- Food security
- Rape and Gender Violence
Tragically, too many refugees and internally displaced persons (IDPs) living in camps and centres served by national and international humanitarian organisations, literally live a "hand to mouth" existence. Their access to food depends on the adequacy and timing of aid received from a few donor nations responding to urgent and competing appeals in which new crises compete for attention with ongoing needs.
Most people would find the standard food ration of 2100 Kcal per day, often consisting of nothing more than grain, salt and a small amount of oil, meagre and monotonous at best; yet far too often, the present capricious international food delivery system leads to breaks in the food pipeline, resulting in a period of time in which one or more basic commodities necessary to meet even the most minimal nutritional standards is unavailable.
Chronic food insecurity leads not just to the immediate misery caused by hunger, but also to malnutrition and increased susceptibility to illnesses. This is particularly true for the most vulnerable - the youngest and oldest in the population, pregnant and lactating women and those with compromised immune systems. Food shortages of even a relatively short duration can lead to developmental deficiencies in children, with severe and sometimes permanent consequences for their physical and mental development. Malnourished girls are more likely later to die in childbirth due to impaired physical development. Malnourished children tend to drop out of school and are at increased risk of abuse and exploitation and recruitment as child soldiers. Some women, desperate to feed their families, are even forced to resort to trading sex for food, which contributes to the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases, as well as to a loss of human dignity. Likewise, many men are driven to engage in risky endeavours in order to obtain food for their families. Often, refugees and IDPs facing food cuts will feel they have no alternative than to leave the camps and move on in search of livelihood opportunities without the appropriate travel documents or official sanction - thus becoming "irregular movers", risking arrest and imprisonment, or becoming victims of human smugglers and traffickers.
In protracted refugee situations where donor response is flagging, where partial integration is thought to have been achieved, or where authorities wish to encourage repatriation, permanent rationcuts may be instituted. The premature institution of rationcuts faces refugees with the stark choice of remaining in their host country without sufficient food, or returning to their home countries prematurely. Some refugees may be forced to return to situations where their lives are at risk, either because of security conditions at home or because no adequate arrangements have been made to ensure their livelihood upon return. Such coerced repatriations are much less likely to be sustainable. People forced to repatriate in this way will frequently move on again. The same dynamic applies to IDPs effectively forced to return home due to lack of food in their place of refuge.
Armed conflicts currently continue in some forty countries around the world. Fundamental human rights are neglected in all violent conflicts and this greatly affects civilians. In such life threatening circumstances, many people are forcibly displaced and obliged to search for humanitarian assistance, shelter, food, health and education. As gross violations of human rights are a major cause of the forced displacement, putting an end to these violations could create a crucial opportunity for voluntary return home of those displaced. A serious barrier to their sustainable return is the lack or failure of the process of reconciliation.
The JRS mission of reconciliation taps into different spiritual (life giving) sources among parties to a conflict. Reconciliation, as a fundamental pillar of peace building, is a challenge in all war torn societies in search of transitional justice and sustainable peace. There cannot be reconciliation without putting an end to physical, psychological, cultural and structural violence, and without restoring a minimum of dignity and justice for those affected by violence. If this minimum of dignity and justice is not achieved, the mere mention of the word 'reconciliation' in the context of refugees, internally displaced persons and other victims of gross human rights violations can be paradoxically perceived as offensive and violent. There is a need for genuine reconciliation at the service of sustainable peace.
To governments and authorities in host communities:
To donors and other actors in the area of international peace work:
JRS considers access to education a human right and a means to building peace and development. Education plays a prominent role among the services JRS offers to refugees and other displaced persons. Worldwide the organisation provides pre-, primary, secondary and third level education to approximately 285,000 young people. As well as renovating and rebuilding schools, JRS trains teachers and distributes educational materials. Based on this experience of the needs of refugees, JRS also advocates on behalf of displaced children to ensure they are provided with an adequate education.
Education is important in the development of the individual person, as well as for societies, and access to education is a fundamental human right. For refugees and other forcibly displaced persons education plays an essential role in sustaining and saving lives throughout a crisis. It is one of the four fundamental pillars of humanitarian assistance, along with food, healthcare and shelter. Education has a preventive dimension, a future dividend, which stems from its power to support the development of analytical and decision-making skills, and self-esteem and -awareness.
Nevertheless, in many countries around the world migrant and refugee children are still excluded from school by state policies. This is even true in a number of European states with regard to the children of asylum seekers and undocumented migrants. In most of these countries there is a gap between legal provisions on the one hand and reality on the other. In other countries, forcibly displaced children and adolescents may have access to some form of education, e.g. within refugee camps, but too often schools are poorly furnished and teachers inadequately paid and trained.
To governments of host countries:
To parties in armed conflict:
To donors and other actors in the area of international cooperation:
Stop Rape and Gender Violence
Rape and gender violence destroy individuals and families, entire communities and the fabric of society. These acts have increasingly become a deliberate tactic of terror in war and other conflict situations. Exile is a ramification of war, so there is synergy between the work of JRS and this campaign, particularly as SGBV is a constant and pressing issue in so many places like Colombia, DRC or Burma. I do believe that with enough of us working together we can make a difference in stopping these horrors and ending impunity.
Large numbers of refugees and internally displaced persons suffer sexual- and gender based violence in their homes, while they flee and once they arrive in their new host communities, be they urban areas or camps. Present in more than 50 countries worldwide, JRS teams are often witnesses to these atrocities on a daily basis, and membership in the campaign offers enhanced opportunities to raise awareness of these crimes and promote political action.
It is the priority of JRS is to spread the word about this new initiative and find innovative solutions to this heinous crime, affecting an ever-growing number of women and girls each year.
Following the 2011 decision by the 10 JRS regional directors to select sexual- and gender-based violence as an advocacy priority, the organisation has been seeking ways to raise public awareness of and public action on this issue.
Until now, commitments to end rape and gender violence in war and other conflict situations have been either seriously inadequate or simply not enforced. JRS supports the view that it is time to demand powerful, urgent leadership at the local, national, regional and international levels to:
In more detail. The global cooperative effort was launched on 6 May 2012 by Nobel peace laureates, international advocacy organisations and groups working on conflict at regional and community levels.
The mission statement of the new campaign is to unite organisations and individuals into a powerful and coordinated effort for change and to demand bold political leadership to prevent rape in conflict, to protect civilians and rape survivors, and call for justice for all – including effective prosecution of those responsible.
Although the geographical focus is expected to expand, the campaign is currently focusing on Burma, Colombia, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya, because they represent places where immediate, coordinated action is most urgently needed. JRS has teams present in all of these countries except Burma, in which case the organisation is working on the Thai-Burma border.