This paper analyses (female) voices that reported sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) to the Commission of Inquiry of the Congo Free State between October 1904 and February 1905. Couldry's (2010) notion of "voice as value" is used to assess the possible contribution of these voices to the decade-long international humanitarian campaign that outsted King Leopold II from his personal colony. Document Analysis was performed on 21 witness accounts, including five female survivors and 16 African and European men who either corroborated or ruled out these women's statements. The analysis reveals one of the two main sites of violence to have been the home of the victim, a peculiar site of conflict-related SGBV even in the DRC today. Additionally, the study suggests a correlation between the geographical region of rubber exploitation and the area of concentration of SGBV - a finding which could signify germination of the 'world's capital of rape' to have started during the Leopoldian era and necessitates further examination. In answer to the inquiry's main question, results show that although voices denouncing SGBV remained unheard during the campaign, they did echo the main message carried by most if not all 300 or so Congolese men and women whose stories bear witness to brutalities that took place 120 years ago. The message they would have wanted reverberated worldwide is that ending the rubber regime was the only way out of their ordeal.

Celebrity humanitarianism has become a notable field of research within Communication for Development. Largely built around case studies of individual celebrities engaging in the development and humanitarian fields, mostly postcolonial and neoliberal critique has been put forth regarding the effects of such engagements. These critiques at times go to the extent of suggesting that celebrity humanitarians might be doing more harm than good by for example shifting the focus away from underlying structures. As the field of study often provides more critique than constructive suggestions, this study is built as a deductive case study aiming to test the extent to which current prominent theoretical frameworks are able to understand celebrity humanitarianism when a celebrity humanitarian is studied as a more comprehensive construct. The focus of the case study is the Barbadian singer Rihanna and her cosmetics brand Fenty Beauty. The dominant theories are challenged with including a business aspect of the celebrity’s ‘ecosystem’ and by examining such aspect through a Corporate Social Responsibility lens.

This thesis examines the tension between humanitarianism and nationalism byfocusing on the Sahrawi and Palestinian refugee cases. These cases represent a challengeto both nationalism, which presupposes national identity as being congruent with theestablished political borders and rooted within their limits, and the claim of neutrality, asnot favoring any side in an armed conflict or dispute and bearing no national allegiance.Firstly, Palestinians and Sahrawis, while claiming a nation without land, have created anational identity in up-rootedness, and express political fights that are nurtured by thevery humanitarianism. Secondly, the refugee camp, as a humanitarian product, has beenaccused of depoliticizing and reducing life to mere survival, and I will explore how it hasparadoxically become a hyper-politicized space providing the grounds for nationalidentities and national claims to develop. For Palestinians and Sahrawis, I will argue,humanitarian interventions are in fact the very reason for politicized identities to arise.

There has been a rise non-governmental organizations (NGOs) as part of a global health system that seeks to treat children with cleft lip and palate (CLP) in resource-poor countries. As a craniofacial abnormality, CLP affects a child’s ability to communicate and consume food, and the stigma associated with the condition leads to both social and physiological suffering. International NGOs use an apolitical humanitarian rhetoric to justify the need to provide this life-saving surgery. This thesis assesses CLP interventions by applying a critique of neoliberalism to explore the ways economic rationalities are extended to the domain of humanitarianism. By employing an ethnographic approach of “studying up,” this thesis critiques a North American NGO, referred to as Mission Smile. To reveal how neoliberal rationalities are embedded within the organization, this research draws on data from media analysis, participant observation, and interviews with medical volunteers and employees at Mission Smile. This thesis argues that neoliberal rationalities permeate throughout the organization. Economic calculus are not only embedded in the organization’s goal to provide surgery to “as many children as possible,” but also undergirds the distribution of humanitarian aid. Moreover, the surgery Mission Smile provides is described as an “investment in a child’s future” that enable children with CLP to become a contributing member of society. While this study reveals how neoliberal rationalities can converge with values of humanitarianism, it also shows that the extension of neoliberal rationalities into new domains is not a cohesive process. Volunteers describe an emergence of communitas, a feeling of bubbling joy and a shared humanity, and a development of a moral relationship with their recipients that lies partially outside the domain of market rationalities. / Graduate

This thesis explores the dialectical relationship between humanitarianism and neo-nationalism, as it is reified through the rhetoric of the Swedish aid organization Right Hand Aid. It initiates an inquiry of the organization and provides a new example of how humanitarianism is used for legitimizing and depoliticizing purposes. The analysis is based on research questions concerning how humanitarianism is appropriated and instrumentalized to suit the organization’s neo-nationalist agenda for ”aid on site” and against reception of refugees, and what the consequences of this rhetorical fusion are. The theoretical framework is composed of theories on humanitarianism (politics of life, utilitarian rationality and humanitarian iconography), neo-nationalism (economic chauvinism), eurocentrism and depoliticization. The bulk of the empirical material consists of written and visual sources, which is why textual analysis has constituted the main method. This has been complemented by semi-structured interviews with RHA representatives. The thesis argues that RHA’s neo-nationalist agenda is depoliticized by the appropriation of humanitarianism, which from a global perspective implies depoliticization of a primordialist, eurocentric stance towards the global flows of aid and people, hence reifying the power relationship between the global north and the global south.

The purpose of the thesis is to challenge the traditional division between securitization and humanitarian practices in relation to migration, more specifically smuggling of migrants. Based on Nina Perkowski’s study of the relationship between humanitarianism, human rights and security and her theoretical division between paternalistic and emancipatory humanitarianism, these two interpretations have been further developed in this study, substantiated by Agamben, Foucault and Butler (among others), and produced as two idealtypes. These idealtypes give a more nuanced picture of the relation between paternalistic and emancipatory humanitarianism, and how the paternalistic one interacts with securitization to protect Europe as a sovereign entity. Two research-questions are analyzed through idea-analysis as the textual analytic method to make visible the different ideas in the material.  The thesis finds that EU in its problematization of migrant smuggling have a paternalistic approach and how this approach enables for securitization of migrant smuggling and irregular migration to protect human life. But is human life the only thing EU intends to protect? The results for instance show how externalization of borders, cooperation with countries of origin and information campaigns for migrants, all serve security purposes with the European union as the referent-object.

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In the latest years, European governments have increasingly criminalized providing support to displaced people. Humanitarian non-governmental organizations (NGO) carrying out life-saving search and rescue (SAR) activities in the Mediterranean Sea have been facing wide obstacles in aiding newcomers, and in many instances have been subject to criminal proceedings. This research attempts to analyse the reasons why maritime sea rescue is equated with illegality. In doing so, it seeks to answer the question, “what are the challenges to reaching legal protection for humanitarian aid workers carrying out search and rescue operations in the Mediterranean when faced with criminalization?” The study argues that humanitarian aid workers (HAW) who have been criminalized as a result of their involvement in maritime sea rescue activities, have to endure many systemic deficiencies. Three layers of interrelated challenges are identified: legal, socio-political, and personal challenges. The study concludes that an independent, quality legal defence; a revisitation of the voluntary nature of the humanitarian exemption clause in the 2002 Facilitation Package; and a larger engagement of civil society actors in changing the narrative and improving the public’s practical knowledge of migration would ensure better protection for humanitarian practitioners involved in search and rescue activities. / <p>It was online.</p>

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In 2015 Sweden experienced a large increase in the number of asylum-seekers arriving in the country. Among them were 35,000 unaccompanied minors. As a response, a rollback of migrant rights was introduced beginning in November that year. This study examines the experiences of people who volunteered as guardians/foster homes for unaccompanied minors and subsequently followed them through the asylum systems during this period. The research is based on 12 in-depth interviews with guardians/foster parents. Three major themes are identified within the interview data: Unreliable systems/injustice, Going above and beyond and (Unexpected) solidarity. The findings suggest that Sweden’s adoption of much harsher migration policies made the work of guardians/foster homes increasingly difficult to carry out to a level that provided the necessary support for these children. The guardians/foster parents also found the asylum systems to be untrustworthy and unjust to a point where the unaccompanied minors’ rights were not upheld. Affectionate relationships with the unaccompanied minors and acts of solidarity by persons working within the systems and in civil society were counter-weights providing guardians/foster parents with energy and hope.