Humanitarian Information and Communication Technologies - a Step towards the Stabilization of the Mi

Destruction, poverty and despair are shaking the world nowadays. The Middle East is currently facing one of the worst periods in its history while Europe attempts to protect its unit from the migration crisis. Sadly, the greatest debates so far concerning the immigrants who are entering the EU as refugees are directed towards the question “How to deal with them?” instead of “How to ease their condition?”.

In this regard, the article represents my civil and academic standpoint with respect to the present state of transnational disorder as well as proposal for solution the migration crisis in Europe which, whether left to deepen, will lead neither to positive outcomes concerning the process of integration the newcomers nor to an easy adaptation of the EU citizens in relation to the social changes which will set into the democratic states.

The Migration Crisis in the Middle East

The states from the Middle East are currently facing one of the most challengeable periods in their national history. Shaped by wars, poverty and emigration, the region appears to be in complete collapse, i.e. nearly 250 000 people died during the civil war in Syria and more than 11 million have been forced to leave their homes while the establishment of the Islamic State has begun in 2014. Among all the reported emigrants, approximately 4 million Syrians entered the territories of Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, Iraq and the EU as refugees. This fact has turned Syria into a state with the one of the biggest amount of refugees at the global level and a country which has received the worst humanitarian emergency assistance since the last four decades.

As discussed in my previous article La Violation Muette de la Démocratie Contemporaine en Europe ou Pourquoi La Santé comme un Droit Universel Humain est Négligée par les Etats Européens?, the present reaction and future intentions of the EU states concerning the are generally orientated towards anti-terrorism and anti-Islamism strategies of protection which, in my opinion, are neglecting the universal human rights. Since I truly believe that such type of policy-making is not in correspondence the modern course of globalization, in this article, I will refer to the Humanitarian Information and Communication Technologies (HICTs) as a constructive model of solution which indents to provide assistance in the Middle East and potentially to ease the condition of these Syrians who remain to stay in the country. The paper provides an example of already functioning humanitarian programme or namely the crisis mapping of Aleppo city in Syria.

Involvement of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the Humanitarian Field and Their Positive Impact over Society

Over the last decades, the digital revolution had profoundly transformed the global vision and citizens’` perspective regarding the future development of information, communication and social dynamics (Habermas 1991, Taylor 1997). The people have discovered new methods of connection between each other and various manners of sharing their public standpoints and expressing their demands towards the worldwide democratic affairs (Webster 1995). Thus, the world society has become an active participant in the contemporary welfare state mechanisms as well as a key player in the quickly changing and always trembling global conditions. Hence, the humanitarian sector has been also affected by these major events.

Numerous current international matters such as the Western fight against terrorism and Islamism, poverty and forced migration are disrupting the world balance. The growing importance of effective communication with the crisis and post-conflict affected areas has been also increasing the need of reliable and sustainable assistance from humanitarian` side. This necessity has initiated the invention of divers network connective systems which operate in accordance the requirements of fair preparedness, planning and response to the global challenges, e.g. the appearance of neogeography discipline followed by the emergence of Google Earth application, the invention of crisis mapping tools already launched in of Haiti, Chile, Pakistan, Russia, Syria, Tunisia, Egypt, Sudan, Libya and Somalia and the creation of multi-media training materials which have been spread through social media networks such as YouTube, Twitter and Facebook.

Moreover, the advancing spread and development of the humanitarian information and communication technologies (HICTs) have opened a stage of further discussions, publications and research initiatives devoted to the perception of better understanding the potential of broadcast media, innovation and technologies and their ability to strengthen the communication between the humanitarian agencies and to improve the quality and accountability of humanitarian emergency assistance in the realm.

The Use of Big Data in Humanitarian Practices

According to the Inter-Agency Standing Committee on Humanitarian Affairs (IASC), there are four general commitments on humanitarian accountability which need to be taken under consideration in order to encourage the affected populations in further development of their potential for improvement or namely sustainable governance to ensure that the feedback and accountability mechanisms are properly integrated into the country strategies for development; transparency that will provide accessible and timely information towards the organization procedures to the affected population; feedback that will assure relevant update regarding the stages of communication and respond between the policy agencies and stakeholder representatives and participation that will enable the affected population to play active role in the institutional and organizational decision-making processes. In this sense, the gathering, use and spread of big data through the HICT systems can be understood as source of information and model for participation in all of the above mentioned commitments.

Basically, the functioning of big data in HICTs is affirmed by gathered information which is contained in data portals and repositories. This information represents substantial element for actual preparedness and response managed by the humanitarian officials and researchers. In order to assure stable information exchange, the standard data life cycle involves stages of creation and transmission of data resources in the portals which are further distributed among the humanitarian communities. During the life cycle process, the new created data is analysed with the purpose to confirm whether it can be modified and integrated to the already existing data sets.

As a result, the HICTs facilitate the free and fast interaction between the diverse worldwide network infrastructures and the humanitarian participants since the bid data contained within the humanitarian field can be directly put into practice in times of crisis or conflict, e.g. live Web mapping and online streaming through the use of digital services and mobile phones and peer-to-peer sharing through e-mails and file-sharing sites such as Google Docs and Drop Box).

Crowdsourcing Crisis Mapping – the Method of Volunteer Data Sharing

The substantial ability of the modern digital devices to assure freedom in data creation, update of the already existing one and rapid distribution of data content have boosted the volunteer data sharing in the humanitarian realm. For instance, the crowdsourcing crisis mapping which is liable for the provision of situational awareness concerning acute disasters, initiated naturally, e.g. snowstorms, hurricanes and earthquakes or by human, e.g. wars, civil protests and political struggles, poverty, homelessness, gender based violence and forced migration is based on such volunteer data sharing.

Moreover, the crowdsourced crisis maps operate with real-time information in order to describe and estimate the critical situation grounded on which the humanitarian organizations are able to create proper emergency response. They may provide feedback grounded on civil opinion and observation regarding the taken measures and to report illegal acts such as harassment, detention or torture over citizens.

Similarly to the big data received by the HICTs, the crowdsourced crisis mapping obtains information by users and distributes data by users, mobile devices and peer-to-peer sharing social network platforms. Thus, all of the shared texts, pictures and live streaming related to acute disasters allow people to tell their stories and place those stories on a map in near real-time.

The Crowdsourced Crisis Mapping in Syria

As reported by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), the provision of humanitarian assistance in Syria remains arduous. Since the beginning of the conflict in 2011 there are more than 3 million Syrian refugees who had left the country and over 50,000 people who have sought asylum in 90 states outside the MENA region. Moreover, there are approximately 10.8 million people inside Syria who require urgent humanitarian assistance.

The security management in the state continues to be unstable and the humanitarian access in many local areas is still highly restricted. This current condition is mainly supported by the several militarized jihadist groups that are fighting against the government forces of the President Bashar al-Assad. The violent struggle is concentrated around the tree largest cities in Syria – Aleppo, Damascus and Homs. Among them, Aleppo, which is the biggest city, has been inhabited with 2.5 million citizens from various ethnic communities such as Christians, Kurds, Alawite, Circassians, Turkmen, Yezidi, and Ismaili. Namely these citizens have become in the centre of the most furious attacks.

In order to discover a potential strategy for combatting the jihadist forces, the Caerus Associates has created crisis mapping of Aleppo in 2014. The researchers who were involved into the process have achieved to gather different types of information concerning the residents who are situated in Aleppo`s neighbourhoods, the public safety conditions and the security and territorial control performed by the jihadist groups.

Besides, the researchers have also received information regarding the Islamic State`s strategy of taking over Aleppo and the locations where the residents could cross freely between the regime area and the opposition landing. The data received through the Aleppo crisis mapping has not only enabled the humanitarian teams to detect and visualize shifts in the environment in near-real time, but it has also provided an extremely useful source of insights on the geo-social dynamics at play.

Conclusion

The Middle East passes through serial of extremely devastating events while EU is shaken by differences of opinion towards the migration crisis. Still, whether the current international affairs have become uncertain there are alternatives for stabilizing the arduous situation. Information is knowledge and the data gathering via ICTs is a key source for provision of humanitarian assistance. The example given with the crisis mapping of Aleppo city demonstrates that the modern technologies can assure reliability and sustainability in times of complete human despair. Moreover, as above mentioned, the HICTs succeed to provide valuable information concerning the conflict in Syria when many other data and strategic sources have failed. Although the humanitarian assistance in the state will not bring back the countless amounts of Syrian refugees around the globe, it will ensure supplies to those people who remain to stay there.

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