Assistance to Conflict Victims
"When the conflict began, we chanted ‘Death
is better than humiliation’, but when we came
here, we realized that we left death to live in
humiliation."
- Conflict victim
Some Thoughts
“The story of the human race is war, and before history
began murderous strife was universal and unending" –
Churchil
“Conflict is the result of opposing interests involving
scarce resources, goal divergence and frustration” – Niklas
Swanstrom (Swedish scholar, Director of the Institute for
Security and Development Policy).
“Conflict is a situation in which two or more parties
strive to acquire the same scarce resources at the same
time” – Peter Wallensteen (Professor of Peace and Conflict
Research at Uppsala University, Sweden).
Conflict
From the Latin for ‘to clash or engage in a fight’, a
confrontation between one or more parties aspiring
towards incompatible or competitive means or ends.
A clash of interests, values, actions and directions
which creates differences between people and
group of people. Basically conflict is an emotionally
defined and driven. It does not exist without
emotions.
Types of Conflict
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Intrapersonal and interpersonal conflict.
Organizational and community based conflict.
Intrastate (civil war) and international conflict.
Intra-social and inter-social conflict.
Religious based or ideological based conflict.
Diplomatic based and economy based conflict.
Main factors for conflict
1. Structural factors :- goal differences
2. Emotional factors :- Religious, cultural,
ethical or any value based factors.
Possible outcomes of conflict
• win-lose situation (traditional view)
• Lose-lose situation (neither party benefits)
• Win-win situation (both parties have their
needs met)
Results of the Conflict
• Negative feeling between disputants.
• Seeking to undermine each other’s goal-seeking capabilities.
• Stress and tension in the society.
• Disagreements, no acceptance of other’s presence and existence.
• Verbal exchanges, unpredictable clashes.
• Use of force and fights.
• Arms conflict, war, social disorder and lawlessness situation.
• Violation of human right and no peace in the society.
Effects of Conflict
Positive Effect
A conflict gives positive effects if it is handled
constructively. They are:
· Positive change in the society
· Opportunity for newer possibilities
· Renewal in relationships
· Increase in productivity of all sectors
Effects of Conflict….
Negative effect
The effects of conflict will be negative if proper conflict
management is not done. The negative effects are:
· Increase in stress of people
· Decrease in production
· Degradation in relationships and worsening cooperation
· Restricted areas increase
· Increase in the possibilities of violent conflict
These negative effects of conflict can lead to disintegration.
So, importance must be given to timely interventions to
resolve conflict.
Consequences of conflict
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Human Rights Violations
Direct Violence
Displacement
Sexual Cruelties
Increased exposure to HIV
Physical Destruction
Psychological Impact
Impact on Children
Impact on Women
Breakdown on family and social structure
Culture of violence
Conflict Victims, Who are they?
Vulnerable Groups:- The conflict victims will generally
be the following;
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Women and children
Minorities (Ethnic and Religious)
Refugees
IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons)
Persons infected with HIV/AIDS
POWs
Single parents
Sick and/or handicapped
Elderly people
Victims of human rights abuses
Poor, uneducated, unemployed
Migrant workers
Humanitarian Assistance
 Food
 Water and sanitation
 Shelter
 Health care
 Security
Basic Principles of Humanitarian Assistance
to the conflict victims
 Preserving human dignity
 Neutrality
 Impartiality
Humanitarian Actors
 Local authorities
 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
 United Nations agencies
 Intergovernmental organizations
 Donor-governmental agencies (e.g. ECHO, USAID, DFID,
CIDA, DANIDA )
 NGOs
 Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA)
Assistance to Conflict Victim
• Conflict victims suffering injury, the loss of a family member,
or property damage as a result of inter communal violence,
insurgent activity, or military operations should receive
support for their immediate needs as well as tailored services
to improve their livelihoods and overall wellbeing.
The assistance includes;
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Vocational training,
Start-up kits,
Small business grants and
Private sector linkages to help people earn incomes.
Scholarships to build the foundation for the future through education
and
• Psychosocial support to help victims and their families begin
healing from the trauma of conflict.
UN and Other agencies in Assistance to
Conflict Victims
UNHCR
 Refugees and IDPs
WFP
 Emergency food-aid relief
UNICEF
 Children and pregnant mothers
WHO
 Preventative health care
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
 International humanitarian law
 POW exchanges
 POW visits
 Humanitarian relief
International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
 Humanitarian relief
ICRC’s Assistance to the Conflict Victim
• The aim of the ICRC’s assistance programmes is to preserve
life and restore the dignity of individuals and communities
affected by armed conflict or other situations of violence.
Assistance activities address essential needs of individuals and
communities as determined by their social and cultural
environment. These needs vary. They are assessed in relation
to the context and in close consultation with the affected
communities. The ICRC’s responses are as varied as the needs.
ICRC’s Assistance….
• Assistance programmes may provide food, shelter, water and
medical care;
• They also aim to ensure that access to essential health services
and medical facilities is maintained, that safe water and
adequate sanitation are available, that people are protected
from explosive remnants of war, and that income and means of
production are preserved.
• This may require the direct involvement of ICRC staff,
working with, and building on, the existing local capacity to
deliver these essential services.
• It may entail encouraging the authorities and other actors to
fulfill
their responsibilities, or a combination of both
approaches.
ICRC’s Assistance…
• In 2009, close to 15 million victims of armed
conflict and other situations of violence in 47
countries benefited from the ICRC’s assistance
programmes.
ICRC’s Assistance to Conflict Victims
Health Services
The main areas covered by the ICRC’s health activities are :
• First aid ;
• Primary health care ;
• Hospitals (war surgery and essential surgery, obstetrics and gynaecology,
paediatrics, internal medicine and hospital management) ;
• Health in detention ;
• Physical rehabilitation. Physical rehabilitation projects may involve;
 Manufacturing high-quality prosthetic and orthotic appliances and
components ;
 Providing national technicians with theoretical and practical training
in accordance with recognized standards ;
• Preparing local partners and authorities to take over orthopedic services ;
• Developing vocational-training programmes and creating employment
opportunities for physically disabled people.
ICRC’s Assistance to Conflict Victims…
Economic security
It aims at :
• Providing conflict victims with the basic
commodities essential for survival when they are
no longer able to obtain these by their own means
(such as food, blankets and cooking utensils) ;
• Enabling communities and individuals to maintain
or regain self-sufficiency by protecting and/or
restoring the necessary means of production (e.g.
providing seed, tools, cash grants, and work
opportunities).
ICRC’s Assistance to Conflict Victims…
Water and habitat
In particular, water and habitat activities involve:
• Providing displaced persons and civilians affected
by armed conflict with emergency water,
sanitation and shelter ;
• Developing safe water and sanitation solutions for
the resident population in rural and urban areas ;
• Repairing and upgrading hospitals and health
centers that do not meet current needs or have
been damaged as a result of armed conflict ;
• Improving environmental health in places of
detention.
ICRC’s Assistance to Conflict Victims…
The forensic services
The forensic services focus on :
• Providing support for ICRC field operations on all matters
related to human remains and forensic sciences ;
• Providing training and advice on best forensic science practices
applicable to the search for the missing, including during
natural disasters, and their dissemination and promotion ;
• Developing tools, including for the collection and management
of information on human remains, as well as guidelines and
manuals on preventing persons becoming unaccounted for and
investigating missing-person cases.
ICRC’s Assistance to Conflict Victims…
Weapon contamination
This may include:
• Field assessments of weapon use and the threat posed
by weapons;
• Deploying clearance experts to survey, destroy or
make safe unexploded or abandoned ordnance;
• Providing direct support for communities through
risk-reduction and risk-education activities – ensuring
that these communities do not have to put themselves
at risk during their day-to-day activities.
Conflict of Nepal
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Khampa movement
2007 movement
2036 movement
2046 movement
Maoist movement
Current movement in Terai and other hilly region of
Eastern Nepal.
Assistance Efforts for Nepal Conflict
Victims
• Nepal government has taken the period between
February 13, 1996 and November 21, 2006 as the
conflict period.
• Nepal government has brought out a Citizens Relief,
Compensation and Economic Assistance Procedure,
2066.
• Nepal Government has defined 'Conflict victims‘ as
those who depended on individuals killed in conflict,
those who lost their body parts during conflict, those
who were displaced, those who disappeared and their
families, those abducted by the conflicting parties and
those suffering damage to lives and property.
Assistance Efforts for Nepal Conflict
Victims….
• Two units have been established at the
Ministry of Peace and Reconstruction for
providing relief.
 Taskforce for collection of details on
conflict affected individuals, families and
infrastructure
 The relief and rehabilitation unit (The term
of the unit lasts until mid-July 2011).
Types of relief in the Nepalese Context
• Economic assistance for claimants of those killed due to
conflict (Claimants of those killed due to the conflict can
obtain Rs. 100,000 from related district administration office).
• Interim relief for widows of those killed in conflict (A
widow of an individual who died due to conflict is entitled to
receive Rs. 25 thousand from the concerned district
development office).
• Economic assistance to be received by the nearest relative of
the individual forced to disappear due to conflict (The
claimant in this situation will be entitled to receive Rs.
100,000 from the concerned district administration office).
Types of relief in the Nepalese Context
• Interim relief to be received by individuals abducted or made
to disappear for more than 30 days (victim will be entitled to
receive Rs. 25,000 from the concerned district administration
office).
• Provision for reimbursement of medical expenses incurred in
treatment
of
those
injured
due
to
conflict
(expenses as per the hospital bills charged during treatment at
the government or community hospitals and of travel expenses
incurred for the patient and one attendant to him or her. It also
includes the expenses incurred in buying medicines
recommended by doctors and a Rs. 75 daily relief for an
attendant to the patient during the period of hospitalization.
• Provision for medical treatment of those injured due to conflict
(for those under treatment )
Types of relief in the Nepalese Context
• Economic assistance for individuals disabled due to conflict
(Rs. 200,000 in case of complete disability and a proportion of
Rs. 200,000 for other disabilities as ascertained in percentage
terms).
• Scholarship for children of conflict victims or children
victimized during conflict (distributed by the district education
office where the concerned children are studying. The
scholarship funds are: Rs.10,000 for grades 1 to 5, Rs. 12,000
for grades 6 to 8, Rs. 14,000 for grades 8 to 10, Rs. 16,000 for
grades 11 to 12 or for the proficiency certificate level).
• Compensation for damage caused to a house rented by a
government office or for damage by other reasons during the
conflict period (funds equal to the damage ascertained after
evaluation).
Types of relief in the Nepalese Context
• Provision for compensation in case of damage to
individual property (movable).
• Compensation for the loss caused by not being able to
engage in agricultural activities in the course of
security management.
• Compensation for vehicles for hire used by security
unit during the conflict period.
• Compensation for the damage to vehicles caused
during the time of closures and blockades during the
conflict period.
Sources
• http://www.ird.org
• http://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/publications/i
crc-002-4009.pdf
• http://www.slideshare.net/anuragchakma/conse
quences-of-conflict-15221648
• http://www.nepalmonitor.com/2011/07/govern
ment_relief_ef.html
• http://www.un.org