Humanitarian education teaches various social topics from a humanitarian perspective. A desire to reduce suffering, save lives and maintain

human dignity Dignity is the right of a person to be valued and respected for their own sake, and to be treated ethically. It is of significance in morality, ethics, law and politics as an extension of the Enlightenment-era concepts of inherent, inaliena ...

is central to understanding humanitarian education. It is based on the assumption that people have an innate desire to help others, so is centrally concerned with our shared humanity.Tawil, Sobhi. Humanitarian Education and the British Red Cross programme for Schools. 2002

Definition and context

Humanitarian education is an area of learning that concentrates on the desire or impulse to save lives, protect human dignity and reduce suffering. It particularly relates to offering assistance to others in an

emergency An emergency is an urgent, unexpected, and usually dangerous situation that poses an immediate risk to health, life, property, or environment and requires immediate action. Most emergencies require urgent intervention to prevent a worsening ...

crisis A crisis ( : crises; : critical) is either any event or period that will (or might) lead to an unstable and dangerous situation affecting an individual, group, or all of society. Crises are negative changes in the human or environmental affair ...

and is also used to refer to the skills, knowledge and attitudes needed for individuals and communities to help themselves. In the UK it may appear within curriculum subjects such as

citizenship Citizenship is a "relationship between an individual and a state to which the individual owes allegiance and in turn is entitled to its protection". Each state determines the conditions under which it will recognize persons as its citizens, and ...

and

Personal, Social and Health Education Personal, social, health and economic education is a school curriculum subject in England that focuses on strengthening the knowledge, skills, and connections to keep children and young people healthy and safe and prepare them for life and work. ...

. It began to be developed and encouraged in the UK by the British Red Cross during 2005.

Goals and outcomes

The goal of humanitarian education is that communities increase their resilience and that individuals and groups are more confident, able and willing to help themselves and others when faced with a crisis.

Curriculum content

By exploring crisis situations humanitarian education enables students to recognise that people can overcome adversity. It develops their understanding of humanitarian issues, the skills that build resilience and encourages them to intervene to support others in crisis. The way in which educators explore with students any topic, issue or event must be within the framework of the principles of humanity and impartiality. It does not directly address causes and explicitly avoids exploring

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that stud ...

religious Religion is usually defined as a social- cultural system of designated behaviors and practices, morals, beliefs, worldviews, texts, sanctified places, prophecies, ethics, or organizations, that generally relates humanity to supernatur ...

, social class,

nationality Nationality is a legal identification of a person in international law, establishing the person as a subject, a ''national'', of a sovereign state. It affords the state jurisdiction over the person and affords the person the protection of the ...

economic An economy is an area of the production, distribution and trade, as well as consumption of goods and services. In general, it is defined as a social domain that emphasize the practices, discourses, and material expressions associated with the ...

environmental A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

or other factors that might contribute to or create a crisis.

Difference from other forms of education

Its origins in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement mean that humanitarian education is sometimes confused with development education or global education, or simply teaching about the work of aid or development

NGO A non-governmental organization (NGO) or non-governmental organisation (see spelling differences) is an organization that generally is formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in h ...

s. Adherents also stress that humanitarian education is philosophically and practically distinct from

human rights education Human rights education (HRE) is the learning process that seeks to build up knowledge, values, and proficiency in the rights that each person is entitled to. This education teaches students to examine their own experiences from a point of view t ...

, since the humanitarian impulse is founded on needs rather than rights or entitlement. Humanitarian education is linked to, but distinct from, education about

international humanitarian law International humanitarian law (IHL), also referred to as the laws of armed conflict, is the law that regulates the conduct of war ('' jus in bello''). It is a branch of international law that seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by pro ...

, often referred to as the laws of war. Aspects of international humanitarian law are often topics within humanitarian education.

References

External links