HUMANITARIAN CRISES:PREVENTION, RESPONSE AND REHABILITATION SPEAKING NOTES FOR THE PRESIDENT
HUMANITARIAN CRISES:PREVENTION, RESPONSE AND REHABILITATION SPEAKING NOTES FOR THE PRESIDENT
The term 'humanitarian crises' entered the popular vocabulary with the Ethiopian Famine. In 1989, a short seven years ago, 'post-cold war era' became a familiar term to us all. We invested it with optimism. We were ill-prepared for its dominant meaning to become transition, disorder, violence and crises.
- We have developed a very grim vocabulary for our times. We are called to speak of intra-state conflict, ethnic cleansing, failed states and man-made disasters. In 1994 in Rwanda, in 1995 in Srebenica, we used once more the term 'genocide' to describe contemporary events having promised that we would never again have to do so.
- The so called "post-cold war era" is not an era. It is merely a few short years. In a few short years we have been confronted with depths of barbarity and violence which we will never and should never forget. We have witnessed the collapse of civility in many societies. Neighbour has killed neighbour. The legitimacy of the nation state appears to weaken and we have seen the loyalty of citizens turn to irrational ethnic or tribal ideologies for certainties.
- Tensions from deeply rooted political problems, socio-economic exclusion and ideologies of intolerances have overwhelmed fragile local coping mechanisms. At international level too the fragility and inadequacies of our response to these tensions have been laid bare. There are many consequences: for example we now have the largest refugee population in Europe since the second World War and 50 million refugees world-wide.
- In this troubled context it is hard to find our points of reference. It is too easy to surrender to despair. As this century closes, our most urgent task is to seek out a clear understanding of the challenges which face us and to meet those challenges with commitment and vision. This has many implications. The most fundamental is that we strengthen and adjust our action in the framework for ambivalence or vagueness on this point: these are times for creative and concrete expression of our guiding principles. There is much work to be done. There are many hard questions which need answers.
Response
- Yet rather than meeting the challenges of the last few years, have we merely relied on the flexibility, courage and responsiveness of the humanitarian agencies? When Somalia imploded, aid agencies, and particularly NGOs, rose heroically to an enormous humanitarian task. They saved thousands of lives. As a result, individual aid workers made the ultimate sacrifice of their own lives. Death and insecurity of humanitarian workers remain very much with us. We deplore this as we remember with great sadness the tragic murder of three delegates from the International Committee of the Red Cross in Burundi last month.
- Humanitarian aid has not however become a casualty of conflict. The agencies stick with their priority task, namely to save lives and bring material relief to victims of disasters quickly. I have seen the unique and honourable work of experienced humanitarian agencies at first hand in the field. It has convinced me of the legitimacy, singularity and effectiveness of humanitarian work.
- There are several challenges which face us. An ever increasing number of humanitarian crises, a falling off in financial support for humanitarian aid, poor co-operation within the international humanitarian system and underdeveloped systems to warn us of pending humanitarian crises and population movements. We must learn from our experience of past crises and apply those lessons with urgency. We hear too much of "donor fatigue", "compassion fatigue" and "coping fatigue". We need to exercise a greater will to tackle the problems which face us with conceptual clarity. The silent and innocent victims of humanitarian crises deserve nothing less.
- As I visit NGOs, I repeatedly hear a call for better planning and better co-operation between international agencies and NGOs and between them and local people. I am told of the growing doubt about the wisdom of resorting to massive external assistance with little thought of local capacity and recovery. I applaud the efforts and the wisdom of humanitarian agencies who strive to ensure that relief aid supports local capacities. In this way we can empower local people and local authorities and address both longer term recovery and prevention.
Mr. Chairman
Prevention
- The best response to the problem of recurrent humanitarian crises is prevention. I say this in the conviction that the great majority of humanitarian crises are foreseeable and can be avoided by appropriate preventive measures. Such measures include development aid itself, rehabilitation aid, human rights policy, political and diplomatic action, peacekeeping and sometimes necessary enforcement actions.
- I will offer some personal observations on the role of political and development action in preventing complex humanitarian crises. Will we commit ourselves to harness the potential of each of these policy options to forestall crises in the first place? Can we hope for greater unity of purpose and practice between these different policies and parts of the international system which discharge them? This is an urgent task.
- Sustained political and diplomatic action by the UN and regional bodies under its charter to prevent crises is critical. Greater political and financial support for the UN and for its regional bodies by the member States is a prerequisite for improved effort. Proposals for newer and more vigorous co-operation in conflict prevention with regional bodies which enjoy legitimacy under the UN charter are important. They deservedly command urgent consideration.
- When we speak of prevention in this sense we tend to think exclusively of the traditional mediation of diplomacy. This is a highly skilled task which we entrust to eminent people, statesmen, church leaders, diplomats and other persons practised in the art of negotiation, and building trust. Identifying people with such talents and having them available to serve the international community in its search for peaceful solutions to crises is rightly seen as important.
- I have had the honour to meet distinguished and outstanding representatives of the UN Secretary General in the course of visits to Rwanda and Somalia. They have displayed great courage in the face of immense obstacles, not the least of which was a lack of unity of purpose within the international system as a whole. That they continued in their commitment is a tribute solely to their own dedication to a culture of peace and the very idea of peaceful co-existence. There is a strong case, to my mind, that we look to leaders and eminent impartial people within regions in crisis or after crisis as facilitators in conflict prevention and post-conflict transitions. In Africa, they understand as we do that 'ní thagann ciall riomh aois'; the importance of older, wiser interlocutors must be recognised.
- The importance of legitimising indigenous mechanisms for mediation of disputes through elders and clan leaders in the traditional community system was highlighted to me in my visits to Somalia. The colonial experience disrupted such mechanisms, while failing to put strong transparent state structures in place. The emergence of war lords in Somalia was in some sense a response to the authority vacuum in which Somalia found itself when the super-powers disengaged.
- The devastation and anarchy of Somalia in 1992, and its continuing travail, remain of urgent concern to us all. Grass roots regional initiatives for peace coupled with peace initiatives at national level were proposed some time ago. They deservedly command renewed attention at this time.
- The development agencies of the UN and of governments increasingly recognise that programmes which focus on human rights and support for civil society are complimentary to preventive action at the political level. Defining the content and scope of such programmes is an important challenge. It brings the development community into new areas-law, sociology and anthropology for example. The value of a multidisciplinary, integrated approach to the challenge of prevention is increasingly accepted.
- Speaking as a lawyer, you will be unsurprised if I emphasise the important preventive potential of support for the rule of law. In my visit to Rwanda last year I was heartened to meet young lawyers, human rights NGOs, Judges and aid experts and to learn of their efforts in developing new forms of human rights co-operation. Speaking with the representatives of the Constitutional Court brought home to me that honouring our human rights commitments requires us to give moral, financial and technical assistance to national judicial systems. Equally important is the need to act simultaneously to promote a culture of human rights at community level.
- International and national NGOs may have comparative advantages over other agencies in human rights initiatives at community level. They share important responsibilities. Perhaps we have tended to think that our human rights codes which enjoy universal validity are inaccessible to communities or the margins of literacy and gripped by the struggle for survival? For what reason and with what justification have we denied those communities knowledge of their fundamental rights and freedoms? Are we complicit in this denial by failing to promote, to apply and operationalise human rights in an accessible and relevant manner at grass roots level? In failing to promote a culture of human rights at grass roots level have we left the ground open to intolerance?
- The important work of the International Committee of the Red Cross in dissemination of humanitarian values is an experience to be valued and re-applied by other agencies. Promotion and application of the rule of law and human rights is at once prevention, response and rehabilitation.
Mr. Chairman,
- I have emphasised the role of prevention in my comments this far. My conviction is the conviction which emerges from my own experience as witness of the cruelty of a genocide and of the collapse of Somali society. In my view, we need collectively to explore the value of an integrated approach to representative action. This would involve improved dialogue and practical op-operation between a wide range of agencies and local partners. Prevention is a cross-cutting issue. Who will be its champion? It is far too important to be allowed to fall between the cracks.
Rehabilitation
- I wish now to speak of the issue of rehabilitation. How are we to help countries which are prone to humanitarian crises to break out of the vicious circle to which poverty and violence condemn them? This question concerns relief agencies as well as political and development experts. Like prevention, it is a cross cutting issue. As with prevention, it has tended to fall between the cracks.
- The first champions of rehabilitation have been local people themselves, NGOs and a few enlightened commentators. Their message is clear: once immediate relief needs are met the priority is the restoration of livelihoods and the ending of dependency. They invite us to look again at what we can do to sustain recovery when peace agreements are signed and when during a crisis the chance for a beginning to normal live emerges. They have reminded us that this is the heart of the challenge facing us and that it is poorly understood.
- From my visit to Rwanda in 1995, I have seen the important role which aid for socio-economic reconstruction plays in beginning recovery. I have heard at first hand the importance of giving timely support to local people who are trying to move away from dependency and back to their independent livelihoods. The importance of assistance to civil administrations which were trying to re-establish themselves without either the physical or material resources to do so was clear. I saw the value of quick impact projects which allowed schools to reopen and health clinics to function again. I understood that support for those most affected by the genocide - the survivors, the widows, the children - is critical to rehabilitation and recovery. I saw too that rehabilitation of societies emerging from crises must address not only the physical consequences of the conflict it must also support recovery of the people themselves. I understood that these challenges demand urgent attention and creative and practical response from the international community and local people.
Mr. Chairman,
- Ambassador Jonathan Moore, has just published a book entitled 'the UN and Complex Emergencies' in which he offers an expert view on the role of rehabilitation assistance and the need for improved international support for societies in transition from crises. His is a challenging perspective. It rests on an essentially, optimistic vision, which I share. It is this, despite huge suffering, brutality, conflict, war and violence, people in the end yearn for peace and recovery. At some time, a chance for peace and reconciliation emerges. We must seize that chance courageously and quickly. If we miss that moment, it may be lost and with it lives, hope and a dynamic for peace. If we are to sustain that ambition for peace, international efforts must align themselves with local efforts and give practical material support to them. As ever, the role of international and local NGOs in this area is and has been invaluable.
Mr. Chairman,
- I learned of the importance of rehabilitation when I visited Rwanda last year, as indeed I had learned the lesson of prevention on my visit in 1994. By way of conclusion to my remarks, I would like to tell a simple story.
- Last October, in Rwanda I visited a shelter project which was being run by ARDEC, a Rwandan NGO, and which had received generous Irish Government assistance. At first sight this project addressed the urgent need to provide housed to genocide survivors, mostly women, who had lost their homes. As I visited the project sites, I saw bricks made and new houses build by widows and other local people. But I saw much, much more. I saw a vision of reconciliation made concrete. Two communities working together in a basic humanitarian and reconstruction task. This working together is the building not only of houses. It is the building of community and reconciliation. As such, these houses are built on the strongest possible foundation. These are houses of hope; a step to preventing conflict in the future.