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Sri Lanka: When the Whole World Isn’t Watching
Wed, 01/28/2009 - 17:11
One of the harsh realities of the humanitarian field is that some crises capture public attention, while others do not. The patterns are rather rigid. Crises in Europe and the Middle East, especially Palestine, make headlines. Large-scale natural disasters, even in obscure places, attract interest due to the inherent human fascination with immense forces beyond our control. But crises due to “complex” political conflicts outside the zones of proven public engagement are doomed to obscurity, unless it rises to such a level that “genocide” (read “another Holocaust”) can be invoked.
South Sudan: Maintaining the Peace we Have in Sudan
Tue, 01/27/2009 - 15:51John C. Danforth, a former U.S. Senator from Missouri, Special Envoy for Peace in Sudan, and U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, is on the board of Refugees International. The following originally appeared on the Huffington Post.
Early in his presidency George Bush saw an opportunity to end a long civil war in south Sudan, and in 2001 he asked me to be his special envoy. The war between north and south Sudan had raged for over two decades, with two million dead and over four million displaced. Many believed that peace would be impossible to achieve. Yet on January 9, 2005 the government of Sudan and the Sudan People's Liberation Movement signed the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA).
President’s Corner: Holbrooke’s Challenge in Afghanistan and Pakistan
Mon, 01/26/2009 - 15:03
Richard Holbrooke, the Obama administration’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, knows first hand that peacemaking can be dangerous and difficult. He dedicated To End A War, his book on the negotiations that ended the war in the Balkans 15 years ago, to three colleagues who died in the early stages of that effort.
In announcing the appointment last week, President Obama said: “There is no answer in Afghanistan that does not confront the Al Qaida and Taliban bases along the border, and there will be no lasting peace unless we expand spheres of opportunity for the people of Afghanistan and Pakistan.”
Burma: No Safe Place for Rohingya
Fri, 01/23/2009 - 01:00
Word is just getting out that for the past month, the government of Thailand has been engaging in reckless behavior towards Burmese Rohingya refugees. While the Thai government has never acknowledged the Rohingya as asylum seekers, they are now taking the extreme step of intentionally abandoning hundreds of them at a time in boats that they tow out to sea. Already, over 300 Rohingya are missing, with new reports coming out every few days of new groups that have been pushed out by the Thai government.
President’s Corner: Stopping Violence Where We Can
Fri, 01/16/2009 - 18:06Last week, I attended a funeral for Yoshio Nakada, a gentle, homeless man who was found beaten to death the day before Christmas. The senseless brutality of Yoshio’s murder made me think of the millions of needless deaths in places like Darfur and Zimbabwe. And it made me think of the problems and opportunities Barack Obama faces has he starts his presidency.
Yoshio lived and died on the streets of Washington, DC. I met him at Grace Episcopal Church, which conducts an active ministry and support program for homeless men and women. Yoshio came to the U.S. from Japan about six years ago to find work. How he got here and moved around is somewhat of a mystery, since he communicated primarily by smiles, hand gestures and songs. His favorite songs, which he sang often in English or Japanese, were “You Are My Sunshine”, “Home on the Range”, and “Where Have All The Flowers Gone”.
Whether or not he was singing, Yoshio heard his own tunes and that music gave him great joy. By normal standards of behavior he was, I suppose, deranged, but his mental illness took the form of serenity and song that brought instant smiles. More than 100 people attended his funeral. They were soup kitchen and shelter workers, mental health professionals, police officers, parishioners from the several churches he attended, and other homeless men and women who said that Yoshio’s infectiously sunny attitude and gentility gave them a gift of optimism and hope. The Washington Post captured this attribute of Yoshio when it wrote of his death, one of several unsolved recent murders of street people in Washington.
Sarah Jessica Parker, Matt Dillon and Refugees International: Oh My!
Tue, 01/13/2009 - 18:35
“It’s a particularly exciting week to be here in our nation’s capital,”
said host Sarah Jessica Parker last night as she kicked off the VIP
reception before the powerful and stirring performance of the play Betrayed at the Kennedy Center.
Ms. Parker, with her co-host and Refugees International Board Member Matt Dillon, graciously welcomed guests at the VIP reception and immediately prior to the play. They remarked upon the challenges facing the incoming Obama administration to help nearly 5 million Iraqis displaced by the war, and they spoke of their hopes in bringing this one-time performance to Washington, D.C.
"When I saw the play, I was struck by how powerfully it illustrates the crisis facing Iraqi refugees,” noted Mr. Dillon. “What better place to present it than with Refugees International in Washington, where it can have the biggest impact with policy makers."
Ms. Parker echoed this sentiment: “Seeing so many of our leading citizens here tonight gives me hope that we won’t let their situation slip into the shadow of the past, that we will reach out with the assistance they so critically need to survive and rebuild their lives.”
Ms. Parker, with her co-host and Refugees International Board Member Matt Dillon, graciously welcomed guests at the VIP reception and immediately prior to the play. They remarked upon the challenges facing the incoming Obama administration to help nearly 5 million Iraqis displaced by the war, and they spoke of their hopes in bringing this one-time performance to Washington, D.C.
"When I saw the play, I was struck by how powerfully it illustrates the crisis facing Iraqi refugees,” noted Mr. Dillon. “What better place to present it than with Refugees International in Washington, where it can have the biggest impact with policy makers."
Ms. Parker echoed this sentiment: “Seeing so many of our leading citizens here tonight gives me hope that we won’t let their situation slip into the shadow of the past, that we will reach out with the assistance they so critically need to survive and rebuild their lives.”
Betrayed: The Big Night
Mon, 01/12/2009 - 16:34The office is buzzing. Tonight is the highly anticipated one-night only production of Betrayed at the Kennedy Center, George Packer's play based on his New Yorker article of the same name.
The sold-out event is co-hosted by Matt Dillon and Sarah Jessica Parker who will be at the VIP reception this evening prior to introducing the play.
We're putting together all the finishing touches for the event today and are thrilled that it is generating such a large turnout.
South Sudan: The Victory that the World Forgot
Fri, 01/09/2009 - 19:03
Today marks the fourth anniversary of the end of Sudan’s civil war between the north and the south. For two decades armed actors manifested a capacity for calculated brutality and imposition of human suffering on a level that defies description or reasonable comprehension.
Four years after the parties agreed to lay down their weapons there are two important lessons to keep in mind.
The first is that ‘peace’ is not just an absence of war, and that peace-building takes more than just the handshakes and photo-ops that exemplify the signing of accords. The second is that peace is always possible, even when it is impossible to conceive of how to get there.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was the result of a massive diplomatic push by Sudanese leaders and by the international community, led in large part by the United States. The agreement itself is strong, but far reaching and ambitious.
This year, however, Sudan stands on the brink of a potentially volatile period in the implementation of that agreement. We have just entered into the year designated for the first countrywide democratic election, and elections always have the potential to cause controversy and instability.
Four years after the parties agreed to lay down their weapons there are two important lessons to keep in mind.
The first is that ‘peace’ is not just an absence of war, and that peace-building takes more than just the handshakes and photo-ops that exemplify the signing of accords. The second is that peace is always possible, even when it is impossible to conceive of how to get there.
The Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA) was the result of a massive diplomatic push by Sudanese leaders and by the international community, led in large part by the United States. The agreement itself is strong, but far reaching and ambitious.
This year, however, Sudan stands on the brink of a potentially volatile period in the implementation of that agreement. We have just entered into the year designated for the first countrywide democratic election, and elections always have the potential to cause controversy and instability.
The rhetoric of “humanitarian crisis”
Wed, 01/07/2009 - 17:39
Crises are the stock and trade of humanitarian agencies. Yet there is no consensus or clarity in the emergency response field as to what constitutes a humanitarian crisis. In a saturated global media environment, the temptation is great for agencies to designate particular situations as humanitarian crises to get attention to a neglected group of vulnerable people or to stigmatize the responsible parties. The rhetorical leaps from “difficult situation” to “humanitarian crisis” to “massive humanitarian crisis” to “the world’s worst humanitarian crisis” are as easy as skipping over a puddle.
President’s Corner: Celebrating 30 Years of Life Saving Advocacy
Mon, 01/05/2009 - 18:13One of my favorite statements is by Margaret Mead: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.”
That statement captures how Refugees International was founded 30 years ago, and why RI has such impact since.
In 1979, Sue Morton, the wife of a Pepsico executive in Tokyo, went to Thailand to witness the plight of refugees escaping the genocide in Cambodia. While there, she watched in horror as Thai troops forced 40,000 Cambodians back across the border.
“Overburdened by refugees and with resettlement to third countries down to a trickle, Thailand had closed its borders to refugees,” she wrote 15 years later. “The living skeletons of men, women and children who had escaped were forced back into Cambodia. Soon Malaysia followed suit, as Vietnamese boat people were pushed back out to sea, many never to see land again. The world no longer cared.”
