from conflict to peace in a changing world: social reconstruction in times of transition

8/7/2019 From Conflict to Peace in a Changing World: Social reconstruction in times of transition

1/8


2/8

From Conflict to Peace in a Changing WorldSocial Reconstruction in Tim es of Transition

Edited by Deborah Eade

OXFAMLIBRARY

An Oxfam Working Paper


3/8

OxfamGB 1998First published by Oxfam GB in 1998ISBN 0 85598 395 7A catalogue record for this publication is available from the British Library.All rights reserved. Reproduction, copy, transmission, or translation of any part of thispublication may be made only under the following conditions: with the prior written permission of the publishe r; or with a licence from the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd., 90 To tten ham Cou rt Road,

Lond on W1P 9HE, UK, or from anoth er national licensing agency; or for quotation in a review of the work; or un de r the terms set out below.This publication is copyright, but may be reprod uce d by any method without fee for teaching p urpo ses,but not for resale. Formal permission is required for all such uses, but normally will be granted immediately.For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation,prior written permission must be obtained from the publisher, and a fee may be payable.Available from the following agents:for Canada and the USA: Humanities Press Inter nation al, 165 First Avenue, Atlantic H ighlands,New Jers ey NJ 07716-1289, USA; tel. 732 872 1441; fax 732 872 0717;for Southern. Africa: David Philip Publishers, PO Box 23408, Clarem ont, C ape Town 7735,South Africa; tel. 021 644136 ; fax 021 64335 8;for Australia: Bush Books, PO Box 1370, Gosford South , NSW 2250, Australia; tel. 043 23274;fax 029 212248.For the rest of the world, contact Oxfam Publishing, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UK.Published by Oxfam GB, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford OX2 7DZ, UKOxfam GB is registered as a charity, no. 202918, and is a member of Oxfam International.Typeset by Oxfam CSUPrinted by Oxfam Print Unit

This book converted to digital file in 2010


4/8

Contents

Preface 5Deborah EadeRelief agencies and moral standing in war:principles of humanity, neutrality,impartiality, and solidarity 8Hugo SlimThe humanitarian responsibilitiesof the United Nations Security Council:ensu ring the security of the people 18

Juan SomaviaFor better? For worse?Hu ma nita rian aid in conflict 27David Bryer and Edmund CairnsDismantling former Yugoslavia,recolonising Bosnia 38Michel ChossudovskyNon-neutral humanitarianism:NGOs and the Rwanda crisis 46Andy StoreyGuatemala: uncovering the past,recovering the future 55Elizabeth LiraAssisting survivors of war and atrocity: noteson 'psychosocial' issues for NG O workers 61Derek SummerfieldTension s in the psychosocial d iscourse:implications for the p lann ing of inter-ventions with war-affected popu lation sAlastair Ager 65

Papers from a Symposium: Building Bridgesin Southern Africa: Conflict, Reconstructionand Reconciliation in Times of Cha nge 71Sustainable peace-building in the South:experiences from Latin America 72

Jenny Pearce

Transition in El Salvador:a multi-layered process 88Martha ThompsonRwand a: beyond 'ethnic conflict' 95Anne MackintoshReconstruction and reconciliation:em ergin g from transition 105Graeme SimpsonCollective memory and the processof reconciliation and reconstruction 109Wiseman ChirwaReconciliation: the role of tru th commis-sions and alternative ways of hea ling 113Noel Muchenga ChicuecueReconciliation in Zimbabwe:reality or illusion? 117Val Ingham-ThorpePhysical, psychological, and politicaldisplacement in Angola and M ozambique 119Francisco Tunga AlbertoChild soldiers:the experience of the MozambicanAssociation for Public Health (AMOSAPU) 123Viriato Castelo-BrancoTraining for peaceGlenda Caine

12 5

Change and continuity:the challenge of transitionDeborah Eade 128

Conflict, reconstruction, and reconciliation:reciprocal lessons for NGOs in SouthernAfrica and Central America 132Martha ThompsonAnn otated bibliography 136


5/8


6/8

Preface

Deborah Eade

Since its very inception in 1943, Oxfam GB hassought to respond to the impact of war andarmed conflict on civilians and on the fabric oftheir societies. To day, conflict-related workcontinues to account for some two-thirds ofOxfam's annual grants expenditure, from thelarge-scale emergency relief programmesassociated in recent years with Eastern Europeor the Great Lakes region of Africa, to the low-key work in areas which may at last be em ergin gfrom conflict, such as Central America, theMiddle East, or Southern Africa.'

Not surprisingly, then, armed conflict hasbeen a major and recurrent theme in Oxfam'spublishing program me , whether the books andother materials are aimed primarily at inter-national policy-makers, at development andrelief practitioners, at the academic com mun ity,or at the general public. But, as Jenny Pearcepoints out in her contribution to this WorkingPaper, the danger today is that as 'the peaceindustry' gears into action, NGOs are drawninto concentrating on the definition of theirown role and the expression of their ownopinions, rather than giving voice to thosewhose lives are more directly affected. Sheargues that, instead of highlighting how peopleand societies themselves define and respond tocrisis, NGOs and other aid agencies often imply(and sometimes perhaps believe) that thesesurvivor-victims are passively waiting foroutsiders to rescue them:

The external agencies concerned with peaceseem increasingly to focus the debate on theirinterventions (for instance, what they can doto articulate relief and d evelop me nt, whatthey can do to preve nt conflict and buildpeace), and much less on the d ynam ic oflocal capacities and how these can shape thefuture prospects for peace-building.This Working Paper reproduces articles andessays which first appeared in the quarterly

j o u r n a l , Development in Practice. The first partfeatures papers by scholars, agency representa-tives, practitioners, and policy-makers on theethical and legal dimensions of humanitarianendeavour. The second part comprises acollection of original essays which were com-missioned from some of the highly ex perienc edpractitioners in the field of development andconflict who atten ded the Ju ne 1996Symposium entitled Building Bridges in SouthernAfrica: Conflict, Reconstruction and, Reconciliationin Times of Change, which was co-sponsored bythe Johannesbu rg-based Centre for the Study ofViolence and Reconciliation (CSVR) andOxfam's South Africa Office. The two sectionsare complementary, each addressing conflict-related themes from a range of perspectives,and together painting an informative picture ofthe moral and practical complexities of crisisand intervention.

Hugo Slim opens the Working Paper byexploring the concepts of neutrality, impar-tiality, and solidarity; and the necessary linksbetween human rights and internationalhumanitarian law. Similar explorations aremade by David Bryer and Edmund Cairns intheir account of how Oxfam perceives theseissues and shapes its own interventions inconflict. However, Andy Storey shows thatmuch of the international humanitarianresponse to the 1994 crisis in Rwanda felldismally sho rt of could possibly be re gar ded asminimum standards of professionalism.Indeed, the main lesson to emerge from the1996 evaluation was that humanitarian inter-ventions cannot substitute for political action.2Here, Juan Somavia architect of the 1995World Summit for Social Development, andChile's Permanent Ambassador to the UnitedNations considers how today's expandeddefinitions of peace and security have, alongwith changes in the dynamics of war andinsecurity, outstripped the capacity of


7/8

From conflict to peace in a changing world

traditional diplomatic methods and inter-national instruments. He reviews the moral,political, and practical options available to theinternational community, and suggests ways inwhich the UN Security Council might enhanceits ability to stem the abuse of power bygovernm ents and other actors. Within Euro pe,Michel Chossudovsky illustrates how IMF-sponsored economic structural adjustmentpolicies served to exacerbate latent socialtensions in the Former Yugoslavia problemswhich, he argues, have been furthe r intensifiedthrough the provisions of the Dayton PeaceAccords. There are major lessons here foranyone who is concerned about the relationshipbetween conflict and development. Drawing onthe exp erience of Guatemala, a country w ith anatrocious history of State-sponsored politicalviolence, Elizabeth Lira shows that, for peace tobecome a reality, the formal processes forrecording human-rights violations must also beaccompanied by society's willingness torecognise and assimilate its past. For themajority of the victims, such recognitionrequ ires material, as well as attitudina l, chan ge.The question of how external agencies andNGOs might best engage in 'mental health'issues is taken up in a debate between DerekSummerfield, of the Medical Foundation forthe Care of Victims of Torture, and AlastairAger, Professor of Applied Psychology at theUniversity of Edinburgh.The Symposium drew together 30individuals and organisations working in theareas of violence, conflict, and peace-buildingfrom across the Sou thern African region th efirst time that NGOs had collectively addressedwhat it actually means to rebuild the socialfabric. P articipants were themselves work ing atmany different levels, and discussions rangedfrom the very specific experiences of working

with communities torn apart by war andviolence, to the region-wide problems ofweapons proliferation, the spread of HIV/AIDS, the m anipulation of ethnic identities, andrelations between civil society and the State.Hea ling strategies were also compare d fromwork with former child-soldiers in M ozambiqueto the Truth and Reconciliation Commission inSouth Africa, and the efforts of NGOs and theChurch in Namibia to address internalisedoppression, re-integrate exiles, and face theissues raised by survivors of detention campsdu rin g the war of liberation.An invaluable dimension was the partici-pation of speakers from Latin America: these

helped to set the parameters for reflection andanalysis, and ensured that the importance ofchanges in the international political andeconomic sphere was kept in view. Questionsarising from the detailed presentation on ElSalvador found many echoes in SouthernAfrica: Does reconstruction bring structura l change? Does peace brin g justice, and d oes justicebring peace? What is the role of collective memory inhealing an d reconciliation? How can we recognise and work with themany different levels of transition? What is the role of NGOs? With rising levels of violent crim e in so many'post-conflict' societies, can we even speak of

peace a t all?And what are the gender-related dimensions ofwar, and of recovery and reconstruction?Negotiated peace settlements have seldomaddressed women's specific economic andpsychological nee ds, or built effectively on thei rsocial and political capacities. What happens,for examp le, to the women ab ducted by militias,and forced in to sexual slavery? In Moza mbiqueand Angola, as elsewhere, women's specificneeds have been neglected in the demobil-isation process. If they leave (or are ab and on edby) their abductors, they lack any means ofsurvival. Yet if they stay, they are not recog nisedas dependants in the demobilisation agree-ments. Women a re in many ways excluded fromaccess to land and training, and from the right(and opportunity) to take a full part alongsidemen in the process of shaping the political andeconomic reco nstruction of their societies.

Th e papers arising from the Symposium thusfocus on the daily challenges posed by workingfor a 'culture of peace'. A keynote paper byJenny Pearce compares the 'post-conflict'developments in El Salvador, Nicaragua, andPeru . She places the accent on local involveme ntin shaping society, finding that formal peaceprocesses may exclude rather than fostergrassroots and popular participation an issuedeveloped in greater detail by MarthaThompson. A recu rrent them e is that, althoughsocieties and communities must draw on theirown self-healing potential, uninform ed or badlytimed externa l assistance can easily thwa rt theseoften very fragile and multi-layered processes:something highlighted byboth Anne Mackintoshand Graeme Simpson. This may also affect howsocieties acknowledge their past: for while

6


8/8

Preface

decisions about truth commissions, tribunals,and similar formal processes are taken at thehighest political level (often with internationalsupport), it is among ordinary people and inmun dane events that denial and recriminationmust give way to recognition, reconciliation,and forgiveness. Wiseman Chijere Chirwalooks at how public symbols can he lp to establisha collective memory, while Noel MuchengaChicuecue, Viriato Castelo-Branco, GlendaCaine, and Francisco Tunga Alberto focus onways in which to help people consign destructivememo ries to the past.

Th e articles and essays collected he re help togive concrete expression to the variousconditions under which local and internationalagencies are working, and in which societiesand individuals must somehow recover sharedmeanings and purpose. These contributionscan only touch on some of the topics that needto be addressed. They do, nevertheless, givesome insight into the ethical and practical issuesinvolved in dealing with conflict and re-

buildin g societies that have been ravaged by warand violence.3 Work on mediation and conflict-resolution cann ot be app roach ed in a social andeconomic vacuum. Conflict is a part of andinfluences to different degrees every sector ofhu man activity: in societies in transition , conflictnecessarily affects every kind of developmentintervention.Deborah EadeEdi tor , Development in Practice

Notes1 See Linda Agerbak (1990): 'Breaking the cycleof violence: doing development in situationsof conflict', Development in Practice, Vol 1 No3; reprinted in Deborah Eade (ed) (1996).2 David Millwood (ed) (1996).3 For further reading, please see the Annot-ated B ibliography at the end of this WorkingPaper.

from conflict to peace in a changing world: social reconstruction in times of transition

Documents