Friday, April 27, 2012

The Ethics of War and the Influence of Modern Refugees

Human beings have been fighting each other since prehistoric times, but it is still questionable to define if waging war is right or wrong. Although people have established some ethics of war to make it become a lesser evil, the irrefutable fact is that war involves deliberately killing or injuring people and even makes people become refugees. For example, the "Just War" Theory, has been established thousand years ago, attempts "to conceive of how the use of arms might be restrained, made more humane, and ultimately directed towards the aim of establishing lasting peace and justice". It has two sets of criteria which are "jus ad bellum", the right to go to war; and "jus in bello", the right conduct within war. Nevertheless, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) announced the latest figures of the number of refugees is 10.5 millions at the beginning of 2011 which means lots of refugees out there are still living in hardship, such as facing the problems of repatriation; local integration or resettlement.

Repatriation is the process of returning a person back to one's place of origin or citizenship. In this decade, however, it is often violent, compelled, and premature. Repatriation has become a battleground. UNHCR deemed that the search for durable solutions to refugee problems has undergone a transformation from a "reactive, exile-oriented and refugee specific approach" to a "proactive, homeland-oriented and holistic approach". For example, Rwandan refugees who were been denied a durable solution in exile formed an army in order to fight their way home. They militarized their camps and violently prevented voluntary repatriation of those they held hostage in Zaire and Tanzania.

Local integration is a complex and gradual process which helps refugees to integrate into the local community in order to offer them the opportunity of starting a new life. It is related to legal, economic, social and cultural dimensions and imposes considerable demands on both the individual and the receiving society. Brazil signed an agreement with Ecuador in 2010, it pledged to actively support the integration of the estimated 15,000 Colombian refugees in Sucumbios and to help their needy Ecuadorean neighbors. The Brazilian government is funding projects in the areas of education, sexual and gender-based violence, and water and sanitation infrastructure.

Resettlement is another durable solution for refugees to move from one location to another, usually with the intention that this move is permanent. Although it involves a number of difficulties, such as cultural transition, language barriers and discrimination, it provides refugees with legal and physical protection, including access to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights similar to those enjoyed by nationals. It allows them to become naturalized citizens. Today, the United States is the world's top resettlement country as it allows for up to 70,000 – 91,000 refugees to enter for the past decade. Moreover, many refugee service programs focus on helping refugees find employment so that they can become self-sufficient.

Even though we do not have a huge world war nowadays, there are many so-called "conflicts" every year that lead to large amount of people who have to flee and become refugees. The durable solutions, such as repatriation; local integration or resettlement, can prevent them from being uprooted from their homes due to conflict or persecution anymore. Those solutions help them to have a new life in other countries.

No comments:

Post a Comment