Oxfam America http://www.oxfamamerica.org These are the search results for the query, showing results 1 to 5. Geneva Convention turns 60 http://www.oxfamamerica.org/articles/geneva-convention-turns-60 New respect needed for international law designed to protect civilians. The Geneva Conventions, written four years after the end of World War II, were designed to limit what armed actors could do in war and ensure civilians are protected from violence.  Unfortunately, the Conventions are being violated in nearly every conflict in the world today. Civilians are not only still dying from the effects of conflict, but they are being specifically targeted by warring parties.

Here are just two examples:

  • Three quarters of a million civilians were killed in conflicts in Darfur, Congo, Iraq, and Afghanistan in 2006 alone.
  • At the end of 2008, more than 42 million people had to flee their homes due to more than 30 different conflicts around the world.

“The killing of civilians has become commonplace in modern conflict” says Raymond C. Offenheiser, President of Oxfam America. “Levels of impunity and lawlessness in conflict zones throughout the world have reached crisis levels.”

Violations of the laws of war are committed by governments and non-state actors, including terrorist and rebel groups. Many government forces are not equipped to protect civilians, or make decisions based on political considerations that endanger innocent people. And the United Nations Security Council has failed to take effective measures to protect millions of people in conflicts.

Oxfam America is working actively to promote more respect for international humanitarian law like the Geneva Conventions, and is recommending the following measures:

  • The United States and the United Nations should publicly challenge violators of international humanitarian law, even if the violations are committed by allies.
  • Impose timely sanctions against political and military leaders responsible for violations of humanitarian laws, and monitor them to deter future war crimes.
  • Improve the effectiveness of UN peacekeeping operations to protect civilians.
  • Work with the UN to monitor conflicts and quickly deploy mediation and diplomatic teams at the earliest stages of a crisis.
  • Adopt an arms trade treaty that would reduce access to illegal weapons used to wage war and violate humanitarian laws.
]]> No publisher chufstader foreign policy human rights humanitarian relief peace and security violence 2011-06-29T13:59:31Z News Update For a Safer Tomorrow http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/for-a-safer-tomorrow This report, based on Oxfam International's experience in most of the world's conflicts, sets out an ambitious agenda to protect civilians in times of warfare. Many people feel that there is little that can be done to prevent the brutal targeting of civilians that characterizes modern warfare. They are wrong. This report, based on Oxfam International's experience in most of the world's conflicts, sets out an ambitious agenda to protect civilians.

In the DRC, increasing violence has forced people to flee from their homes, and led to the deaths of almost 1,500 people a day. Though no other conflict causes that kind of death rate, Oxfam's workers hear similar stories of murder, rape, and displacement from men and women from Colombia to Sudan every day. Sixty years after the main Geneva Conventions enshrined civilians' rights to protection, they are violated in every current conflict.

Some states and non-state actors choose to kill civilians, or pursue strategies in which civilians are too likely to die. Some governments choose to protect their citizens: to keep them safe. Some do not protect all of them, or not well enough. There are, however, successful examples of protecting civilians that show what governments and others can do when they choose to.

They have an interest in protecting civilians, because mass atrocities fuel the conflicts that, in an interdependent world, create security threats that cannot be contained. And an increasing number of governments have a "moral interest" too, because their electorates expect them to help prevent, not just condemn, the atrocities they see beamed around the world through modern information technology.

Governments and others can reduce the mass atrocities that blight the world in the early twenty-first century

To do so, they need to make four key changes.

  • Make the protection of civilians the overriding priority in the response to conflicts everywhere—actively working to protect civilians, and upholding the Responsibility to Protect civilians from mass atrocities, agreed at the 2005 UN World Summit, as a cornerstone of policy;
  • Adopt zero tolerance of war crimes—whether in counter-terrorism or elsewhere—applying the same standard of international opprobrium to war crimes committed by friends or foes alike;
  • Act much more quickly to tackle the trends that threaten new or prolonged conflicts—including poverty and inequality, climate change, and arms proliferation—so that we can be better at preventing as well as reacting to conflicts;
  • Join up effective action at every level, from local communities to the UN Security Council—so that international action works in conjunction with what works on the ground. To help achieve this, the way the UN Security Council works should be urgently reformed with greater transparency and accountability, in which the Council's members have to account for their performance in pursuing international peace and security, including their Responsibility to Protect civilians from mass atrocities. All permanent members of the Security Council should renounce the use of their veto when the Council is discussing situations of actual or incipient war crimes, crimes against humanity, ethnic cleansing, and genocide.
]]> No publisher mborum human rights refugees peace and security violence Central and East Africa Darfur Central and South Asia humanitarian relief internally displaced persons Democratic Republic of Congo 2011-06-29T14:22:39Z Research Report Darfur video Q & A http://www.oxfamamerica.org/articles/darfur-video-q-a We asked Oxfam supporters to tell us what they wanted to know about the crisis in Darfur—and received an overwhelming response. In these videos, Oxfam's Coco McCabe meets with Mike Delaney, Director of Humanitarian Response and Scott Stedjan, Senior Humanitarian Policy Advisor, to ask their questions and get insight into the ongoing crisis.

Part 1

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Part 4

]]> No publisher Oxfam America human rights Sudan humanitarian relief Darfur 2011-06-29T14:05:20Z Feature Story Darfur five years on: five steps forward http://www.oxfamamerica.org/articles/darfur-5-years-on-5-steps-forward Five years since the crisis in Darfur, Sudan, first erupted, 4.5 million people are caught in its grip and are in need of aid. As the violence continues, that number grows. Here, Oxfam outlines five key points that must be achieved to improve people’s lives as soon as possible.

Stop the violence

There can be no way forward for Darfur until all parties to the conflict stop fighting and stop attacks on civilians. Yet, at the moment, the violence continues, causing untold misery for millions of people—with thousands more attacked and fleeing their homes every week the conflict goes on. People across the world must let their politicians know that the suffering of so many Darfur citizens will be tolerated no longer. The international community must put greater sustained pressure on all parties to immediately cease hostilities and return to the negotiating table.

Give people the protection they deserve

For five years the world has promised the people of Darfur that it will protect them from violence—yet there is still no peacekeeping force capable of giving civilians the protection they need and deserve. The new United Nations-African Union force, known as UNAMID, deployed at the start of 2008 but is still woefully under strength, with only a third of its 26,000 personnel on the ground and a lack of equipment, training, and political backing. The force urgently needs more international support. Getting UNAMID on the ground took 18 months of enormous political effort, but this will be wasted unless the force is made strong enough to actually protect people.

Sustain the humanitarian response

The humanitarian response in Darfur is among the largest in the world and has had an enormous impact on people’s lives. Early in the crisis, large numbers of people died of malnutrition and disease, but over time the mortality rates have been cut and people now have greatly improved access to vital services such as water, food, and healthcare. Yet daily targeted attacks on humanitarian workers are making Darfur an increasingly dangerous and difficult place to work. Oxfam’s staffers are still managing to assist over 400,000 people – but it is becoming ever harder to do so. The international community must ensure that all the many parties to the conflict respect international humanitarian law and allow aid to reach those who desperately need it.

Inclusive peace talks

Despite the vast humanitarian effort and the need for a stronger protection force, the only sustainable solution to the conflict is a political one. The peace process has stalled again recently and world leaders must provide sustained, coordinated leadership to reinvigorate efforts to unite the countless factions and bring all parties back to negotiations. Greater effort must be made to ensure such talks are truly representative of the people of Darfur, by increasing the involvement of civil society and marginalized groups, and reflecting the needs and concerns of all Darfur’s many ethnic groups.

Don’t give up on Darfur

While soldiers and militia fight, it is the ordinary people of Darfur who suffer. They want nothing more than an end to the conflict and to be able to get back to their normal lives – but they need our help to make this happen. People all over the world can help ensure their political leaders do not allow attention on Darfur to fade after five years. Darfur must not be allowed to become yet another “forgotten crisis.” To do so would condemn millions of its people to years more suffering.

]]> No publisher Oxfam America Sudan human rights violence humanitarian relief Darfur 2011-06-29T14:07:46Z Feature Story Oxfam in the Horn of Africa http://www.oxfamamerica.org/publications/oxfam-in-the-horn-of-africa Drought. Conflict. Low crop prices. These are among the realities that poor people across the Horn of Africa face on a daily basis. But with new tools for channeling water, building peace, and influencing markets, people are beginning to wrest control over their lives. Ethiopia is a country of contrasts—from the cool, wet highlands of the coffee farmers to the scorched pastures of the lowland herders. The challenges here and throughout the Horn remain enormous. Conflict plagues Sudan to the west and Somalia to the east. And widespread poverty traps people in lives of hardship. Since 2000, Oxfam America has been helping local communities survive conflict and marshal their natural resources in ways that strengthen families, villages, and whole regions.

]]> No publisher Oxfam America human rights equality for women hunger Sudan climate change livelihood Ethiopia Somalia peace and security agriculture livestock food security Darfur global food crisis internally displaced persons coffee water humanitarian relief women Horn of Africa disaster risk reduction 2009-06-09T20:42:44Z Brochure