2003: In a dangerous world, a few glimmers
of hope
The war in Iraq and attacks on humanitarian
workers, especially in Iraq and Afghanistan, mark 2003 as another year
of violent conflict. Yet in countries peripheral to the war on terrorism
2003 was actually a year of hopeful developments, notably in Africa. The
Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Liberia, Angola, and Sudan, where
conflicts of long duration have displaced 11.3 million people, all made
progress towards peace in 2003. While the peaceful developments are fragile,
and require nurturing from powerful countries such as the United States,
citizens of these countries have the chance to hope that they will be able
to start the process of rebuilding their lives in 2004.
In the DRC, inter-ethnic conflict in Ituri, manipulated by outside regional powers, prompted an intervention by the European Union, using French troops to restore order. The French have since been replaced by UN peacekeepers with a stronger mandate and greater military and logistical capacity. Violence continues elsewhere in the eastern DRC, but Ituri has been largely calm, and the contending political and military forces are attempting to work together within the framework of a national reconciliation government in the capital, Kinshasa. Much is at stake. More than three million Congolese have died as the result of the war since 1998, and more than two million remain internally displaced. Stabilizing the Congo and the surrounding Great Lakes region should be a major world priority in 2004.
In Liberia, President Charles Taylor was convinced to step down and go into exile, opening the country to a peacekeeping mission with the prospect of major international support for reconstruction in 2004. Liberians have high hopes that they can live in peace and put their country back together. Once again, however, the lack of global peacekeeping capacity has hampered the implementation of the mission. The United States refused to offer more than token support in the immediate aftermath of President Taylor's departure. The deployment of international troops has been glacial, and outside Monrovia, Liberians continue to be victimized by marauding bands of armed groups, many of them consisting of child soldiers.
The U.S. insistence in Iraq on a unilateral reconstruction effort managed by the Department of Defense constituted a major challenge to the humanitarian community. Due to the swiftness of the U.S. military victory and the care taken to avoid damage to civilian infrastructure, the war resulted in less displacement than Refugees International and other agencies had anticipated. The failure to prevent the looting and chaos in the war's aftermath, however, damaged the credibility of the U.S. as the occupying power in Iraq. With the UN pushed to the sidelines and humanitarian NGOs largely bypassed in favor of private contractors, the reconstruction effort in Iraq has lacked international legitimacy.
In Iraq and Afghanistan forces opposed to the political projects of the United States and its coalition partners made it clear that they consider humanitarian workers, whether affiliated with the United Nations or with non-governmental organizations, to be integral to the newly-imposed political order, and therefore "soft targets" of their violent response to these changes. Especially shocking were the separate bombings of the headquarters of the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross in Baghdad. The UN bombing killed many leading humanitarians and friends of Refugees International, most notably Sergio de Mello and Arthur Helton. We still mourn their deaths. It is hard to think of the world without them.
The effect of the bombings was as intended: to hamper the overall humanitarian and reconstruction effort in Iraq, and to drive UN and ICRC personnel out of the country. With the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees barely present in the country, and with local level security problematic, Iraqi refugees were largely unable to return, leaving more than 250,000 Iraqis in the region, primarily in Iran, waiting for the necessary stability.
The conflict in the Occupied Palestinian Territories showed no signs of abating. Israel's response to genuine security concerns --- response in the form of the construction of the security wall, the destruction of homes, and restrictions on the movement of Palestinians --- had the effect of making daily life untenable for the vast majority of Palestinian civilians, few of whom engage in terrorism against Israeli citizens. The only glimmer of hope in the region was the emergence towards the end of the year of renewed citizen efforts to build a common future based on a two-state solution, with security guarantees for both states.
In Sri Lanka, the ceasefire largely held in 2003 and internally displaced Tamils began to return to their home villages. Land mines and military occupation remain obstacles to full resettlement. The peace process in the country is at a critical stage, with the government and the armed Tamil opposition exchanging proposals that will define the degree of local political autonomy in Tamil majority areas on the island. Tamil refugees in India are waiting for more progress in the peace talks before they commit to returning to their country.
Burma and North Korea continued to be sources of instability. In Burma, the government's assault on ethnic minority populations leaves up to one million people homeless internally, and drives others to seek asylum in neighboring countries. Thai policy towards Burmese asylum seekers hardened in 2003, and there are reports that urban refugees will be forced to live in border camps, while most Burmese in Thailand are denied asylum and live as illegal economic migrants subject to arrest and deportation.
On the western side of Burma, RI advocacy was able to help delay the forced return of Muslim refugees, the Rohingya, from Bangladesh; RI also highlighted the plight of Chin asylum seekers in Mizoram in the far northeast corner of India.
North Koreans continue to flee famine and oppression, entering China in the first instance, with some then daring to attempt the onward journey to seek asylum in South Korean consulates in Beijing or as far away as Hanoi and Bangkok. Like the Thais in regards to the Burmese, the Chinese consider North Koreans illegal economic migrants, not recognizing that the food shortages result from a harsh system of political repression, nor the fact that North Koreans are placed in labor camps for a minimum of two months upon deportation back to their country. With North Korea again reported to be facing famine conditions, the flow of its citizens into China will continue, challenging the Chinese to adopt policies in keeping with its responsibilities as a signatory to the 1951 Refugee Convention and as a member of the Executive Committee of UNHCR.
In the United States, RI renewed its commitment to advocate for the U.S. to meet its obligations to the world's refugees and increase the numbers of refugees accepted for resettlement. The resettlement program, once a beacon of hope, had virtually ground to a halt in the aftermath of the attacks of September 11, 2001. In FY 2002 and 2003, annual admissions were 27-28,000 each year, down from a peak of 200,000 in the early 1980s, and well below the Bush Administration's own goal of 70,000. RI is actively engaging with the Administration to identify populations for settlement, and in December 2003 saw the first of these efforts come to fruition with the decision of the Administration to accept 15,000 Hmong refugees from Thailand.
There is more than enough suffering in the world, but the staff of Refugees International never gives in to despair. In 2004 we are looking forward to help bring change for the better in the countries and regions on the verge of peace, while always being vigilant, ready to bring attention to unknown and emerging crisis situations.