Revisiting The Killing Fields

I recently watched The Killing Fields, which is based on the true story of Sydney Schanberg, a New York Times journalist who reports from Cambodia as the Khmer Rouge take power in the mid-1970s. His close relationship with Dith Pran, a local Cambodian journalist, is at the heart of the story.

It is a very moving film, and powerfully depicts how the violence and terror inflicted by the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia affected everyone in the country, from the local population to Western journalists and diplomats, who were eventually evacuated and left many of their Cambodian friends behind. Schanberg won a Pulitzer Prize for his Cambodia reporting, while Dith Pran, whose support was indispensable to Schanberg's work, was left to struggle to survive the brutal rule of the Khmer Rouge.

During its four years of rule, from 1975 to 1979, the Khmer Rouge tortured and executed the local population, or forced them into work camps where they lived in deplorable conditions. It is estimated that almost 2 million people died during this time.

To escape the Khmer Rouge's reign of terror many Cambodians fled to neighboring countries. About 40,000 Cambodian refugees were able to flee to Thailand while the Khmer Rouge was in power, and several hundred thousand more fled after the Vietnamese invasion in late 1978 which toppled Pol Pot. This refugee crisis led to the founding of RI in 1979. At the time of the initial refugee outflow, Lionel Rosenblatt, who later became RI's President, was working to support refugees out of the US Embassy in Thailand. His life-long commitment to refugee advocacy grew out of this experience.

RI continues to be engaged in Cambodia, supporting one of the last groups to return to their homes after the long war finally ended in the late 1990s. You can view information on our work in the region and our most recent policy recommendations here.

Both Dith Pran and actor Sam Waterston, who stars as Sydney Schanberg in The Killing Fields, have been involved with RI, most recently as Emeritus Board members. Sam has also taken part in various RI advocacy efforts, including narrating our documentary on the genocide in Darfur, On Our Watch. And each year on his birthday, fans of Sam Waterston generously give donations to RI in honor of the actor.

Holidays at Refugees International

Last week was Refugees International's holiday party where we gathered at our Vice-President's home to spend some non-work time together. A few of us inevitably began to tell stories of the most dangerous places we'd been this year and how our families worry about us when we're overseas. One shared how she was in Beirut while it was being bombed during the Israel-Hezbollah conflict of August. My own family handled things pretty well when I was sent to Darfur in July, but my mom was a bit concerned when she saw that the organization is looking at launching missions to Iraq to continue our efforts for Iraqi refugees and promptly asked me if I'd be sent there. (Since I'm the Communications Manager here and especially unqualified to go, I won't be.)

I'm flying to California tomorrow to join my family for the holidays. Although many of Refugees International's staff will be out of town next week when our office is closed, our work doesn't stop. There are still 33 million refugees around the world who cannot go home for the holidays. Many have been forced to separate from their families.

I know we're all flooded with tons of emails, cards, letters and advertisements telling us to celebrate the season, buy a special gift for our loved ones, and remember those less fortunate by donating to our favorite charities. But I hope you will keep in mind the needs of refugees during this holiday season and beyond. Whether it's by donating to Refugees International , emailing President Bush and asking him to help Iraqi refugees, or blogging about us on your own blog, your actions do make a difference.

Ignoring a Crisis in the Center of Africa

Our last team has returned from the field. Sayre and Yemi are now back from their mission to the Central African Republic (CAR) and Chad. The ongoing conflict and resulting displacement in northwest CAR does not get much media attention. Many say that it is one of the world's most forgotten humanitarian crises. Of course, to forget about a crisis you have to remember it in the first place, and this one is virtually unknown. RI has been watching this conflict, but not many others are.

While Sayre and Yemi were in CAR they traveled from the capital Bangui to the northwest with a group of UN agencies and international journalists. On Sunday, the New York Times published an article about the situation in CAR by Lydia Polgreen, one of the journalists traveling with the group. In her article, she paints a very grave picture of the humanitarian situation in the northwest, particularly of the civilians who have fled in fear from their homes and now live in the bush, where they have little access to food and receive no assistance. (Be sure to watch the video that accompanies the article, you can spot Sayre and Yemi seated, listening to Lydia Polgreen interview aid workers).

Sayre and Yemi took many photos while traveling around the northwest. You can view some of them and read descriptions of the current situation in the region in their visual mission, Scorched Earth in the Central African Republic.

There are approximately 150,000 internally displaced people in northwest CAR. And there are few humanitarian agencies working there at all, except for Doctors Without Borders/Medecins sans Frontieres (MSF), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and Cooperazione Internazionale (COOPI). In November, the army forced all international organizations to stop their work when it launched a new offensive against armed groups in the region. Banditry and looting is rampant throughout the area, and government troops have burned down entire villages claiming that the residents support the local rebels.

On their mission, Sayre and Yemi traveled to an area of CAR where few others have been. Because of the lack of information available on the current humanitarian situation in CAR, there is already interest from other organizations in DC to hear Sayre and Yemi's findings. Now our job is to ensure that an increased focus on the displaced in CAR will bring much needed humanitarian assistance to the region.

President's Corner: A Challenge to the New UN Secretary-General

I will miss Kofi Annan. He will step down as the Secretary General of the United Nations at the end of the year. For 10 years, he has been the conscience of the world, fighting for the rule of law, the peaceful resolution of disputes and making the UN a stronger voice for the protection of human rights. His successor, Ban Ki-moon, must immediately show his commitment to these same values.

Last week Annan gave a major speech on human rights. His tone was subdued, focusing more on what he has failed to accomplish than what he did accomplish. Ban should take Annan’s speech as a starting point for his work by announcing a program to build on the foundation that Kofi Annan is leaving behind.

The most important contribution Annan made in the human rights field was nurturing and promoting something called the “Responsibility to Protect.” This concept, adopted by the UN World Summit in 2005, holds that each nation has an obligation to protect its own population from “genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.” When “national authorities are manifestly failing to protect their populations” the UN asserts the right to take “collective action” to safeguard human rights and prevent loss of life.

President Bush and the U.S. Congress have accused the government of Sudan of committing genocide in Darfur, where hundreds of thousands of people have died and more than two million people have been displaced during three years of fighting. Yet the U.S. and the rest of world have not acted on the responsibility to protect by stopping the fighting, although the humanitarian response has been generous and effective.

In his speech last week, Annan said that “we must develop the responsibility to protect into a powerful international norm that is not only quoted but put into practice, whenever and wherever it is needed.”

This must be Ban’s first task—to put in place a mechanism for moving from the rhetoric to the reality of protection. This involves reaching a consensus on how and when to impose the responsibility to protect; crafting a continuum of political, diplomatic and economic measures designed to convince governments to reverse destructive policies; and developing the standards and capabilities for using military force as a last resort to end massive human rights abuses. As Kofi Annan said, “We must give real meaning to the principle of Responsibility to Protect.”

Last week Refugees International sent Ban a letter asking him to do just this — to “make the implementation of the Responsibility to Protect your highest, most urgent priority.” The entire world is waiting for Ban Ki-moon’s answer, for it will demonstrate whether he plans to strengthen or weaken Kofi Annan’s efforts to expand human rights.

Spreading the Word about Iraqi Refugees

It's Friday and here in the office we are all pretty excited about the media coverage we've gotten this week on the Iraqi refugee crisis. One columnist at the Huffington Post called our report, "The Other Iraq Study".

Why are we so excited? Because this is a story that desperately needs to be told. Nearly two million people have been forced to flee Iraq -- many because of their involvement with the U.S. forces -- and yet the US is ignoring this situation. In 2006, our government resettled a mere 202 Iraqi refugees. Of course, before you can resettle Iraqi refugees, the U.S. first has to acknowledge that they exist.

Refugees International's job is to make it harder for the U.S. and other western governments to ignore the plight of Ali in Beirut, Khalil and Dalal in Damascus, Yasir in Amman and the other two million refugees in need of help and support. These people cannot get work permits, so they cannot earn an income. Many are living in one-room apartments with few possessions and are separated from other family members. All of them, whether Sunni, Shi’a, Christian or Palestinian, had been directly victimized by armed actors in Iraq. People are targeted because of religious affiliation, economic status, and profession – many, such as doctors, teachers, and even hairdressers, are viewed as being “anti-Islamic.” All of them fled Iraq because they had genuine and credible fear for their lives and the lives of their loved ones.

I've been asked by reporters this week why we haven't heard about this crisis sooner. It's a good question. It's partly because these people aren't living in camps -- they are an invisible population blending in with the urban poor in cities like Damascus, Amman and Beirut. But it is also partly because the US government doesn't have an interest in acknowledging that these refugees exist, because 3,000 people streaming out of the country every day is a very clear reminder that the conflict in Iraq is deteriorating and our policies aren't working.

Now, the New York Times, the Washington Post Op-Ed Page, The Guardian in London, Think Progress, and Mother Jones, are all helping us inform the public that "The United States and its allies sparked the current chaos in Iraq, but they are doing little to ease the humanitarian crisis caused by the current exodus,” as our President Ken Bacon stated. Sean and Kristele are working hard to ensure that the U.S. and other Western countries start to do more.

Iraq is Bleeding

Sean and Kristele are now safely back in our Washington, DC office from their mission to Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan to assess the Iraqi refugee crisis. This week the team briefed the staff during one of our morning meetings.

Their findings are both riveting and unsettling. Sean and Kristele report that there are currently more than 2 million Iraqi refugees, mostly living in Syria and Jordan. As a result, RI is categorizing the Iraqi refugee situation as the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world.

During their mission, Sean and Kristele discovered that everyone in Iraq is a target for violence, from Sunnis to Christians to Shi'as to hairdressers. These personal stories that the team collected powerfully demonstrate the scope of the problem and the need for immediate international attention and assistance.

Like this story, told to Sean and Kristele by an Iraqi who fled to Jordan after being targeted for working for an international NGO:

On July 27, Yasir was outside his house with his son Malike, washing his car. An unknown car came speeding down the street, and shot ten rounds at Yasir. Though he was able to keep Malike from harm, he took three bullets to the body, none of them fatal. He is confident that he was targeted for working with international organizations seen as being part of the occupation of Iraq.

There is a lot of buzz going on in the RI office as we gear up our advocacy efforts on this very important issue. We've already gotten some media coverage - you can listen to a recent radio interview that Sean conducted with PRI on the Iraqi refugee crisis here. You can be sure we'll have more to share soon.