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Health and Human Rights in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies

Health and Human Rights in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies. Jennifer Leaning, M.D., S.M.H. FXB Center for Health and Human Rights Harvard University Brown University March 2, 2013. Outline. Forced movement of people as common element in armed conflict and natural disaster

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Health and Human Rights in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies

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  1. Health and Human Rights in Complex Humanitarian Emergencies Jennifer Leaning, M.D., S.M.H. FXB Center for Health and Human Rights Harvard University Brown UniversityMarch 2, 2013

  2. Outline • Forced movement of people as common element in armed conflict and natural disaster • International norms that apply to armed conflict and crisis-induced forced migration • Major issues of health and human rights in complex emergencies • Examples

  3. Forced Migration in Conflict and Disaster • Creates emergency needs • Water, shelter health,food, security • Imposes new categories of vulnerability • Raises risk of gender-based violence • Requires temporary settlement that may last for decades • Inflicts loss of family and community, livelihoods, culture, history

  4. Legal Rights and Norms in CHEs • International human rights law • Rights to life, home, property, freedom of movement, dignity, protection against torture and assault • International humanitarian law • Obligations to distinguish civilians from combatants and protect civilians from harm • Sphere standards

  5. CHEs: Armed Conflict • Conflicts 1990-2010 • Number ranges from 18-33 per year • Majority in Africa and Asia • Majority last for many years • Number of internally displaced persons greater than number of refugees • Forced migration from war is now a prevalent feature • Characterized by massive violations of human rights and IHL • Targets are civilians

  6. Examples • Wars • Yugoslavia 1992-95 • Darfur 2003 to present • Post conflict Afghanistan and Angola • Disasters • Hurricane Katrina August 29, 2005

  7. Number of Refugees vs. IDPs over Time

  8. High Costs of Conflict: Civilian Victims of War WWI WWII 1946-today

  9. War in Former Yugoslavia 1992-95 • Estimates of 200,000 killed • Hundreds of thousands displaced in campaigns of ethnic terror and ethnic cleansing • Large camps of IDPs and self settled in towns • Concentration camps • Wide-scale rape • Forced migration

  10. War in Former Yugoslavia • Hundreds of thousands displaced in campaigns of ethnic terror and ethnic cleansing • Large camps of IDPs and self settled in towns • UN required to participate in creating more homogenous populations in order to reduce killings and assault

  11. Sarajevo 1992-96

  12. Bosnia 1992

  13. Bosnia 1993-94

  14. Bosnia 1993-94

  15. War in Darfur 2003-present • Demands for regional autonomy and voice • Armed Darfuri militias attacked Sudanese outposts • Aggressive state and militia-based reprisal • Campaign of terror and destruction of villages and community • Catapulted over 2.5 million into IDP status and 400,000 refugees in Chad

  16. Darfur 2004

  17. Darfur 2005

  18. Darfur 2004

  19. Darfur 2004

  20. Darfur 2004

  21. Darfur 2004

  22. Darfur 2005

  23. Post-Conflict Afghanistan 2002

  24. Post-Conflict Afghanistan 2002

  25. Post-Conflict Afghanistan 2002

  26. Post-Conflict Angola 2007

  27. Post-Conflict Angola 2007

  28. Post-Conflict Angola 2007

  29. Natural Disasters • Weather instability, powerful hurricanes/cyclones, disruptions in monsoons and seasonal rains • Coastal and riverine flooding • Flood induced mountain collapse • Sea level rise • Water scarcity, drought, food insecurity, drought, famine

  30. Natural Disasters • Increased intensity and frequency of major water-related natural disasters • Increasingly important factor in forced migration • Probably mediated through population growth and settlement patterns as well as through secular environmental change and climate change

  31. Number of Disasters over Time

  32. Hurricane Katrina • Major category 3 hit very close to New Orleans, LA August 29, 2005 • City of 485,000 on US Gulf Coast with one road north for evacuation • Disaster resulted in rapid forced migration within and then out of the city • Underlying racial and socio-economic fissures • As of 2010, only 345,000 have returned

  33. Hurricane Katrina 8/26/05

  34. Hurricane Katrina 8/28/05

  35. Hurricane Katrina 8/29/05

  36. Hurricane Katrina 8/30/05

  37. Hurricane Katrina 8/30-31/05

  38. Hurricane Katrina 8/31/05

  39. Hurricane Katrina 8/31/05 - 9/1/05

  40. Hurricane Katrina 9/1/05

  41. Hurricane Katrina

  42. Health and Human Rights in War and Disaster (CHEs) • All follow discernible patterns of onset and escalation • All precipitate forced migration • All inflict suffering on individuals and civilian populations • All impose loss of family and community, livelihoods, culture, history

  43. Health and Human Rights in War and Disaster (CHEs) • Dynamics differ greatly • But all are very difficult to stop once begun • All with significant health impacts • All laced with significant human rights violations • These impacts and violations are tightly linked • Emphasis must be on early prevention and mitigation

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