Sri Lanka- Vanni Civilians held back in Ki’Linochchi in Thousands

The final stages of the military flush out operation that the Sri Lankan army conducts against the LTTE has witnessed a further rise in the civilian casualties. In its final assault on Mu’l’livaaikkaal, the Sri Lankan army has herded thousands of persons including non-combatants who had been working in the political and judicial wings of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Many have been detained in internment camps in Ki’linochchi instead of being sent to the camps in Vavuniyaa. According to available official statistics, 1,70,553 persons belonging to 56,361 families have been sent to Vavuniya internment camps until 16 May. However what would be the fate of the people staying in Ki’linochchi internment camps remain unknown.
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29435

Sri Lanka- War Crime in the Massacre of LTTE Officials

Further, reliable sources have informed TamilNet that the clash on 18 May was in reality a well-planned massacre of unarmed civil officers of the LTTE with the aim of annihilating its political structure. This has led to speculation that adherence to the international community’s prescription of surrender would have yielded the same results. The LTTE's International Relations Head S. Pathmanathan rubbished Colombo’s claim of killing V. Pirapaharan. He further alleged that the Sri Lankan army had murdered the head of LTTE’s political wing Mr. B. Nadesan and Mr. Puleedevan using deceit. The men were unarmed and carrying white flags with the intention of peace negotiations when they were shot. The incident came in the wake of the good will gesture of the LTTE where they released seven Sri Lankan prisoners of war.

UN's Ban in Kandy, Never Called It a Bloodbath, No Word on the Doctors

The visit of the UN Secretary-General Ban ki-Moon sparked much controversy. He went out of his way to emphasize that he never called Sri Lanka a ‘blood bath’. Inner City Press' questions, including those on detained doctors, were not taken or allowed. Ban’s humanitarian chief John Holmes was vague on most issues asked which ranged from overcrowding in UN camps, to suspension of humanitarian activities, to disappearance of doctors. NGOs have acknowledged that they were not in a position to stand up to the Rajapaksha government. They claim that the UN and OCHA should take up this responsibility. They in turn continue passing the buck. This is evident of a desperate attempt by UN to become relevant in the existing state of things.

A Sudden Rise in Conflict Induced Displacement in South Asia

Geetisha Dasgupta

Of late, a lot has been happening in South Asia. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have shot to overnight prominence, quickly displacing the Indian elections from the slots. After a 26 year civil war, LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed by the Sri Lankan army. And, on the other end of the South Asian territory, in Pakistan’s Swat, thousands of Sikh inhabitants have been displaced in a sweep by the Taliban to capture space in north east Pakistan frontier. Both the areas have head protracted history of conflict and displacements emanating from the latter.

What is most inconspicuous and yet probably most important during such conflicts is the huge number of people who are forced to leave their habitual places of residence and flee to newer areas, destabilizing their entire mode of survival. The problem rolls on and snowballs after the actual war situation recedes; as has been the case of Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan Government has been accused of an ethnic cleansing spree and aid officials, human rights campaigners and politicians claim, Tamils have been out of north-eastern areas by killings and kidnappings carried out by the pro-Government militia. This is not something very strange as the same happens everywhere when one particular regime of control is dissolved and replaced by another per force. In this case, the Government is said to have been encouraging members of the Sinhalese majority in the south of Sri Lanka to relocate to the north, and space is being vacated by not very good means. Reportedly, the number of Tamils disappearing around Trincomalee, 80 kilometers south of the final conflict zone in Mullaitivu, has been increasing over the last three months. One foreign charity worker said that among 15 people known to him who had disappeared, three were found dead later. The bodies exhibited signs of torture and two were found with their hands tied behind their back and single bullet wounds on their foreheads. Killing has been used as a strategy to drive out Tamils and many villagers had to move out after the army declared their land as part of a “high security zone”. There is also the habitual scampering to take over the power vacuum left by the demise of Prabhakaran. Everyone now waits to see how the Government devolves administrative and political authority to the hitherto LTTE occupied authority. There remains a huge population therefore, who are actually unguarded. There have been human rights violations during the war, which have lead to world bodies converging now for justice. But the greatest cost remains the human displacement under threat of ethnic cleansing after the already incurred huge costs of people moving on account of the war itself. Much is being said by the Sri Lankan Government about infrastructural development of the re-occupied areas. This raises eyebrows because Tamils allege that in the name of developmental work, Tamil villagers are being moved out to make way for roads, power plants and irrigation schemes while simultaneously planting Sinhalese workers in these areas with prospects of land and accommodation at zero costs.

Shifting focus to the north eastern region of Pakistan, there have now been human displacements at a compounding rate as a result of war waged by the Talibans to capture Pakistan’s Swat, Dir and Buner and the counter war against the extremists on this point by the Pakistani army with help from the US air attacks. Estimates say that there has already been a good two million people forced to move from their residences. Swat refugees have reported that they fled both because of the Taliban as well as army atrocities. The ground level working groups have been sending out SOS for doctors, nurses, community health workers for the areas housing the displaced temporarily. Many women among the IDPs are likely to give birth and therefore there is an immediate need of gynaecologists and women medical practitioners.

The fact that comes through is huge amount of human movement, with their entire households and added pressure on the national governments for arranging relief measures because outside aid comes after a lot of deliberations on the international fora and resolutions. The original problems are far from being resolved and the humanitarian costs incurred escalate every day. Moreover, in both the areas, control remains in the hands of people who are least bothered about the state and the people in context.

Michel Warschawski. 2005. On the Border. London: Pluto Press

Supurna Banerjee

The conflict between Israel and the Arab world forms one of the most consistent chronicles that characterize our post 2nd World War world. The hostility owes its existence to numerous factors. As a result much has been written about it from a wide range of perspectives. It is in this respect that the book On the Border is unique. Michel Warschawski, popularly known as ‘Mikado’ is an Israeli anti-Zionist activist and this book chronicles his experiences at what is probably one of the most volatile borders of our times, the Israel-Palestine border. The border is a construction, which he feels is central to the Jewish existence. It is the permanent questioning of the ‘us’ and the ‘them’, at the other side of the border through which he feels a Jew arrives at the quintessence of his identity. “The border is a pivotal concept in the life of every Israeli: it is a formative element in our collective life, it defines our horizons, serves as the boundary line between threat and feeling of safety and between enemies and brothers. In a country that is simultaneously a ghetto and besieged bunker, the border is omnipresent, we run into it with every step. Yes, the border is not only in the heart of each soldier, as the song says, but in the heart of each citizen of Israel, an essential part of his make up.” (p.3) However the book is not meant to be a treatise on the centrality of the border but rather the rejection of this prevailing definition of border in the Israeli psyche. For him the border is not only a place of conflict and confrontation but it offers an opportunity of fruitful exchange. It is in the dynamic and interesting dichotomy between the ‘border runner’ or one whose mission is of erasing the fractured lines and replacing them with spaces of cooperation and mutuality and the ‘border guard’ or the one looking to defend the sovereignty and security of his border from the other, that the essence of the book unfolds.

The book is divided into three parts, which in turn are divided into several chapters. Each part deals with a chapter in his life as well as that of the history of Israel. The first part traces his first encounters with border. As the book unfolds this theme is elaborated in further details. Born in Strasbourg he was familiar with borders—physical, cultural and psychological. His rejection of the role of the occupier as a consequence of the 1967 war led him to move towards the socialism and internationalism of the Israeli Socialist Organization better known as Matzpen and anti-Zionism. This formulated his perspective towards the prevailing conflict, a stance that was distinct from the traditional Israeli or even the Arab line. The internationalism, which set this group apart, placing them against the current of Israeli nationalism naturally led to ostracism. They were thus placed outside the borders of recognition and even national identity.

The rise and ebb of hope which the different stages of the Israel-Palestine relation evoked on both sides of the border, the account of his imprisonment on the charge of aiding illegal Palestinian organizations and finally the space he and his group carved out as sections of the Israel society started recognizing the futility of Zionist jingoism—all these go towards describing the different stages of the conflict. In this it also traces the fractures within the Israeli society, which he terms the ‘internal borders’. This socio-political struggle within the Israeli society cannot be reduced to a mere replica of the Arab-Israel conflict though the latter did have an impact on it.

The book is largely autobiographical, something that he himself warns the readers in the very first line. It is not so much a dispassionate recording of the facts concerning the border as it is the story of his life within the Arab-Israel conflict. It thus traces the shift in his own ideological position in his quest to find the perfect solution. His internationalism led to a vehement rejection of the ‘tribalist’ Israeli Hebrew patriotism. However the socialism he had adopted at the beginning was soon replaced by the spiritual identity with which he had begun his life. He fails to explain or rather recount what led to the loss of his religious faith in the intervening stage. This gap remains a significant lacuna in the book. In espousing his sympathy and commitment towards Palestine he had never rejected his Jewish identity. In the final analysis he remained somewhat a diasporic Jew with anti racialism and solidarity with the oppressed remaining the consistent elements in his mental make up. His solution never was an either or answer. He fought for a meaningful peace solution, which would enable the two warring countries to live side by side with friendliness and compassion. It demands the conversion of Israel into a normal state where all residents live peacefully and repatriation of the Palestinians to their country. The border in this scenario would not signify a dividing line between enemies but rather a place for fruitful exchange. The struggle was not against the Palestinians, Arabs or even Jews but against the forces of Zionism, imperialism and Arab reaction.

In the present global scenario the relevance of On the Border should be acknowledged. It provides a meaningful insight into the role of the border as a space for facilitating exchange where two disparate cultures exist side by side. The book offers a hope not only for his actual and his adopted homeland but also to all the warring communities separated by a border, which are locked in a conflict-ridden relation.

Access to Health Care for Non Citizens is a Universal Struggle

Francis Adaikalam.V

[Teaches in Department of Social Work, Loyola College, Chennai]

Almost 30,000 people in the USA are currently held in administrative detention for alleged violations of immigration law. The detainees are accommodated across more than 500 facilities, mostly state and county jails, often for periods of months or years.

The health of women in custodial facilities raises specific challenges. The USA has the highest rate of immigration in the developed world. Many migrants entering the country are extremely vulnerable, face poor working and living conditions, and have limited, if any, entitlement to health care even after their status has been declared legal. Obama announced a welcome law change: that legal immigrant pregnant women and children who have been in the country fewer than 5 years will be able to receive health benefits through the State Children's Health Insurance Program and Medicaid.

One of the major barriers to adequate health care for migrants to the USA is a lack of understanding of their specific health needs. Data for disease prevalence are rarely disaggregated by country of birth or length of residence in the USA, so American-born ethnic minorities are not distinguished from foreign-born migrants. This knowledge is crucial for targeting vulnerable communities with tailored disease-prevention programmes and treatment strategies.

The Lancet has previously praised the USA on its contribution to global health. The country's efforts to improve the health of vulnerable people in resource-poor countries around the world is immensely important, but the fact that the USA largely ignores the needs of migrants on its own doorstep is shameful. Issuing guidelines is not enough—they must be enforced through data transparency, staff training, and continuous monitoring of standards. America's failure to provide adequate health care for its migrant population risks seriously undermining President Obama's commitment to improve global health.

Full text of this editorial in the latest Lancet (Volume 373, Issue 9669, 28 March 2009-3 April 2009, Page 1053 )

Immigrants’ Choice of Place Residence: Canadian Perspective

Geetisha Dasgupta

In an intriguing news piece, the argument that whether a state should try and regulate immigrant settlement in other ways than is natural and guided by market forces, comes through. Are migrants to Canada showing tendencies of skipping past the traditional stops at the heart of big cities and in stead opting for smaller hamlets and suburban areas? “New data from the Canadian Federation of Municipalities (CFM) suggests they might be. The CFM measures social indicators in 24 of Canada's largest communities, ranging in size from Toronto and Montreal down to Regina and Sudbury. These urban centres took in 90% of all immigrants in 2002. In 2006, the figure was 83%. Most of the change was ascribable to economic-class immigrants, who make up around half of Canada's intake; the flow of refugees and family-class immigrants into the cities remained largely unchanged over the period.” What happens in the bargain is that, in stead of larger cities, which need them most, the skilled immigrants choose to settle in the outskirts, whereas, the less self sufficient ones opt for the former. The smaller municipalities are also less equipped to offer “up-front help and on-the-ground social services” that are required to attract aspiring citizens to maximize their contribution to the development of the country. “In the CFM's big-24 communities, nearly 70% of recent immigrant households are in rented accommodation. Outside them, the figure is less than 50% -- meaning that if they skip the cities, immigrants to Canada have a better-than-even chance of becoming homeowners almost immediately.” This continues to be the puzzle because, no matter what the municipalities think to be serving their own purposes, they cannot peremptorily tell the immigrants where to live and where not. The municipalities would like to have a bigger share of the tax money and also a greater say in immigration policies, but once the migrants arrive, they must be allowed to make free, informed choices of that support maximization of their own benefits.

The Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Walter Kalin, has called for more attention to be paid to some of the world's most serious displacement crises. He cited a number of the worst-affected countries, including Somalia (1.3 million IDPs), Sudan (2.7 million IDPs) and Sri Lanka, where IDPs are struggling to survive and many find themselves in a life-threatening situation due to lack of water, food and medical assistance. He also expressed concern about the Government of Sudan's recent decision to expel 13 major international humanitarian organizations and feared that the Sudanese Government would be unable to provide enough food, drinking water or basic healthcare for an extremely vulnerable population.

Tenth Session of the Human Rights Council

Shiva Dhungana

[Works at Search For Common Ground, Kathmandu]

Mr. Kalin called upon both parties to conflict in Sri Lanka to do their utmost to prevent civilian casualties and to allow for the safe evacuation of those trapped in the conflict zone. He expressed serious concern about the news regarding the use of human shields by the rebels in Sri Lanka and reminded States and armed groups to respect their obligations under human rights law and international humanitarian law, including the obligation not to arbitrarily prevent international humanitarian assistance from being delivered to those in need.
Mr. Kalin also expressed concern about impact of climate change which is expected to increase the frequency and magnitude of natural disasters and lead to more displacement. He called governments to make a greater effort to prepare for natural disasters and in particular to protect disaster-affected populations, including the displaced.

For the detailed report of the tenth session of the Human Rights Council click here
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/10session/reports.htm

In Jammu's Camps, No Relief

Aditi Bhaduri

[Is a freelance journalist based in Kolkata]
[This article was first published in www.kashmirtimes.com]

Usha Pandita, 45, feels tired even after the smallest of chores. But that's not unusual for her. She suffers from Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID). For her, it all began with abdominal pain, which she initially disregarded as routine until it steadily increased. Usha then started to notice a heavy discharge and the feeling of being perpetually run down. That was when she visited the doctor. Tests confirmed she was suffering from PID - the inflammation of the organs in the pelvic region because of infection. It is during menstruation particularly that the uterus becomes more susceptible to this condition caused by unhygienic conditions.

Usha is one of the 10,000 residents of the Purkhoo migrant camp, one of the several camps set up on the outskirts of Jammu for the Kashmiri Pandit community forced to flee the Kashmir Valley when militancy gained ground in the 1990s. From Kupwara, Usha and her family made their way to Purkhoo, which they have called home since 1990. Years have gone by and even militancy is on the wane, yet time seems to have stood still for the inhabitants of the camps. Living in a one-room pigeon hole with a family of four can be trying in itself but the lack of sanitation has only added to the woes. For women, in particular, it is horrifying.

The Purkhoo camp has four phases and each phase has around 300 to 500 rooms. There are 10 toilets each for men and women. So there is one toilet per 150 men/women. The water supply lasts only an hour each day. Every time Usha, who lives in Phase I, goes to the toilet, she walks about 150 metres. What's more, she has to carry her wash water along. But there is only that much water she can carry. On numerous occasions the water is found insufficient to keep both herself and her surroundings clean.. It is because of these abysmal facilities that she ended up with PID.

Veena Pandita, 40, also lives in the same deplorable environs of Purkhoo. She too has acute PID. Dr Indu Kaul, a well-known Jammu-based gynaecologist treating these women, explains that the symptoms for PID include abdominal pain accompanied by heavy discharge and backache. She finds that in the case of women like Usha and Veena, PID continues for years. Usha, for instance, has been suffering from it for the last four years. The medicines don't really help, as the toilet she visits roughly four times a day continues to be poorly equipped.

Unfortunately, even the medication includes heavy doses of antibiotics, the intake of which has major side effects. When PID is deep rooted then surgery is usually the final recourse. Usha has been recommended surgery but her financial condition doesn't permit the procedure. "We still have four 'kanals' (one kanal equals 605 sq. yards) left in Kupwara. We had our own 'chashm' (well) there," she recalls wistfully. She adds, "I did not have to go to a toilet that was used by hundreds of others there."

Purkhoo's water supply, too, is contaminated. Residents complain that they have to replace their utensils every few months as they get coated with a white sediment. The pipes leak at multiple locations and so germs and dirt merge with the water. Near the toilets at Phase I, there is a water hole from which people draw out water to flush. But not only is the water filthy, it is even difficult to draw it out, especially when there is a long line of people waiting for their turn to use the toilet. Although help has been hired to clean the facilities once every two days, because of insufficient water and the sheer number of users, it is impossible to maintain a basic level of hygience. Moreover, there is no electricity in the toilets, so going after dark is another hazard, especially for the women.

That's why the maximum number of cases of PID in the city come from these camps. In fact, according to Dr Kaul, while the national average of PID is six to eight per cent, the cases reported from the camps can be 15 to 20 per cent, which is extremely high. The most affected age groups are the adolescents and those above 35 years. In adolescents, chronic PID can lead to a loss of fertility, so the increasing trend is cause for alarm.

Sarla Kaul, 28, who lives in the Mishriwalla camp, a kilometre from Purkhoo, suffers from Urinary Tract Infection (UTI). The sanitation situation at Mishriwalla is worse than at Purkhoo as toilets for both men and women are common here and no one comes to clean them. Many toilets are simply holes in the ground. Sarla has UTI, caused by poor hygiene and unsanitary conditions that make her vulnerable to other infections too. Lately, she has been suffering from menstrual dysfunction, with heavy blood loss and pain around her abdominal area.

Expectant women are particularly vulnerable to UTI, as pregnancy causes hormonal changes that lead to the relaxation of the urethra, which if exposed to poor sanitary conditions is quick to contract infection. UTI leads to anaemia, itching and swelling, which could eventually endanger the life of the child. It also often retards the growth of the foetus and results in stunted babies or those with low birth weight. That was the case of the baby Rajni Raina, who is in her mid-twenties and lives in Purkhoo Camp's Phase II, gave birth too. Not surprisingly, Rajni had chronic UTI during her pregnancy. Once again, Dr Kaul points out that while the national average of UTI is about 10 to 15 per cent, it is about 20 to 30 per cent in these camps.

Besides this there are other water-borne diseases prevalent here. Shetu Pandita, 17, of Purkhoo, has been ailing from a recurring hepatitis for the last five years. As has Puneet Bhatt, 16, of Mishriwalla - since he was 10, in fact. According to the World Health Organization, 80 per cent of such cases are caused by lack of safe water and sanitation. Five of the 10 top diseases of children are also related to water and sanitation. According to Dr K.L. Chowdhury, of Jammu, Hepatitis A and E are common in the camps. Again, in pregnant women, Hepatitis is particularly dangerous as it can put the lives of both the mother and child at risk.

The Third South Asian Conference on Sanitation held in New Delhi recently called for according priority to sanitation and reiterated that sanitation and safe drinking water are basic rights. Such declarations need to be translated into a reality if life is to improve for women like Usha and Veena, who are rendered without proper homes because of the politics of division and hate.

Parreñas, Rhacel Salazar. 2001. Servants of Globalisation. Women, Migration, and Domestic Work. California: Stanford University Press

Ishita Dey

The focus of this work is on migrant Filipina domestic workers through a comparative understanding of their migration and settlement in two highly populated and most popular destinations of Filipino Migrants; Rome and Los Angeles. Philippines share a common colonial history with both these places and these cities in their own way had a strong economic and cultural influence on the life of Philippines. This study departs from the other ethnographic works on Filipina domestic workers in Hong Kong and Saudi Arabia because as Parreñas (2001) points out “ the movements of domestic workers into these two countries are for the most part informal streams that are not monitored by the state” (Parreñas 2001: 2). The processes and experiences of Filipina domestic workers are explored through four key institutions of migration- the nation-state, family, labour market and the migrant community. The findings of the study suggest similarities in “dislocations” in different “contexts of receptions”. Such similarity lies in their shared role as low wage labourers in global capitalism (ibid: 3).

There are historical differences in migration patterns of Filipina domestic workers to Rome and Los Angeles. Filipino migration to Los Angeles began in 1920s compared to their counterparts in Italy who started migrating in 1970s. This comparative study sets out to argue through experiences of dislocation in the context of labour diaspora as the particular result of global restructuring vis-à-vis Philippines. Global restructuring according to the author implies “economic reconstitution” influenced by the transnational corporatism and postnational finance capitalism. This resulted in restructuring of the global service sector and increase in the demand of the low wage service labour in areas of highly specialized professionals. “… Global restructuring engenders multiple migration flows of female workers entering domestic work and results in globalisation of this occupation” (ibid: 9). Restructuring of economies has produced economies of migrant populations particularly engaged in low-skilled work. In some cases the sending countries, control train and regulate the process of migration and in some cases it is based on familial and other networks. Whatever be the pattern of migration there exist a notion of “Filipina” in the labour migration map. The Filipina migrants are bound to share similar experiences of dislocations across geographical boundaries and most of this experience centers on “partial citizenship”.

The book is divided into seven chapters. The first chapter puts forth the theoretical perspective; and the dislocations of Migrant Filipina Domestic Workers. The second and third chapter addresses the experiences of the migrant Filipina Domestic workers. The second chapter puts forward the partial citizenship Filipina domestic workers shares vis-a vis the nation state. The third chapter is titled “International division of reproductive labour” – where she highlights that “migrant Filipina domestic workers are in the middle of the three –tier hierarchy of the international transfer of caretaking”(ibid: 73). She argues that Filipina domestic workers are in the middle of the three-tier hierarchy. On one hand, migration enables the women to escape traditional gender roles in Philippines and on the other hand, it is interesting to examine how the “gender roles” shift and transfer between the women posited at two poles of global capitalism. A unique relationship is created between the migrant women and the women of greater resources which redefines the relationship between the “care” and the commodified reproductive labour. The following chapters i.e., Chapter 4 and 5 explores how migration produces and recreates structures in the context of transnational family. Chapter 6 interrogates the power relations between the domestics and employers followed by the concluding chapter on experiences of dislocations of migrant workers in Rome and Los Angeles.

This book is an interesting account of the restructuring of the lives of the Filipina domestic workers in the context of global capitalism. The study reveals the multiple variables that control their experiences and inform the process of subject formation in Rome and Los Angeles.

Government of Assam to Buy Land to Rehabilitate 12000 Families

Government of Assam has decided to buy around 4,000 bighas (around 650 hectares) of land across the state to rehabilitate 12,000 families who have been living in relief camps in Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar districts since becoming displaced in 1996 or 1998. Over 48,000 families were forced to flee their homes and take shelter in camps following a series of ethnic clashes between Bodo and Adivasi tribespeople in the two districts. The move became necessary after earlier attempts to rehouse the displaced were blocked by strong objections from local groups and the lack of suitable government land. This led to government plans to buy land across the state from private parties to resettle the IDPs.

For details please click on the link

http://www.internaldisplacement.org/8025708F004D31AA/(httpIDPNewsAlerts)/ADD72216BC1C9135C125756200613D94?OpenDocument#anchor1

UN Rapporteur Criticises Indian Record on Displaced Groups

The UN’s Human Rights Council has criticised the government of India for denying justice to victims of the 2002 Gujarat riots, and reported that, with investigations in cases of communal violence delayed and partisan, “the miserable plight of those internally displaced from their homes continues.” The report by the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief Asma Jahangir, which follows a fact-finding mission to India in 2008, notes increasing ghettoisation and isolation of Muslims in certain areas of Gujarat.

In addition, the report refers to Kashmiri Pandits who had to flee the Kashmir Valley in the 1990s as a result of communal violence, and many of whom remain displaced. It also highlights the widespread violence in Orissa state in 2007 and 2008 which targeted Christians in Dalit and tribal communities and led to around 20,000 people moving to relief camps and more than 40,000 hiding in forests. The Special Rapporteur was profoundly alarmed at the humanitarian situation in Orissa’s relief camps where access to food, safe drinking water, medical care and adequate clothing were reportedly lacking.

For details please click on the link

http://www.internaldisplacement.org/8025708F004D31AA/(httpIDPNewsAlerts)/ADD72216BC1C9135C125756200613D94?OpenDocument#anchor1

In the Char Lands, People without Clean Water

Aditi Bhaduri

I wonder what is going through Nirmala Bibi's mind as she looks on at the tranquil River Padma. After a few moments, she says, "Bodo ashanti te acchi, ma (There is no peace). I have twice lost my home to this river; the river can be so cruel, it gives life and it takes life just as easily."

Nirmala Bibi is only too aware of the cruelties a mighty life-giving river is capable of inflicting. Around 50, she is now settled at Moushmari village, which has a population of 5,000. The village is located on Nirmalchar, a riverine island located on the outskirts of Murshidabad in West Bengal. The island was formed in 1980 when the River Padma - as the Ganges is known in the region - changed course, which is a frequent occurrence. Due to heavy siltation, the river that forms the natural boundary between India and Bangladesh, often changes course.

When the dry riverbeds that form the islands disappear because of erosion, thousands of people lose their homes. Incidentally, this region is one of the most densely populated areas in the world. According to the 2001 Census, there are around 12,000 people inhabiting Nirmalchar, currently spread over an area of five-six kilometres north to south; and 10-12 kilometres east to west.

Akhrigang is the nearest town on the mainland. It is around five kilometres away, and is separated by a shallow drain formed when a branch of the river suddenly started making inroads. People have to cross this to reach the mainland, which is extremely tough during the monsoon when it gets totally submerged.

Besides living under the constant fear of losing their homes, the inhabitants of Nirmalchar have to fight a host of other problems. The villages here, around 11 in number, have no electricity. Water, too, is the cause for nightmares: in the summer women have to travel a distance and stand in long queues to fetch water; in the monsoon, the water comes into their homes and stagnates, causing many health problems, especially for the women. Sanitation facilities - drains, toilets, taps and groundwater sources - are non-existent. "On the one hand, there is an excess of water, the cause of so much of our sorrow and unhappiness. On the other, we suffer from the lack of it," laments Nirmala Bibi.

Manjura Bibi, 34, who is also from Moushmari, faces similar difficulties. Manjura's husband works as a daily wager in Kolkata and although she misses him, she says she feels safe as she has three sons. Two of her husband's brothers and their families also live nearby. They all share a common toilet, located about 500 metres from their house. It is simply a hole dug in the ground, enclosed by a half-broken thatched wall. Manjura and the other women of her extended family wake up before dawn and attend to nature's call. But as there is no water in their toilet, they have to carry in small pots to wash themselves. Periodically they cover up the toilet hole with sand and soil.

The source of the water they use lies 700 metres away on the other side of her hut. There is a shallow hand pump there and Manjura fetches water from the pump and stores it for drinking, bathing and cleaning. When she has to do the laundry, she takes the clothes and washes them at the tubewell.

It's a similar story for Mariam Khatun, 26, and her family of seven. She too fetches precious water from one of the shallow pumps in the village and stores it for drinking and washing. The toilet her family uses is also just a hole. This, in fact, is how people in most villages on the 'char' (riverine island) live. The 11th Five Year Plan has set 2012 as the year by which universal sanitation coverage in the country would be achieved by building over 70 million household toilets in rural areas. But for the people here, this would appear a cruel dream.

Not surprisingly, in such unsanitary conditions, infections and diseases are rampant. According to community health worker Shampa Mondol, the lack of hygiene is the greatest cause for disease in Moushmari. "People do not take regular baths. Women frequently complain of pain in the abdomen and uterus, urinary tract infections, herpes, and general itching and sores," she reveals. Mondol complains that she has a tough time explaining to the women the importance of keeping themselves clean. But, asks Mariam, how can one take regular baths when water has to be ferried from faraway pumps after standing in long queues? It is impossible to keep the toilets clean. Ablutions before prayers are enough to keep one clean, she argues.

The summer months are particularly bad. While in the cooler months, the water level is at 50 feet below the ground, by April it would have descended to 80 feet. When this happens the queues at pumps only grow longer and the job of pumping the water out becomes more arduous. Manjura says she often has chest pain during summer because she has to put in so much effort to draw the water out and it leaves her gasping for breath.

During the monsoon, the scenario is quite the opposite. "The hand pumps are submerged and water comes right into our homes and stays there for days, as there is no drainage," says Nirmala. And it is this muddy water that is used for household needs. Although Mondol says halogen tablets are distributed during the season, deaths due to diarrhoea are not uncommon, as a proper healthcare system on the 'char' is non-existent. Moushmari has no chemist and the nearest health centre is four kilometres away in Munshurpur village, at the other end of the island. The village has seen several deaths of under-fives due to diarrhoea because the children couldn't get treatment in time. Although there are eight government Integrated Child Development Service (ICDS) centres on the 'char', not one of them is operational. Further, the villagers say no health worker comes during the floods.

Women are especially vulnerable during the monsoon. During menstruation, they use cloth that they wash and reuse. When the cloth doesn't dry in the rains, many end up using the damp material, which in turn aggravates problems like urinary tract infections.

Despite these serious problems faced by the people of Nirmachar, no help has come their way, either from the government or the voluntary sector, with the money allocated for development remaining unutilised. There are no health centres and Mondol is the only Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) in the area despite government rules mandating three ANMs. That is why the residents often feel abandoned. Swadesh Majumdar, Block Development Officer, cites the shortage of trained medical staff as the reason for the lack of facilities. But Nirmala Bibi speaks for many when she says, "We are cursed to be born on this land."

—(Courtesy: Women's Feature Service)

“Cursed to Survive”

Francis Adaikalam

[Teaches at the Department of Social Work, Loyola College, Chennai]

The article by Aditi Bhaduri in Kashimiri Times clearly shows daily the lives of people who brave their effort to face nature. Specifically it brings into forefront the challenges women face in managing their everyday life when they are forced to relocate due to nature’s fury.

It details out a place called Nirmalchar, Murshidabad in West Bengal which has 12,000 people according to 2001 Census. This riverine island is formed due to flooding in the river and it spreads over an area of five-six kilometres north. The area is quite densely populated lacks all basic amenities like evicted people in urban spaces.

The writer depicts how women get the burden in managing families. Story of Nirmala Bibi’s shows the ever ending fear psychosis people put up with on being evicted. Millions in urban space increasingly feel such constant fear too. One can draw parallel with the evicted people in urban space- for want of beautification of cities- who have to fight a host of problems in their new settlement colonies as the inhabitants of Nirmalchar due to water. Issues like water and sanitation are pertinent to both the spaces and the only respite in Nirmalchar is that one can witness plenty of water yet non usable.

An Investment in Peace

Aditi Bhaduri

[Currently working as a freelance journalist based in Kolkata]

Aditi Bhaduri re-examines the significance of dialogue and community participation through personal narratives of women of the conflict ridden Kashmir valley. She unravels the personal trauma through the reading of the film “Athwas: a Journey”. It is a 30-minute documentary in English, Urdu, Hindi and Kashmiri, with English subtitles, produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT). The article about the film has been reproduced from The Hindu, Magazine 1 March 2009.

Rebuilding Relationships: Highlighting what was once a Common History and Heritage

For those who know her, Ashima Kaul is an avowed secularist, committed to non-violence and communal harmony. She is simultaneously acknowledging and proud of her Hindu heritage as she is of her Kashmiri identity. “I feel more comfortable with Kashmiri Muslims than with non-Kashmiri Hindus,” she says candidly.

Yet when in the winter of 1996 Kaul, now a resident of Delhi, made that long journey back to her native Baramullah, she found relationships frozen. What greeted her were deafening silences — of gutted and abandoned Kashmiri Hindu houses and Muslim graveyards where tombstones jostled with each other for space. Kaul’s intense pain set her off on a path, different from those of political rhetoric and militarised spaces.

A Personal Battle

In the memorable winter of 2008, as more and more Kashmiri women battled it out in the political space, contesting elections and casting their ballot, another Kashmiri woman has launched her own battle — for dialogue and rebuilding relationships. Kaul has just captured on film the turbulent and moving journey of Athwas — an initiative of Kashmiri women. In 2000, “Women in Security, Conflict Management and Peace”, a Delhi-based initiative of the Foundation for Universal Responsibility, brought together a few Kashmiri women from diverse backgrounds who had experienced conflict in different ways. The idea was to enable them to listen to each other.

The rationale — for women the personal inevitably blurs into the political and it is the feminist principles of compassion and healing, of reaching out to the other that ultimately triumph. The group called itself “Athwaas” meaning ‘handshake’ in Kashmiri. The core group of Athwaas later travelled to different parts of the Valley and also to the camps of the displaced Kashmiri Pandits in Jammu, listening to the stories of pain, suffering and, also, of resilience.

“Athwas: a Journey” is a 30-minute documentary in English, Urdu, Hindi and Kashmiri, with English subtitles, produced by Public Service Broadcasting Trust (PSBT). It does not attempt to explore the roots of either the militancy that erupted in the Kashmir valley or the state reprisals that followed. It apportions blame to no one. It simply deals with and tries to heal the trauma that haunts the inhabitants of every community living in the valley. A gendered narrative of the collective trauma of Kashmir’s people, it highlights the fact that there remains a constituency for peace. It uses the only methodology that works: dialogue. Interviews with women of different faiths and communities, from different walks of life, lawyers, social workers, students, teachers and housewives build up the many personal histories that comprise the complicated issue of Kashmir and its multiple realities.

No One View

The film steers clear of simplistic reductionisms like innocent Kashmiris vs. iron-fisted state or that of Kashmiri terrorists vs. Mother India. All are given space and no one view is privileged over the other. The camera highlights the changed silhouette of Srinagar where police checkpoints and barbed wire have been integrated into the landscape.

But Kaul does not stop there. The camera zooms in on narrow filthy alleyways and claustrophobic one-roomed tenements where adults flee away from the lens of the camera — ashamed of the reality of their current lives.

New Geography

A new kind of geography came up on the outskirts of Jammu too in the wake of the armed insurgency in Kashmir and Kaul captures on film the “migrant camps” that sprouted overnight to accommodate fleeing Kashmiri Hindus from the valley. Purkhoo, Mutthi, Mishriwalla still tragically remains unknown and unheard of words for a majority of Indians and, of course, for the world at large. Yet they accommodate camps where live, what till today remains India’s largest ethnically cleansed population, the Kashmiri Hindus. The coming new year will see them enter their 20th year in exile without any signs of repatriation to Kashmir in sight.

“Athwaas: A Journey” tries to highlight what was once a shared space, a common history and heritage. The haunting strains of the azaan blend in with the joyful chiming of bells from the Shankaracharya temple. The voice of Mir Munir, a Muslim poet and singer singing the vaks of Lalla Ded, a Shaivite mystic who 700 years ago had implored Kashmiris to remember that Shiva lived in all beings often forms the backdrop to the interviews. Kaul has attempted, through dialogue and personal narratives, to bridge the fissures that erupted in this shared space and to bring back a fast fading syncretism that had been the dominant way of life in the not-so-distant past of the Kashmir valley.

Access to Health Care for Refugees in New Delhi

Sahana Basavapatna

[Currently working on the Refugee Program in a Delhi based organization, The Other Media]

Introduction

What should the standard of health care for refugees be in an urban area? How should the policy be framed and how should this policy be implemented? These are some of the question that this article seeks to answer, based on the experience of working with Burmese refugees in New Delhi. It is not an exhaustive study of the access to health care in a metropolitan city like Delhi but is based on some hands on experience of our attempt to facilitate health care services in case of serious illness.

In countries like India, which has neither ratified the UN Convention on the Status of Refugees, 1951 nor has adopted a refugee protection and rights legislation, refugees come within the mandate of UNHCR. Although the Government of India informally recognizes refugee status and allows them to live within its territory, it formally does not take the responsibility to care for refugees in areas of employment, education, health care, social security and other areas. Be that as it may, experiences of negoitation with state institutions that are mandated to provide basic services speak of the various ways in which the State may or may not aid refugees while they stay in the host country. It is for this reason that the role of UNHCR and its Implementing/Operational Partners become important, not only as a pressure group but also as an agency that would support and facilitate refugee protection and assistance in the city.


The Problem

Health care for Burmese refugees 1 in New Delhi comes under the mandate of UNHCR with the responsibility of implmenting the policy and programs delegated to Implementing Partner, the YMCA. Refugees are encouraged to access Government hospitals for treatment as they are free. Additionally, YMCA in discharging its support functions provides translators, community health workers, a shuttle service from select points to the hospital, and psychosocial support for unaccompanied minors and women. Lastly, doctors in YMCA provide primary health care facilities and reimbursement of costs of medicines on submitting the medical prescription and bills. Thus, although refugees have an avenue in accessing government hospitals and health centres, serious health issues often go untreated due to monetary constraints.

The question then is, what should be the nature of support and assistance in ensuring that health issues do not go untreated?


A Way Out, But What Lessons Does this Example Teach Us?

A recent experience would help raise some of these concerns. In September 2008, the Desk was approached by a 78 year old Chin refugee seeking assistance for immediate heart surgery for a pacemaker. A recognized refugee, he lives with his two children, does not earn and is supported by an allowance of Rs. 1400 by UNHCR New Delhi.

This request led us to get in touch with the Government hospital which had earlier diagnosed him 2 where it was recommended that the patient be admitted at once. This is relevant and indicates the extent of confusion and lack of clarity on the ways in which health becomes an accessible service on part of both the patient and the hospital. This is an example of the little knowledge about refugees and their situation amongst people generally and institutions such as these in particular. On the other hand, the Desk on its part assumed that admission was not possible because the patient not only does not have the monetary resources for such a surgery 3 but is also a non citizen, meaning that he would not be entitled to free medical services for surgeries such as these that cost a lot of money. The refugees themselves, more often than not, intimidated by the way in which government hospitals such as these work – lack of information that is readily available, the little time that doctors usually have for patients in a typical situation, and lack of sufficient knowledge about the bureaucratic nature of these institutions.

The hospital was infromed about these constraints such as the paucity of financial resources and lack of proof proof indicating his economic status such as a BPL Card or a Ration card. We were told that admission and free treatment would be possible if we could submit an Income Certificate 4 from the Sub-Divisional Magistrate 5. With the assistance of Socio-Legal Information Centre, one of the Implmenting Partners, the patient was received the Income Certificate and within 2 months was admitted to the hospital. A “Purchase Committee” assessed his file and agreed to assisting the patient. At the time of writing this article, the patient is back home with a successful surgery.

Some points are worth highlighting from this experience. It brings to the fore, questions of the extent and nature of health care and assitance available to refugees generally in India. This is perhaps the first time that a refugee with negligible income is able to get treated free of cost for major illness/health condition.

Long Term Implications

What does this experience imply for refugee communities, the UNHCR and the Government in the long run. Perhaps the hospital on its part addressed this issue in the manner it did purely from a medical point of view, oblivious to other legal and policy considerations 6. If an income certificate is the only hurdle between poor refugees and access to these services, this should become part of the health policy and be disseminated across all refugee communities.

The Role of the Implementing Partners in their “Support” Functions

The YMCA and SLIC have an important role to play to ensure that specialized health care becomes a reality. Thus, while not only ensuring that information about the procedures involved in applying for an income certificate and helping refugees acquire them would have to be undertaken by them on a regular basis, their role in equipping community social workers and community health workers to “work” the health care system would also be crucial. Similar would be the role of other NGOs in this regard.

Community Health Workers would need to be trained in not only language skills but also on the nature of the health care system and the way it operates. Often refugees are frustrated by the way they are treated in the hospitals, not knowing that Indians run the risk of an indifferent hospital staff equally. This leads to a feeling of discrimination and hostility towards the Indians which could be avoided.

However, a team of Burmese community health care workers unaccompanied by Indians would not help in building capacities of the Burmese in the long run.

The Role of the Burmese Community

This also highlights the importance of language skills amongst all refugees despite knowing well that not all are able to learn either Hindi or English well. From our experience, most of the Community Health Workers are ill-equipped to deal with these situations on their own.

Conclusion

The question as to the nature of assistance and the standard of health care for refugees is one that the UNHCR itself is trying to answer. While the perspective that refugees should access the existing system without the need for establishing parallel system specifially for refugees is appreciated, what is clearly lacking in New Delhi is a well thought out system of equipping refugees and local authorities to deal with the fact that refugees would always have the need to access basic services, notwithstanding the lack of governement policy in this regard. For the Burmese community in particular, pressure on the Government on the question of health care is another way of bringing their concerns to the fore, in a situation where relations between India and Burma are warm to the exclusion of any concern for human rights and and democracy in Burma.

Notes

1.This example would also apply to any other refugee seeking similar assistance.
2.G B Pant Hospital in North Delhi.
3.A pacemaker costs Rs 45,000 or Rs. 60,000 depending on what the patient opts. In a private hospital, there would be additional expenses of rent for the bed and medicines etc.
4.An income certificate is issued in about three weeks. An application is made to the Sub-Divisional Magistrate by submitting a copy of the ration card, an affidavit regarding residence, occupation, property owned and income. A local enquiry is conducted by the office and the certificate issued on submission of the Report.Refer http://www.delhigovt.nic.in/dept/pubserv/Income.asp#q1 (accessed 8 March 2009)
5.Each district in Delhi is under the charge of the (). It is further divided into sub-division with each such sub-division under the charge of a Sub-Divisional Magistrate.
6.I would like to thank my colleague, Mr Leo Fernandez for bringing out this point while discussing this matter with him.

The Kakuma News Reflecter

The Kakuma News Reflector, Known as KANERE, is a new refugee newsletter develoted to independent reporting on numan rights and encampment in Kakuma Refugee Camp, Kenya. 'In exercising a refugee free prese, we speak in respect of human rights and the rule of law in order to create a more open society in refugee camps and to develop a forum for fair public debate on refugee affairs'. For many refugees who feel imprisoned in Kakuma Camp, KANERE represents a hope for change.
Please log on to www.kakuma.wordpress.com for details.

Report on Global Network of Migrants and Remitters

TIGRA has just published a report from the La Liga network's delegation to the GFMD (Global Forum on Migration and Development) held on October 18-31, 2008 in the Philippines. This report reflects the ongoing discussions on the vision of a global network of migrants and remitters, La Liga, and how TIGRA's corporate social responsibility campaign can be translated to the context of Asia.
You can find more information on La Liga at: www.laligaglobal.org

NTS- Asia Research Fellowship

The Consortium of Non-Traditional Security Studies in Asia (NTS-Asia) invites applications for a 3-month Research Fellowship Programme, which will commence in July 2009. The research fellowship comes with a stipend of US$ 8,000 (all inclusive for the duration of the fellowship). Three positions are available for 2009-2010. The positions are intended for outstanding active researchers working on a wide range of non-traditional security issues (NTS) in Asia. Young scholars are encouraged to apply.

Successful candidates can choose to conduct their research at any of the 14 founding NTS-Asia member institutes located in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia.

NTS-Asia Research Fellows are expected to produce at least one publication at the end of the fellowship period. Interested applicants are invited to send their applications via e-mail by the 13th of April 2009
For details log on to http://www.rsis-ntsasia.org/activities/research-fellowship.html.

Thai Soldiers Force the Illegal Migrants from Bangladesh Back Out to Sea in Boats without Engines

This was another instance of inhuman treatment and securitization of borders in South Asia. Thousands of Burmese and Bangladeshis try to migrate to Thailand in search of work. Around 500 migrants from Bangladesh had reportedly paid Thai agents so that they could enter upon and have a better life in Thailand.

According to their accounts, they headed from Bangladesh to Thailand when their boats were intercepted around December 27, 2008 by Thai naval ships. They were detained with hundreds of other migrants for several days on a deserted Thai island in the Andaman Sea. It was reported that Thai soldiers tied the hands and then put them boats without engines. The only response from Thailand was a proposal to hold a conference to prevent the mass migration — and resulting suffering — of refugees after the Thai navy was accused of brutally mistreating boat people from Bangladesh.

Details of the report can be found on
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7830710.stm
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jF54s_oslzJMcV8N_Tgb7oL5ZLYgD95TARU05


People on the Run

According to Rajan Hoole, the capture of Kilinochchi in late December and the Mullaitivu ‘command hub’ in late January by government forces marked another milestone in the unending saga of Tamil refugees. From mid-2007, the bulk of the LTTE was confined to the Vanni, fighting in the last block of land under its control. By now, this war, running 30 years, during which the social fabric of the engaged societies has been shredded, has been shown to be futile. The civilians have been subject to Government and LTTE control and these people has been subject of state surveillance on ethnic grounds which show the lack of political will. Rajan Hoole further points out that in the Vanni, those who fled the LTTE were confined to detention centers, officially misnamed as ‘welfare centers’. One aspect confirming the prison status of these camps is the fact that families are not allowed to seek shelter with host families, hitherto a common arrangement for the displaced in Sri Lanka. People who had made arrangements to go abroad before they were displaced – such as young women whose fiancés were waiting for them – were also not allowed to leave. (After some delay, however, university students have been allowed to move out.). The people of the Vanni are now divided into three main groups: those who have escaped to India; those confined to camps south of Vanni by the Government and kept in isolation; and the estimated 2,50,000 within the shrinking LTTE-controlled area, living without proper care and shelter, and regularly subjected to army bombing and shelling. Recently some have also begun escaping north to the Jaffna Peninsula – an open-air prison. He feels that the recent developments should be read as a link between ideology, displacement, and political and military strategy. First is the Sinhalese nationalist extremist viewpoint that the island belongs to the Sinhalese, and is sacred to Buddhism. Second, there is the Tamil nationalist extremism. Although having violently marginalized the opposition among the Tamils, the LTTE was no match for the resources of the Sri Lankan state. An important factor has been the persistent absence of mature political leadership in the Sinhalese south.

Details of the report can be found on
http://www.himalmag.com/A-people-on-the run_nw2819.html


Rohingya People from Myanmar at the Thai Shores

It is a quite common incident that Rohingya people from Myanmar appear in boatfuls at the Thai shores. But as the Thai Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban said recently, Thailand has no plans of opening camps for these boat people and would continue to uphold its policy of deporting them. The migrants would be given humane treatment, including provision for food and water, but would be subsequently deported as illegal aliens on shore. The Deputy added, “…We cannot afford carrying the burden of taking care of another 200,000-300,000 people…”
All these have come freshly under the limelight following reports of serial abuse of the stateless Muslim minority, the Rohingyas, from Myanmar’s northwest by the Thai military. Indonesia is currently questioning 198 Rohingya refugees who were found floating in a boat off the coast of Aceh for 21 days.

The Thai army has already admitted towing hundreds far out to sea before abandoning them. There are also allegations of their boat engines being sabotaged. Of 1,000 Rohingya given such treatment since early December, 550 are apprehended to have died. There have also been protests from within the Thai people against accepting the Rohingyas into their society. The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) says, 230,000 Rohingya now live a precarious, stateless existence in Bangladesh, having fled decades of abuse and harassment at the hands of Myanmar's Buddhist military rulers.

For details, look into:
http://in.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idINIndia-37830220090204?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0

For some more news, look into:
http://www.probenewsmagazine.com/index.php?index=2&contentId=4828

Globalization & Challenges to Building Peace Ed. By Ashok Swain, Ramses Amer & Joakim Öjendal Published by Anthem Press, 2007 ISBN 978-1-84331-287-1

Ishita Dey

This book is a compilation of some of the papers presented at Annual Conference of the Swedish Network of Peace, Conflict and Development Research, sponsored by the Swedish International Development Corporation Agency through its Department for Research Collaboration. The book is set against the backdrop of the changing notions of “war” and “development”. As the editors argue in the introduction and rightly put it that the nature of “war” has become intra state and “development” has shifted to tapping of neo-liberal global order in the most efficient way possible. This shifting pattern of development has led to cooption of strategies that have led to marginalisation of a large number of people which has resulted in intra state conflict. One of the widely suggested copying mechanisms to this effect has been the invention of “repairing”, “reconstructing and reconciliatory” policy approaches (pp 1). Though this approach was propounded by the UN system; its significance and implementation is set against the cold war period. Thus, the very nature of peace building efforts in the context of globalization needs to be revisited because the process of peace building as our experiences of history reflect does not end with disarmament, ceasefire, election monitoring, restoration of democracy, repatriation of refugees or even monitoring conflicts through peacekeeping forces but lies at the success of societal stability and reconstruction. The chapters in this volume through peace projects undertaken in Asia, Africa, Balkans and the Middle East address the challenges of peace projects.

One of the crucial challenges of peace building is its stability and Oliver P Richmond reopens this debate through a detailed examination of genealogy of the ‘problem of peace’ within the liberal peace framework. The liberal peace framework is comprised of four strands: victor’s peace project, constitutional peace project, civil society peace project and institutional peace project. One of the crucial attempts is to develop a peace consensus and often the bottom –up approach versions of peace building, contests the top down approach of the state and other machineries which guides and controls the manufacturing of peace consensus. There are several other graduations of liberal peace and these are reflected in the role of international agencies and states in Iraq, Afhghanistan, Somalia, Kosovo etc. While negotiation seems to be the underlying strategy of liberal peace project, preemptive self-defense is also seen as a measure to resolve conflict and attain peace. Ramses Amser explores the ongoing debate on pre-emptive self-defense and the policies adopted by U.S. specifically in the National Security strategies of 2002 and 2006 which are geared more towards preventive use of force than the use of force in self-defense (pp10). The role of the international community in peace building is revisited as notions of hierarchy, relations of power percolate in situations of conflict where populations are forced to cross borders. In this context Patrick Johansson argues whether refugee repatriation is an essential condition for peace. The role of diasporas in civil wars in their homelands is a much debated one. Ideals of territorial sovereignty often guide certain sections to enrage with extremist activities and certain groups to engage in peace building efforts. Katarina Månsson and Annika Björkdahl explore the role of the UN missions in depth in Chapter 8 and 9 respectively. It is not only important to revisit the treaties, policies and role of international communities in building peace but also to understand the causes of conflicts.

The causes of civil wars in Africa are multi- layered and it requires efforts that are long driven and not short cut. Linnea Bergholm in this study argues that a generalized understanding of the causes of war is insufficient to understand regional conflicts; for eg in Nepal as illustrated in Chapter 13 by JY Rotberg where control of natural resources such as forests and cropland leads to interstate conflicts. The book ends with a fascinating account of the security challenges posed by the opium and other illegal narcotics in the Northeast Asian Region. China remains the vulnerable region in this context.

This book to sum up raises the problematic that underlies “peace” in the context of democracy and globalisation. Is globalisation about creating a new force and new empire of regulation and regulatory mechanisms that will control and guide the international community? Is it resurfacing a new era of colonization through institutional mechanisms of “peace” keeping and restoration efforts? The chapter on Palestinian- Hamas movement deals with the problematic that underlie democracy and democratic peace process. Is democratic peace process another way of co-option and monopolization of global south by global north? How are we to situate ourselves, as our borders become more intra territorial rather than cartographic division between landmass? The ethnic divisions, religious divide and political processes guide the discourses on peace and globalisation and any critical approach to “peacebuilding” need to take into account these factors.

Regulating Citizenship: Politics of ‘Check-In’ and ‘Check-Out’ in Mizoram, India

Anup Shekhar Chakraborty

[Lecturer in the Department of Political Science, St. Joseph’s College (University Department, North Bengal University), North Point, Darjeeling-734104, West Bengal. Email: anup_105@rediffmail.com; ascoty2000@yahoo.co.in; ascoty2000@gmail.com]

The notion of Citizenship in ‘Northeast’ more so in Mizoram, is channelled by the politics of inclusion and exclusion. The partition of the Sub-Continent aggravated the geo-political isolation of the North-East and propelled the mushrooming of ethno-cultural consciousness. The emergence of divergent claims of people over land and its resources; dug deep into the consciousness of people to tease out challenges and assertions. A yearning for definition of a native, immigrant and insider became necessary coupled with a desire to prove original inhabitance. Interestingly in the North East these issues cause friction not only at the macro level i.e. mainland versus heartland but also at the micro level i.e. North East versus North East. Further, though it is simpler to understand the debate in terms of protecting the “Self” from the outsiders, yet the usage of the term “Self” in a tribal context is itself debatable. Here the individual gains his identity through the collective and historical identity of the tribe which has been preserved and transferred through generations. Hence, the notion of “Self” transcends to that of collective good and rights rather than individual benefit.

A bird’s eye view on the ‘Vai’ and the politics of “Regulating Citizenship”

This concept of outsider is seen as prevailing across the North East, albeit under different names. In Mizoram, the term ‘Vai’ is used to denote people from mainland India, who have Aryan features. It evokes mixed feelings of contempt, distrust, mockery and envy. For the Mizos, the term Vai as an out-group has three broad meanings. In one sense, all non-Mizos including the British with reference to the ‘Raj’ were deemed as Vai. In the second sense, all the people living in the plains of India are Vai. In the third sense, the word associates the Burmese living in the plains to be Vai but in contrast to the Indian, the notion is more positive and traditional 1.

The inflow of the ‘Vai’ in present day Mizoram has a strong colonial linkage 2. The gradual yet sure, entry of the ‘Vai’ into the Zo/Mizo economy: provided for a greater degree of interaction between the ‘Vai’ and Zo/Mizo women 3 . The arena of economics, thus became the realm for the activities of Women and ‘Others’, i.e. for all those who were excluded from the realms of spirituality and politics. The Zo/Mizo patriarchy under the impact of Christian traditions began to view economics and the notions of business and that of profit to be both sensuous and materialistic and linked them with the notions of ‘original sin and sexuality’ and everything signified by the word ‘Khawvel’ (worldly) 4.

The post-colonial Zo/Mizo politics propelled by the Politics of the Pan Optics 5 relied heavily on the youth and students’ organizations like the Young Mizo Association (YMA), the Khristian Thalai Pawl (KTP) and also the Mizo Zirlai Pawl (MZP) for ‘systemic or structural control’. ‘Vai Ban’ (Bandhs) 6 for instance, is the most often sought mechanism for “Regulating Citizenship” and controlling the flow of the Vai in Mizoram. These ‘Vai Bandhs’ are often preceded by ‘quit Mizoram notices’ to the non-tribals. For instance, in 2004 the YMA served notices to the non-Mizos to quit Mizoram within a month 7. These Bandhs, can stretch from 12 hours to 48 hours or more and the ‘Vai’ are subtly directed to stay in-doors (invisible) and restrain from venturing out-doors (outdoors) for the sake of their own “safety”. Defying the diktat is followed by physical assaults and mob fury; not surprisingly the victims i.e. the petty migrant labourers mostly from Cachar and Bihar are rounded-off by the Police in lock-ups. Evidently, this is a systematic process of making the ‘Vai’ invisible and the Zo/ Mizo as the visible majority.

An interesting occurrence that takes place post-Vai-Bandh, is that women either as individuals or as organizations, along with the Y.M.A, K.T.P and other such organizations visit these lock-ups and offer eggs, bread and tea to those who faced the brunt of mob fury. From a communitarian perspective, this action can be viewed as the perpetrators of violence taking the role of healers. However, apart from the draconian Armed Forces Special Powers Act (AFSPA), the North East is considered to be a better home for gender equity than many other States in the country. It is an undeniable fact that the realms of women and men are always clearly demarcated in any society. Stereotypically, the role of the healer is “reserved” for women while men justify violence in the name of protection.

Thus, women are directly not party to the actions of their men and may even disagree with them but, given their operating spaces they often follow the decision of their men. The high moralistic standards applied to women also, make them the best targets to “hurt your enemy where it hurts the most”. Further, women may be entrusted with the responsibility of caring for the captured as a subtle means of evoking their sympathies and creating a more human face. The message conveyed through these contradictory actions demonstrates the willingness of the Mizo’s to let the “Vai” exist within restricted spaces, under the condition of total acceptance of decisions made by the Zo/Mizo community.

The ‘Vai’ over the years have moulded their survival strategies which includes ‘adopting Zo/Mizo names’, ‘converting to Christianity’ and marrying local tribal women’. These survival strategies or politics of camouflaging helps the Vai to bargain their existence in the Zo world. This politics of camouflaging can be adopted for a plethora of reasons from that of personal security to that of private business or for being accepted as a ‘Denizen’. But, the case of the Lepchas in Sikkim has also demonstrated how attempts at being included through marriage have been unsuccessful as even if an outsider marries a Lepcha he or she does not have the right to land ownership.

Conclusion

The strategies adopted by the ‘Vai’ reflect the survival strategies to counter the Politics of Silencings at various levels and the ‘manufacturing of spaces’ in the Post- Colonial politics of Mizoram. The case of the ‘Vai’ reflects the inability to assume the position of Denizens as has been achieved by the later migrants, the Gorkhas; and at the same time reflects the struggle to set oneself free from being constantly ostracized as the ‘Permanent Pariah’ within the spatial politics of Mizoram. An interesting phenomenon that can be observed in the whole process of ‘self-preservation/protection’ or ‘ethnic-cocooning’ is that the inflow, as well as the outflow of migrants/‘Others’ is thoroughly dictated by the sense of perceived or apparent threat as projected by the majoritarian tribes. In other words, the inflow is regulated by constitutional mechanisms of Inner Line Permit (ILP) Regime 8 ; and the outflow is regulated by ‘Vai Bandhs’. Thus, acceptance as citizens is channeled by the underlying politics of ‘Regulated Citizenship’ filtered through a process of “Politics of ‘Check-In’ and ‘Check-Out’”.

Notes

1.For detailed reading on the Vai and ‘in-group- out-group’ problem in Mizoram, see B.B Goswami, “out-group from the point of view of In-group: A Study of Mizos”, in Dubey, S.M. (1978). North East India: A Sociological Study. pp 99-110.
2.This however, does not go to suggest that there were no linkages between the ‘Vai’ and the Zo/Mizo worlds prior to British Colonial intervention. An analysis of the Kuki-Chin-Mizo folklores speaks volumes about the initial pre-colonial contacts between the two worlds. For details see, Chakraborty, Anup Shekhar. ‘Manufacturing of Spaces: The ‘Others’ in Zo/Mizo Politics’ South Asian Journal of Socio-Political Studies (SAJOSPS). Vol.9 No.1, July-December, 2008.
3.For details see, Chakraborty, Anup Shekhar. ‘Emergence of Women from ‘Private’ to ‘Public’: A Narrative of Power Politics from Mizoram’ Journal of International Women’s Studies (JIWS), Bridgewater. Vol. No. 9, 3rd May, 2008. Also see, Chakraborty, Anup Shekhar. ‘Mustering Empowerment experiences from Mizoram: A Leap from ‘Private’ to ‘Public’ Living Spaces’ Global South SEPHIS e-magazine. Vol.4 No.4, July, 2008.
4.For details see, Chakraborty, Anup Shekhar. ‘Politics of Silencings: Echoes of the Margins from Mizoram’ Indian Journal of Political Science (IJPS), Meerut, Chaudhury Charan Singh University. Vol. LXVIII, No. 4, Oct.-Dec., 2007.
5.The Mizo society serves as the good example for Bentham’s Panoptic Society, where all persons are fearful of being watched by the church and the moral agencies. The only difference being that in the case of the Mizo society the observer can be seen and sometimes partially invisible.
6.The latest of these ‘Vai Bandhs’ were called by the MZP, the Mizo Students’ Union and the YMA following the killing of a Mizo youth on 18th July, 2007 by suspected Bangladeshi goons at Dholai in Cachar District, Assam. Quit Mizoram notices were issued to the ‘Vais’ and a blanket curfew was imposed on the ‘Vais’ which was lifted only on the 25th of July 2007. The MZP, however, claimed that it had not imposed any curfew, but merely requested non-Mizos to stay indoors for their own safety. It also called a 24 hour bandh at Vairengte the nearest town to Silchar, Cachar or the plains and demanded Rs. 15 lakhs as compensation for the slain youth. (See J.B Lama, The Statesman, 30, July, 2007, ‘The inside and out of Mizoram’s ethnic skirmishes’ for details).
7.Thangliana, The Telegraph, 2004, http://www.norteastvigil.in/archives/? p=6919; Also see J.B Lama, The Statesman, 30, July, 2007, ‘The inside and out of Mizoram’s ethnic skirmishes’.
8.The Inner Line Permit (ILP) that has been in existence in Mizoram since the colonial days has been used and misused by different groups to victimize the minorities time and again. The ILP has infact become a weapon in the hands of the hegemonic tribes to extort money and exploit the minorities, especially the ‘Vai’ and the Burmese. For detailed reading on the issue of checking Foreigners in Mizoram, see http://www.Mizzima.com/MizzimaNews, ‘Burmese Migrants in Mizoram worry threat of deportation’; http://www.angelfire.com, ‘Chakma Refugees pushed back from Mizoram’.

A Sleep in a Sterile Zone

Ariella Azoulay

[This military campaign, too, is a part of the same regime]

The familiar sight of a Palestinian room - colorful blankets wrap those sleeping on the floor, crowded against each other. A khaki sleeve caught my eye. A ray of light crossing the frame from the right led to it. Then it became easier to notice a pair of army boots peeking under another blanket, a flexed knee in uniform and an upside-down helmet. These are Israeli soldiers. They are sleeping in a Palestinian home in Gaza. There is no trace of the inhabitants. They must have “fled” once more as refugees.

This photograph landed in my e-mailbox ten days ago with about another twenty. The accompanying letter iterated: "We should all be proud of the IDF… these brave kids defend our country" and, following, provided a recommendation which is also an authorization to distribute these images. This e-mail was signed by the CEO of the Israeli branch of a large European firm. His full personal data were prominently noted at the bottom of the letter. This is the most abstract photograph of a very harsh series, the last two of which come with a warning: these are not to be viewed by children. According to the sender, the rest may apparently be shared with them as a part of this war's booty.

Images similar to the one of soldiers asleep in a Palestinian home were disseminated to date only by soldiers who are members in Shovrim Shtika (Breaking the Silence) as a part of their sobering-up process from the missions the army had required them to carry out for the sake of 'state security'. Their photographs are not made public in the press but are exhibited in alternative venues. In Israel, at least, the occupation of a Palestinian home to provide soldiers with a place to sleep is not a media item. Were a press-photographer to shoot such a frame, the editor would not print it for 'lack of public interest'. But now the press has been kept away from Gaza, and it has a very meager supply of images of the ongoing horror there. Israel allows press-photographers to set themselves up on a hill adjacent to the Gaza Strip and shoot – long distance - the smoke billowing over the horizon, thus screening the inferno within. The hill overlooking Gaza is open to local tourist-visitors. For their convenience, someone has placed benches there as well as site-scape information booths. In the last few weeks, people have been arriving with children and binoculars to show their kids and watch Gaza being bombarded, and to take pleasure in Israel’s might. When the man standing with his back to the camera returns home, he will download the photographs he took and distribute them to family and friends. He will show them that he, too, was there, holding his fingers in a victory sign for the camera, while Gaza goes up in flames in the background. From time to time, this screen that insulates us from Gaza is ruptured by photographs transmitted via e-mail by Gazan photographers – unbearable images of severe harm to civilians and their immediate environment. Very few of these are printed in Israeli daily press. Those that are published are provided by Reuters (whose Gaza office was bombed yesterday) or AP. Some probably reach these news agencies by the Gazan agency Ramatan that currently employs 150 journalists and photographers in Gaza and has become a major supplier of news photographs worldwide (except to Israel). The person who proudly forwarded the photograph at hand did not see in it that which the soldiers of Breaking the Silence saw in the images they published in the past. They, or others like them, have refused to go to war this time around. Those who refused have been tried and incarcerated. The Israeli press has not reported this at all. The media's silencing their refusal joins the similar silencing of demonstrations by Jewish Israelis against the war, or the arrest and incarceration of dozens of demonstrators. No one will prosecute the soldiers in this picture or the one who photographed them, all having invaded a home and removed its inhabitants in order to have a place to sleep. Theirs is an 'act of state'.

The photograph I have chosen is a not particularly harsh sight. It shows soldiers asleep in Gaza. Even in the midst of battle soldiers need their sleep. The difficulty arises when one recalls that these colorful blankets in which the soldiers are curled up are not their own, that the dwellers of this home where they now sleep have been made homeless. One of the soldiers, wakened by a first ray of morning light before his mates, is taking pictures - for them, for their families, a souvenir – an image of a night's sleep in Gaza.

But, after all, this is Gaza. How can Israeli soldiers who participated in the destruction of Gaza – the devastation of entire neighborhoods, public buildings, fatal ruin of vital infrastructure, wounding thousands, bombing hospitals, civilian shelters, schools, killing of over one-thousand human beings – how can these soldiers who are "not exactly welcome guests" in Gaza, how can they possibly afford to sleep so peacefully in the midst of the inferno they have produced without sensing any immediate danger to their own lives? The answer lies in one of the Occupation's practices, most common since its inception – creating a 'sterile zone'. What is a sterile zone? An area emptied of Arabs so that the military can carry out its missions. In this image we are most likely witnessing the heart of the sterile zone. We have no knowledge of its range, its perimeter, but for these soldiers to sleep so serenely, so safely, not only the dwellers of this house had to be removed from the sterile zone, but the residents of the entire area.

For the Israeli soldier, a Palestinian home is a violable space. This point has not been born in the recent Gaza campaign. The history of this violability goes back slightly over sixty years-old. At that time, the voices opposing the expulsion of Palestinians were hushed by another that overtook the military and political leadership of the Jewish public, making expulsion a fait-accompli. This leading voice stammered in its official declarations but was none the less determined in its practical aspects and managed to expel 750,000 Arabs from the areas of British Mandate Palestine. For a whole year Jewish soldiers went from village to village and, when called upon, from home to home, tearing the Arabs away from their dwellings and lands. At times they used indirect means - rumors and truck convoys – and at others, violence and direct threat. Ever since, the Palestinian home has not ceased to be threatened by the very thinking and operating pattern that to the Israeli public (as well as to world public opinion) presents that very home as an existential threat.

The residents of the Arab towns of Ramle, Bir Al-Saba, Majdal and Isdud, occupied by Israeli forces in the 1948 war, either escaped or were forcibly expelled and most of them were removed to Gaza and tripled its population at once. At the end of the war the Egyptians controlled Gaza and instated their own military administration. Israel did not manage that last "military victory" – the conquest of Gaza – before signing the ceasefire agreements with Egypt in 1949, thus giving birth to the narrow, troublesome 'strip' at the edge of the State of Israel. A 'strip' is a military-political term that expresses temporariness and designates a region that must be dealt with as undetermined, its situation to be solved. 'The Gaza Strip' was born as a problem. Since this birth, Israel has never ceased proposing 'solutions to the problem'. In 1949 Israel proposed a 'political' solution, aiming to annex the strip along with some of the refugees it harbored. But this political 'solution' with its military scent was rejected by the parties involved. In the 1956 Sinai campaign, the Strip was occupied along with the entire peninsula and Israel imposed its military administration. This did not last long for under American-Russian pressure Israel was forced to retreat from the territory it conquered. In 1967 Israel managed to re-conquer the Strip and take control of the 1948 refugees yet once again. Since then, for over forty years Israel has controlled the Palestinian population in Gaza. At least ever since the general closure Israel imposed upon the Gaza Strip in 1991 during the first Gulf War, such control entails cutting off the Strip from the West Bank as well as strict control over any entry and exit from it. By means of administering the crossings, Israel regulates life in Gaza. Since the Second Intifada, and ever more tightly since its 'disengagement', Israel has been managing a measured, chronic disaster, ever-watchful not to cross the fine line of a 'humanitarian catastrophe', enabling or preventing the flow of goods, people and means.

Since 1948, the Palestinian home is never the private domicile that shelters its dwellers from invaders and strangers. Israelis do not conceive of themselves as invaders or strangers, and the Palestinians are not regarded as home-owners in the simplest sense of the term. Their homes are vulnerable to nightly incursions, bulldozer activity, bombs dropped upon them from the skies, missile barrages or simply shootings that make them uninhabitable, expropriate them to create army outposts, positions and headquarters, all given to changing circumstances and the increasing 'security necessities'. The explanation given for these ritual actions is that they are crucial in order to 'flush out the terrorists from their nests', 'suppress resistance' or 'destroy insurgent infrastructure'. Thus the Palestinian home is presented as a military outpost of the enemy, calling for military intervention. The Palestinian home constitutes a problem, and military intervention its solution or at least a means to 'solving the problem'. More precisely, the home becomes penetrable and violable because it has been perceived by some local Israeli commander as a 'security problem' or its solution, but it tends to be regarded again and again as a problem because it is always seen as penetrable.

Israel usually manages to carry out its destruction with a public silencer, without reverberating in Israeli or international public discourse, maintaining the status quo. Whenever its operations were intensified and expanded and the Palestinians persistently resisted Israeli military might with the meager means at their disposal, Israel has turned to 'the world' for help, to halt the self-same campaign it initiated and bring about a 'ceasefire' agreement. Usually, while conducting these negotiations, it manages to grab the chance for some more destructive actions and invades more homes. Any such military campaign renews the state of emergency, re-justifying its permanent validity since 1948, mobilizing one and all and helping to forget the preceding emergency. Most importantly – it prevents citizens from identifying the source of this state of emergency: the regime itself. This regime needs the state of emergency. It cannot survive without it. To this end it has been mobilizing its citizens for the past forty years and more to continue fighting its non-citizens subjects. The source of the real state of emergency is the existence of a regime that denies all of its subjects - both citizens and non-citizens – the viable possibility to build for themselves joint frames of living in their area; it does not let them exorcise themselves of the language of occupation in which any Arab is a potential member of the 'killer gangs' as they were termed in the 1940s, 'infiltrators' in the 1950s, 'militants' in the 1960s and 1970s, and 'terrorist organizations' ever since the 1980s.

"A ceasefire is enough for us", Ben Gurion wrote in 1949. "If we chase peace – the Arabs will expect us to pay a price – either borders or refugees, or both. Let us wait a few years." Ben Gurion wrote this in the very year the State of Israel was accepted as a member nation in the UN. In spite of its mass expulsion of Palestinians and the devastation of their habitat, Israel was recognized as a 'peace-seeking' state.

Within this pattern of suspending the final solution – be it peace, war or mass expulsion – the current campaign, too – constitutes colonial expansion and violent suppression of resistant people who have been made refugees. This recognition, namely the alliance of sovereign nation-states that back each other up in the wars they conduct against civilians who have been made refugees in their own land or outside, continues to condone Israel's countless military campaigns in the territories it has occupied.

Amnesty International in its Public Statement Appeals the Moroccan Authorities to Investigate the Death of a Migrant Killed at the Border

The organization also called for the respect of the rights of migrants who are often ill-treated and summarily expelled from Morocco. The calls follow the killing of 29 year-old migrant from Cameroon, known as Alino and the arrest and arbitrary expulsion of 14 other migrants at the beginning of January 2009.

In the morning of 1 January 2009, at least 50 migrants from Sub-Saharan Africa tried to reach the fence between Morocco and the enclave of Melilla. According to accounts given to Amnesty International, Moroccan law enforcement officials fired once in the air but following shots were directed at the migrants to prevent them from crossing the border. Alino, one of the migrants, was reportedly hit by the second shot and died during his transportation to Nador hospital

For details of the public statement issued by Amnesty pl. click on the link:
http://www.upes.org/body1_eng.asp?field=sosio_eng&id=1410

Morocco will Soon Join the Sea Horse Network – A Communication Satellite to Monitor Migratory Flows Between Sub-Saharan Africa and Spain

"Sea Horse Network is a communication satellite developed by the European Union (EU) and Spain to monitor migratory flows between sub-Saharan Africa and Spain. Regarded as a rear base and base transit of illegal migrants to Europe, Morocco deploys many ways to deter potential migrants to the European Eldorado. Her participation in "Sea Horse Network will monitor real-time departure of boats to the Canary Islands. This system will also be used for monitoring maritime traffic in drugs on the Mediterranean and the Atlantic according to its designers. A system that probably will relieve the Kingdom of Morocco in the efforts already undertaken in the fight against migration. The "Sea Horse Network is already in place between Spain, Portugal, Senegal, Mauritania and Cape Verde. The exchange of information between the focal point of the Canary Islands and the offices of Senegal, Cape Verde and Mauritania are already operational. All this information is processed in the central platform installed in the Spanish capital.

It is time to rethink whether this kind of surveillance mechanisms will lead to more violence to the borders. The securitisation of the borders will lead to policing and control of populations who might be forced to move for several reasons. The international community should join hands to probe these reasons rather than act as the monitoring agencies at the “borders”.

For details click on the link:
http://www.yabiladi.com/article-politique-1654.html