International humanitarian agencies and Filipino non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are stepping up education and information campaigns to raise awareness among rival military forces about the human rights entitlements of internally displaced people (IDPs).
They want to minimise, if not totally prevent, the abuse and displacement of communities affected by armed conflict.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in the Philippines, for instance, is allocating US$1.5 million in 2008 to educate and train both the armed forces and rebel groups to ensure they understand human rights protocols governing conduct towards IDPs.
“It is part of the long-term perspective,” ICRC head of delegation in the Philippines Felipe Donoso told IRIN. “Displacement is the consequence of armed conflict… We want to target the end of the chain.”
ICRC’s mandate in the Philippines in the past 25 years has grown from extending emergency assistance to IDPs, to opening communication lines between government forces and rebels, and informing them of human rights principles.
 Photo: Google Maps  |
| A map of the Philippines and surrounding countries highlighting Mindanao island |
Donoso lamented that over the past four decades there had been “little change in the mindset among combatants regarding respect for the human rights of IDPs”.
Over the years, millions of civilians have been uprooted from their homes and/or caught up in fighting between government forces and the MILF, the Moro National Liberation Front and the New People’s Army. Government data showed that from 2001-2005, over one million people had been identified as IDPs, most on Mindanao island. Nearly 500 were killed and another 500 wounded.
Efforts by local NGO
Analisa Ugay, of the local NGO Balay Rehabilitation Centre, said education and information efforts had empowered IDPs to play an active role in maintaining peace in their areas.
She cited the case of Pikit town in North Cotabato Province on Mindanao island, where residents underwent peace education with the assistance of Balay. “We taught them that it was their right to live in peace… that for peace to hold, they should be active players in preserving it.”
Before the education drive, Ugay said Pikit experienced periodic conflict. The education drive had prompted local leaders and residents to establish the Bantay Ceasefire (monitoring group). “We have proven that if civilians are aware of their rights, it is possible to maintain peace. Pikit has demonstrated that.”
 We want to inculcate the culture of peace and the promotion of it to the IDPs. We want to teach them backdoor channelling to avoid hostilities from erupting. |
The UN Development Programme-Philippines is also working on capacity-building for IDPs -“to capacitate them to stand on their own in terms of maintaining peace”, Serge Villena, a crisis prevention and protection recovery unit programme associate, told IRIN. “We want to inculcate the culture of peace and the promotion of it to the IDPs. We want to teach them backdoor channelling to avoid hostilities from erupting.”
Other agencies, including the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), are catering for the needs of IDP children. Last year, UNICEF launched a Day of Peace campaign where some 200,000 IDP children in 600 villages were treated for intestinal worms and immunised. UNICEF child protection officer Leon Dominador Fajardo told IRIN the project was such a huge success that the MILF agreed to a second Day of Peace this year. “The children are most vulnerable to diseases… it helped that the MILF recognises this fact.”
Some agencies are also responding to the psycho-social needs of the children. Balay, for instance, conducts psycho-social intervention like “play therapies” for child IDPs to help them cope with trauma.
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This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions
