erance_Practising_Dialogue

Tenzin Gyatso, H.H. The Fourteenth Dalai Lama of Tibet, from Ocean of Wisdom:

Guidelines for Living (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1989).

"Humanitarian principles and humanitarian assistance - GSDRC."

https://gsdrc.org/topic-guides/international-legal-frameworks-for-humanitarian-action/

concepts/humanitarian-principles-and-humanitarian-assistance/.

"Being accepted for who we are: Evidence that social validation of the

https://psycnet.apa.org/journals/psp/80/1/35/.

"Accepting Individual Differences: Overview., 1982-Sep - ed."

https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED245418.

Michael Barnett, Perspectives on Politics Vol. 3, No. 4 (Dec., 2005), pp. 723-740 (18 pages)

by American Political Science Association, https://www.jstor.org/stable/3688176

"History and Humanitarianism: A Conversation | Past & Present| Oxford ...." 27 Sept.

2018, https://academic.oup.com/past/article/241/1/e1/5108353.