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International Aid Groups Face New Challenges in
National and Regional Conflicts
WASHINGTON -- An international humanitarian organization expects that, in addition to Iraq, Central Africa and Colombia will be among the 10 most serious areas of conflict and political instability the world will likely face in 1999.
World Vision, a relief and development organization serving 60 million people in nearly 100 countries, also cited Sudan, North Korea, Indonesia, Angola, the Balkans, Ethiopia/Eritrea, and India/Pakistan in its listing of 10 “global hot spots.” None of the nations or regions was ranked.
“Humanitarian organizations are carefully evaluating the impact of U.S. and British bombing missions in Iraq,” said Dayton Maxwell, a senior World Vision policy advisor, who, in 1991, worked in Northern Iraq with displaced Kurdish refugees. “The possibility of a post-Saddam Iraq poses significant challenges for international relief and development agencies.”
“Regrettably, we tend to view the future as projections of the past,” said Maxwell. He was joined at a press briefing Friday by Andrew Natsios of the Institute for Peace and Jane Holl of the Carnegie Commission for the Prevention of Deadly Conflict. “We must recognize there are new, unfolding trends and realize there will be unforeseen events.”
He noted that more “interstate conflicts,” in addition to civil wars, are emerging. In Central Africa, for example, internal instability in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (formerly Zaire) is compounded by the involvement of surrounding nations, such as Angola, Rwanda and Uganda.
In addition, countries with large urban populations, such as Indonesia, have so far avoided being drawn into serious conflict. If unrest in Indonesia, which has faced the “removal” of former President Suharto and the Asian economic crisis this year, continues to increase, there will be considerable suffering in Jakarta and other cities.
“This will bring new challenges for humanitarian organizations,” Maxwell said. “Politics takes on a greater meaning when people are unable to feed their children every day.”
Also, crime and terrorism have and will continue to cause political instability in Colombia and other countries.
There are also “on-going sore points,” such as Iraq under Saddam Hussein, the Balkans under Slobodan Milosevic, and North Korea, which has suffered from famine. Also, from 1995-1998, North Korea witnessed the first transition of power from one family member to another in a Communist nation.
Unlike most of the other areas, Iraq has significant resources to fund its own recovery. Maxwell said that, if Saddam is ousted, revenue from oil sales currently funding humanitarian assistance would need to be expanded to support the installation of a government representative of the Iraqi people and at peace with its neighbors.
World Vision also emphasized the important role children can play in conflict prevention and reconciliation. In Colombia, with widespread violence and nearly 1 million displaced people, several children sponsored by World Vision donors helped organize a nationwide peace movement, mobilizing nearly 3 million children and 10 million adults. The group was nominated for the 1998 Nobel Peace Prize.
Also, in northern Uganda, World Vision runs a trauma counseling center for children who escape from the Lord’s Resistance Army, an insurgency group contributing to instability in Uganda and Sudan.
“Conflicts often come in deadly 20-year cycles because children are taught to be revengeful for past wrongs,” Maxwell said. “Short-term policies can contribute to long-term conflicts by permitting children to learn violent rather than peaceful ways of addressing differences. Children must be educated now on solving conflict through non-violent means, thereby helping to break those cycles.”
Despite these local and regional conflicts, there are some signs of hope, such as in Sierra Leone, where the government is civil society in forging plans for a productive economy and toward achieving a sustainable peace.
“There is an increased spirit in the international community now surrounding conflict prevention and reconciliation,” he said. “While not yet coalesced in political strategies, government agencies, militaries, the United Nations, aid organizations and think-tanks are working more closely together to forge partnerships to help address and prevent conflicts, to protect and help innocent civilians, and to bring about peace.”
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NOTE TO EDITORS: WORLD VISION’S LIST (CLICK HERE) WAS DEVELOPED THROUGH A CONSENSUS WITH FOUR SENIOR POLICY ADVISORS. THE ORGANIZATION HAS DEVELOPED A COUNTRY-BY-COUNTRY, REGION-BY-REGION SUMMARY OF THESE GLOBAL “HOT SPOTS.”
World Vision is the largest, privately funded Christian relief and development organization in the world, serving 60 million people a year in nearly 100 countries.
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