This Week in GI History and Building on a Key Past Event
This week we mark the anniversary of one of the Institute's defining events: the 2003 Building Social Cohesion in the Midst of Diversity and Migration conference held in Manresa, Spain.
At that Event, community leaders from over 20 cities gathered to explore best practices from their practical experiences building social cohesion. The Conference came together over the central questions of:
- How do we promote a positive view of difference and build a sense of social cohesion in the midst of diversity?
- Where have people been effective at building relationships of trust, understanding and cooperation between diverse communities?
- How can we best learn from those communities that have successfully built trust amongst their diverse communities?
The collaborative learning, strategies and conversations at the Event provided tools for participants to bring solutions back to their respective cities. To find out more on how this was accomplished, view the full report on our findings of the conference. here.
In the time since we held the Manresa Event, the issue of how communities in sizable cities overcome the division and tensions often caused by their diverse populations, remains as relevant as it was in 2003. In many ways, we were fortunate to make the connections with a group of talented and committed leaders willing to address the issue head-on, as it has proven to be prescient and set the tone for future project work.
Which brings us to new events and the ways in which we continue to honor our mission, and honor those we work with dedicated to bringing social cohesion to their communities. This week, two of our associates from Chicago, Alexis Smyser and Srishtee Dear, are in attendance with our colleagues in Colombia at the Foundation for Reconciliation conference in Bogota. Here, participants from several countries review and reinforce the key principals of the ESPERE methods that the Foundation has been refining since first introducing in 2007.
The ESPERE methodology is engaging new community leaders, former child soldiers and educators in the proven concepts of reconciliation and forgiveness. What began as a grassroots project by Fr. Leonel and his team in Bogota less than a decade ago has now flourished to see participation throughout North and South America and recently to Africa. Partners of the Goldin Institute in Uganda have taken up the ESPERE methodology and have used is as a powerful tool in the reintegration for former child soldiers.
[hl bg="#d07000" fg="#ffffff"]Continue to follow us as we share new learnings and outcomes from this latest conference in Bogota. See how the common theme of social cohesion that began 12 years ago in Manresa is alive and well and being proven highly adaptive in new environments and by new leaders bringing positive change to their communities.[/hl]
[slide][img path="images/2003___17.jpg"] Goldin Institute co-founder Diane Goldin with participants at the 2003 Maresa, Spain Event. [/img] [/slide]
Cholera Epidemic in Haiti is Clearly a Human Rights Issue
The director of the Health and Human Rights Clinic at Indiana University's McKinney School of Law, makes a sharp criticism of both the U.S. and U.N policy in Haiti. In this recent piece at the Nation, attorney Fran Quigley also reminds us that the future of human rights is threatened by the U.N.'s "craven abdication of justice in Haiti" because in doing so, the U.N. has lost its moral right to speak out about other human rights or democracy issues in other parts of the world.
Quigley also makes it clear that although the earthquake of 2010 was a natural disaster, the cholera epidemic was completely man-made and the responses made in the aftermath have been shaped by long-held political biases against Haiti and its people. From the first Bush administration that blocked funds that would have updated the water system to the current Obama administration that has sided with the U.N. position that it be immune from legal accountability for bringing the epidemic to Haiti, Quigley runs through the list of how the response has exasperated the issue and further victimized an already vulnerable nation.
[quote]While the earthquake originated as a natural disaster, albeit one made worse by generations of international exploitation, the cholera epidemic was a fully human-made phenomenon. It demonstrates that the world's most powerful nation – the United States – and its most respected international organization – the United Nations – have no intention of treating the Haitian people as fully human beings, deserving of even the most basic of rights."[/quote]
- Fran Quigley, human rights attorney
Read the full piece at the Nation here. To find out how to become more involved, see this related issues page and our community-building efforts in Haiti here.
Above: People walk across an overpass as raw sewage flows beneath in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, September 2012.
Photo Credit: Rueters / Swoan Parker
Poignant Child Soldier Stories Connect with Wider Audience
In our own efforts to try and get the word out about the plight of child soldiers, and the progress that is being made towards former young combatants we work with in returning to civil society – we're always interested in new ways to connect with those who wish to help.
Visiting our website, you will find the personal stories of those involved in bringing attention to the issue, while they also work on sustainable and proven ways to create positive change in their communities, so that fomer child soldiers have opportunites for positive change in their own lives. Whether bringing you the ongoing project work we are doing in Colombia and Latin America with our two associates Lissette and Fr. Leonel, or updating you on the expansion of the successful national platform we helped develop with our colleagues on the ground in Uganda, we continue to explore ways to make a difficult story to tell, more compelling and personal to those who wish to make a difference by knowing the stories.
With that in mind, we are excited about a 'retelling' and fresh way of letting you know about our work in child soldier reintegration. In coming weeks, we'll look at ways to adapt a more personal approach to feature some of the key voices that have inspired us to stay committed to the issue.
Until then, we invite you to view the work by someone who is already telling the ordeal of the child soldier in a new way. With interactive storytelling, Marc Ellison and his graphic novel style communicates the plight of several former female child soldiers, but still conveys the hopefullness of those having the courage to tell their story. Ellison's work is featured in this profile story. A link depicting the story of one of the former child soldiers (Christine) is at Ellison's site.
Child Soldier Resource Library
No amount of cinematic prose or metaphorical ideology can accurately describe the atrocities committed to, and forcibly by, children in conflict zones. It is very easy to gage the situation from a distance, to analyze figures that measure in the hundred thousands, and to declare international emergencies. It requires more empathy, however, to see five, twelve, nineteen year old faces, and measure them by the same standard of “child-soldier.” Behind each of the estimated 300,000 children (under 18) engaged in ongoing conflict around the world, are aspirations, futures, and hobbies–all slashed in the name of violence. As 19 year old Ibrahim who admitted to killing a woman said,
[quote] I am deeply sorry. But you must understand that this was not my endeavor, I was under the command of men with no mercy. I wish I could turn back the time.[/quote]
(Human Rights Watch 2015)
These 'men with no mercy'10 have imbibed children with propaganda, forced them to kill their loved ones, and subjected them to heinous acts. Girls, comprising of 40% of child soldiers, often face the worst circumstances. Many are forced to engage in sexual acts with their peers and captors, and unable to take part in reintegration efforts as they are made to wed their commanders. This vicious cycle of sex, violence, and often drugs, is perpetrated by an older generation committed to the ruination of peace. It is our duty, then, as citizens of this world, to combat this paradigm. This is why Goldin Institute vows to use grassroots partnerships for the eradication and prevention of child soldiers.
Glossary: Child Soldier International1
Armed conflict: The term armed conflict is used to refer to both international and non-international conflicts of high and low intensity.
Child: A child is any person under 18 years of age. This is consistent with the Convention on the Rights of the Child (Article 1), the African Charter on the Rights and Welfare of the Child (Article 2) and International Labour Organization Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour (Article 2).
Child soldier: A child soldier refers to any person below 18 years of age who is or who has been recruited or used by an armed force or armed group in any capacity, including but not limited to children, boys and girls, used as fighters, cooks, porters, messengers, spies or for sexual purposes. It does not only refer to a child who is taking or has taken a direct part in hostilities. This definition is consistent with the definition of a “child associated with an armed force or armed group” in the Paris Principles and Guidelines on Children Associated with Armed Forces or Armed Groups.
Recruitment: Refers to the means by which people become (formally or informally) members of armed forces or armed groups.
- Enlistment or voluntary recruitment occurs when persons facing no threat or penalty join armed forces or groups of their own free will;
- Conscription is compulsory recruitment into armed forces;
- Forced recruitment is a form of forced labour: it takes place without the consent of the person joining the armed forces or armed groups. It is achieved mainly through coercion, abduction or under threat of penalty;
- Unlawful recruitment refers to the recruitment of children under the age stipulated in international treaties applicable to the armed forces or armed groups.
Resource Library:
1. Child Solider International Glossary Terms PDF
2. This UN High Commission for Refugee (UNHCR) database named RefWorld helps identify UN articles based on country and issue. This resource is incredibly helpful when researching a specific refugee issue with UN backed data.
3. The European Country of Origin Information Network is an up-to-date database involved in aslyum and refugee cases. This resource has a variety of human rights reports as they relate to child soldiers from a variety of sources such as ReliefWeb, UNHCR, US Department of State, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and more.
4. A concise explanation of child soliders in various armed conflicts around the world via the Council on Foreign Relations.
5. WarChild is a small charity based in North London with a variety of infographics related to child soldier violations in Afghanistan, Iraq, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of Congo, Syria, and Uganda, with adovacy in the UK.
6. Alone & Frightened is a Goldin-Institute backed study of that describes the state of children affected by the brutal war in Northern Uganda between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) against the Uganda People’s Defense Forces (UPDF). Through stories of Former Child Soldiers (FCS), a greater understanding is achieved of the atrocities committed against children. Please use your discretion while reading.
7. “I Was a Child Soldier in the Democratic Republic of Congo” by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. This article speaks of child soldier demobilization efforts by UNICEF Lubumbashi.
8. “Voices of Girl Child Soldiers Colombia” by Yvonne E. Keairns, PhD. (2003) This report is part of a larger study which detailed interviews with 23 girl soldiers from four different conflict areas around the world. The study breaks down the combination of circumstances involved in becoming a child soldier, as well as a “day in the life” of a girl in that position.
9. Child Soldiers International published a World Index Map that visualises trends in the military exploitation of children according to three essential criteria: ratification of OPAC (the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict), minimum recruitment age, and use of children in hostilities. Click on any country to see full details of the national legal framework, policies and practices.
10. “Men With No Mercy”: Rapid Support Forces Attacks against Civilians in Darfur, Sudan. This Human Rights Watch Article is an extensive background on the Rapid Support Forces (al-Quwat al-Dam’m al-Sari’ in Arabic, or RSF) which were created in mid-2013 to military defeat rebel armed groups throughout Sudan, but have participated in serious international human rights violations themselves, against civilians. The Human Rights Watch is a great resource for humanitarian issues internationally and often provides solutions that are tied to responsible reporting.
Colombia Brings Reconciliation Methods to Uganda
In the tradition of the Goldin Institute's Forgiveness and Reconciliation Project, and utilizing the ESPERE methodology developed with our colleagues in Colombia, our efforts towards building child soldier reintegration continues throughout Northern Uganda.
As our Global Associate on the ground in Uganda (Denis Okello) recently reported to us in this summary paper, both Kitgum and Amuru districts have suffered greatly from armed violence and conflict. The instability in the area results in the ongoing recruitment and coercion of countless adults and children into the rebel forces. As Denis tells it, "in some way or capacity, each and every household in Northern Uganda has suffered the direct effects of the conflict in terms of abduction, death, displacement, poverty or illness." Against this backdrop, both districts serve as ideal communities to workshop the methods of ESPERE, bringing effective training to those within the community wishing to cope with the effects of war – and also those hoping to better their lives.
In the Kitgum District, Denis' report focused on a workshop conducted specifically for secondary and vocational school teachers. Here, educators could be equipped with the knowledge and skills on the process of forgiveness and reconciliation in order for them to effectively respond to the needs of their students who have been directly impacted by the civil war that they have grown up in.
In the Amuru District, Denis overviewed the specific training to former child combatants, young mothers, and orphaned young adults of the conflict who have been left to become the 'heads' of their households. Denis provided the history and background, and explained that within Amuru, the sub-county of Pabbo was one of the first and largest camps for Internally Displaced People (IDPs) during the LRA War between 1986 and 2006. After the end of hostilities in 2006, the displaced persons, former combatants, victims of atrocities and children born from captivity within the LRA, flooded back to many parts of Pabbo. It is important to point out that Denis and his own family have been impacted by the conflict's history and because of his training directly from our Global Associate Lissette Mateus Roa, was uniquely qualified to be one of the three facilitators of Amuru Workshop.
Workshops Follow Ongoing Committment to the Issue of Child Soldiers
The trainings held by Denis and his team on the ground in both Kitgum and Amuru Districts, would not have been possible without prior research conducted in Northern Uganda with former child soldiers. Released late last year, we published the guide, Alone and Frightened, to provide first-hand accounts and experiential stories of former child soldiers affected by the brutal war pitting the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) against the Uganda People's Defense Forces (UPDF). Our extensive research with our partners in the region (including our former Global Associate from Kenya, Dr. Dorcas Kipligat, who served as the Project Coordinator to the report), provides an ongoing resource guide to all new workshops being conducted in Africa.
Readers familiar with the origins of the ESPERE methodology, will remember that it is made up several modules reinforcing the two phases of forgiveness and reconciliation. A link to an early version of what this looked liked as it was piloted in Colombia can be found here. The slideshow that we have put together at the end of this story is remarkable in the consistencies between the exercises in Latin America and those taking place to make up the workshops in Uganda.
We are excited to see from the expansion of the project from Latin America to East Africa, how in spite of the cultural, ethnic and societal differences between two unique continents and their people, the methods being shared for forgiveness and reconciliation are held in common. What we are learning in facilitating these trainings is the universal nature of how most all people impacted by conflict have the capacity to embrace these methods. Please follow along in the narrative slideshow below to see this happening in Kitgum and Amuru.
Immigration Crisis Developing Between Colombia and Venezuela
Developments to follow out of Colombia this week:
Over the weekend we learned of growing tensions between Colombia and Venezuela over immigration policy, and the forced deportation of several thousand Colombians from Venezuela in the last week.
Both countries have recalled their respective ambassadors, with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos declaring the deportations as "unacceptable" by the neighboring country.
This issue is likely to have wider-reaching implications in both countries, as Venezuela's President and his government faces an upcoming election in the fall and as Colombia continues to work towards a peace treaty between their own government and rebel forces.
More on the story can be found in The New York Times and BBC News.
Study Shows Benefits of Child-Soldier Reintegration
A recent study published in Pediatrics points to the long-lasting payoffs to treating depression and anxiety in former child soldiers and other youth impacted by the civil war in Sierra Leone.
Lead author and director of the Research Program of Global Health and Population at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Health, Theresa Betancourt, commented on the highlights of the study's findings:
[quote]We were surprised to see the large role that targeting symptoms of hopelessness and depression played across many years of observing war-affected youth. When offering health and other services for war-affected youth, we cannot leave mental health out of the equation."[/quote]
The Goldin Institute continues to stay engaged in this issue, and we are pleased to see that this study demonstrates the long-term benefits of providing reintegration programs for former child combatants, like our work through the National Partnership for Child Soldier Reintegration in Uganda and Colombia.
Please see our Child Soldier Map to find out more.
More on the Red Cross and Funding Practices
Last week, the 'hometown' newspaper to the Goldin Institute (Chicago Tribune) shared yet another critical editorial on the recent outcry to what happened to the nearly half a billion dollars raised by the Red Cross in the aftermath of the 2010 Earthquake.
Excerpted in part from the full reports already made public by the ProPublica/NPR story, is this:
[quote]According to the reports, the Red Cross was unable to deliver on many of its projects in Haiti. Red Cross leaders were reluctant to rely on the Haitian people or native speakers for help navigating the cultures and politics of a complex, poverty-stricken nation. So the Red Cross gave millions to outside groups, didn't properly track the money, and spent too much on overhead and bureaucracy.[/quote]
The approach to our work at the Institute is especially in tune to the widely-held criticism that Red Cross leaders shunned those Haitian voices and people impacted by the disaster, especially when they could have helped maximize and make best use of the planning and aid targeted to them by a large international organization like the Red Cross.
In our own project work in Haiti, with our partners on the ground in KOFAVIV and our Global Associate Malya Villard, we had success for never varying from our principles of ensuring that those we work with are driving the initiatives and solutions to the issue in their communities. Ending gender-based violence in the Place Petion Camp could not have happened without making sure that those with the most to gain or lose in the project - the women who were being victimized by the violence - had the loudest voices and roles in how the project could be best run.
This appears to be something that the Red Cross still hasn't learned in their own initiatives. As the Tribune editorial stated, Red Cross frontline workers over the years, decades, have done tremendous work, often under extremely difficult conditions, but ... it's essential that not-for-profit fundraising organizations be utterly transparent to donors, to recipients, to the broad public. They deal with disaster. But first they have to earn trust.
Please visit our overview page on the project in Haiti to find out how effective smaller, grassroots partnerships can be in achieving the goals of the communities we work with and how we 'earn trust' before helping develop solutions.
Above, courtesy of Chicago Tribune: Haiti was devastated by an earthquake in 2010 and the Red Cross relief effort is the subject of a ProPublica/NPR investigation. (Thony Belizare / AFP/Getty Images)
Update from Haitian Global Associate
KOFAVIV - Malya Villard-Appolon Partnership Update
Although still trying to gain political asylum during her extended stay in Philadelphia, PA, our Global Associate Malya Villard remains active with the day-to-day operations of the organization (KOFAVIV) she co-founded to combat gender-based violence in Haiti.
Providing her leadership and advice via a remote office out her temporary home in Pennsylvania, Malya has adapted to the challenges of keeping in touch with her colleagues by using Skype conversations and other technology. It is through those means that Malya was able to update us recently on how she and her colleague Earamithe continue the mission of KOFAVIV.
Training is the Key
In her report to us, Malya made it clear that the ongoing identification and training of those men within the community who can be most trusted and depended on to provide a safe environment to the women in the camps, is one of the most important steps to their program being successful. Malya and her team on the ground in Haiti seek out the male agents who can be best trained to share the information and workings of the project with both men and women living in their neighborhoods and communities. They in effect are relied upon to become members of a 'teaching tree' and the most recent numbers indicated by Malya show that over 2,000 persons have been reached and have a first-hand familiarity with the practices of the project – in short, they know how to prevent violence against women and support victims through their recovery.
[quote]The reduction of the violence in whatever forms must be effective to have a society that may benefit of all its rights and dignity. More and more, the KOFAVIV mission is being enacted by both men and women who are the best tools to reeducate the society."[/quote]
- KOFAVIV co-founder Malya Villard-Apollon
Much can be done with little resources – but much more needs to be done ...
Throughout their report, Malya and Earamithe could not understate the importance of having the support and awareness of our own network at the Goldin Institute, in continuing to provide the security of the KOFAVIV offices and the security of women made most vulnerable to all forms of violence. There has been great progress made in reducing the violence and sexual assaults to women and young girls thanks to the project that these two women began in the aftermath of the 2010 Earthquake. However, a recent visit of a local camp (Delmas 33, or the Siló Camp, which is located north of Gerald Bataille Street) demonstrates the need for more work to be done and more support needed.
During their visit, it was discovered tható Camp was not drawing electricity from available sources. The local coordinator of the camp, appointed by the state, decided that it was best to remove the camp from the electrical grid to avoid potential electrical fires. While this in itself may be a needed preventative measure that could save lives by eliminating fires, the most immediate impact is that the camp is blanketed in complete darkness after sunset. As we have learned from Malya and KOFAVIV, the highest number of attacks happen in areas that are underlit. It makes sense, the less light, the more emboldened an attacker will be to commit a crime (it's this simple reality that made the flashlight provided at the camps, one of the first and most effective tools against sexual attackers). Malya and her team have purposed a street-light installation that could be done safely and at minimal cost, but providing the safety against violence that far surpasses the return on the investment.
[quote]We also visited a village called Grace Village, where there are 4 areas and each zone has a name; Peace, Love, Hope, Union ... it is a village well organized but also does not have any lighting."[/quote]
- From Malya's report
Malya's latest update also provided specific numbers showing the effectiveness of the KOFAVIV call center providing immediate help to victims. She also shared the agent scheduling that will continue to ensure there will be adequete coverage for those agents on-the-ground doing the very real work of protecting women against violence.
Find out how you can keep the mission of KOFAVIV going and click here to become more involved.
Clean water key to health and economic development in the Philippines
8.4 Million Filipinos still without access to clean drinking water
A joint report released this month from the World Health Organization (WHO) and Unicef shows sobering numbers for safe drinking water access in the Philippines. According to the numbers released, 7.5 million Filipinos are without access to sanitary toilets, while 8.4 million do not have a supply of clean drinking water.
These numbers reflect our own sampling size in the large numbers of people impacted in the southern Philippines (Maguindanao) by lack of access to safe drinking water. Fortunately, our Global Associate's commitment to bringing water wells back online to serve student and citizen populations in this area, continues to provide a successful model for restoring clean water to rural areas of the country.
Key to the WHO/Unicef report are the findings indicating the need for the "Department of Interior and Local Government to administer grassroots-identified water projects" under programs that have already proven to be successful. The very type of program referenced in their findings, is the ongoing clean water restoration project that Dr. Anayatin and her team have implemented and continue to expand upon to ensure that as many Mindanao school-age students as possible, have safe drinking water during the course of their day. You can view how we are accomplishing this together, by viewing our issues page here. And to see the actual schools and populations receiving new water pumps and clean water to their communities, view our interactive map here.
Above: students try out their new water pump at their school in Mindanao, Philippines. Photo Credit: Goldin Institute
