Cyclone Nargis - Protection

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Websites/Multiple Documents

Source/publisher: Human Rights Watch
Date of entry/update: 2008-06-05
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English
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Description: Areas of activity. Annual reports... Country visits... Resolutions... International standards... Documents... Press releases... Issues in focus: Natural Disasters... Questions and answers about IDPs... Workshops and seminars... Links.
Source/publisher: United Nations
Date of entry/update: 2008-06-04
Grouping: Websites/Multiple Documents
Language: English (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish also available)
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Sub-title: An independent, community-based assessment of health and human rights in the Cyclone Nargis response
Description: "Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma on May 2, 2008, making landfall in the Irrawaddy Delta, 220 km southwest of Rangoon. This was a massive cyclone which would have been a challenge for any country to address. In all, some 140,000 lives are thought to have been lost, and at least 3.4 million persons were directly affected. Nargis hit Burma, a country under long-standing military rule, at a crucial time: just days before a national referendum on a new military-backed constitution was planned. The response to Cyclone Nargis on the part of Burma’s ruling junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), was profoundly affected by the junta’s policies, its practices toward its citizens generally, and by the political imperatives of the junta’s referendum priorities. The junta’s response was marred by failures to warn, failures to respond, limits on humanitarian assistance from independent Burmese NGOs and citizens, and limits on humanitarian assistance from international entities eager to assist. Independent assessment of the Nargis response has proven to be challenging. Assessments done with the collaboration of the junta have reported little on the human rights situation for survivors and relief workers. Burma Before the Storm Military rule in Burma has also been characterized by widespread human rights violations, including the violent suppression of the ‘Saffron Revolution’ in 2007, and severe curtailment in social spending. The official government expenditure on health is about $0.70 per capita per annum or 0.3% of the national GDP, amongst the lowest worldwide. The health and social services situation is more severe in rural and ethnic minority areas. The Referendum and the New Constitution The SPDC announced in February, 2008, that it would hold a referendum on its new military- drafted constitution on May 10. The constitution had been drafted in secret by military-appointed representatives, without the participation of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), winners of the 1990 elections which were never recognized by the regime. It was against this complex and contested backdrop that the worst natural disaster ever to hit Burma made landfall. The Emergency Assistance Team - Burma Within days of the cyclone health care workers from the Thai-Burma border region joined together to create EAT, the Emergency Assistance Team- Burma. The teams, eventually 44, were comprised of several volunteers each; most were cyclone survivors. They received training in emergency responses, food and water distribution, and basic first aid provision. The EAT teams, working “under the radar” and with local community based organizations (CBO) while unaffiliated with any formal NGO or GO, went deep into the affected areas to provide relief to survivors. Their efforts are part of a larger ongoing effort of border-based social organizations which quickly respond to challenges such as Cyclone Nargis, mobilizing through a network of other CBOs. By After the Storm: Voices from the Delta the end of the first phase of relief (in the first three months) 44 direct assistance teams had provided assistance to an estimated population of some 180,000 survivors in 87 villages across 17 townships. An Independent Assessment of the Nargis Response In response to reports of human rights abrogation in cyclone-affected areas, a collaborative group was formed which included EAT and the Johns Hopkins Center for Public Health and Human Rights to conduct an independent assessment. With technical assistance provided by local organizations Global Heath Access Program and Karen Human Rights Group, two rounds of data collection were undertaken in the Irrawaddy Delta by the EAT teams: from June to September, and October to November, 2008. A total of 90 interviews were conducted. Interviewees were 33 relief workers and 57 survivors, interviewed in storm-affected areas (including in Irrawaddy Division) and in Thailand. RELIEF EFFORTS AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS FRAMEWORK The Government of Burma1 /Myanmar is not a party to most international human rights treaties, but acceded to the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in 1991, and the Convention on Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in 1997, albeit with reservations. By accession to the CRC, the junta has legally agreed to recognize the right of the child to reach the highest standard of health and access to health care. Under CEDAW special consideration is given to realizing women’s rights to health care and to the needs of rural women. The Responsibility to Protect The Responsibility to Protect (R2P) report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), issued in 2001, advanced a framework for international human rights protection, declaring that it was each sovereign nation’s responsibility to protect their citizens from crimes against humanity, genocide, and other mass atrocities. This was later reaffirmed by the 2005 resolution of the UN General Assembly and the 2006 UN Security Council resolution. The 2005 resolution concluded that it is the responsibility of the international community to use appropriate diplomatic, humanitarian and other peaceful means, in accordance with Chapters VI and VIII of the Charter, to help protect populations from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity .” and taking “collective action” only “on a case-by-case basis and in cooperation with relevant regional organizations as appropriate, should peaceful means be inadequate and national authorities manifestly fail to protect their populations. R2P was invoked in the early, stalled response to the Cyclone but was never implemented. The people of Burma, including EAT, did respond to the responsibility to protect—despite junta harassment, arrest, and in some cases, imprisonment, for providing humanitarian assistance..."
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Source/publisher: The Emergency Assistance Team and The Center for Public Health and Human Rights at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2009-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2021-08-16
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language:
Format : pdf
Size: 1.88 MB
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Description: "Floods, earthquakes and storms have routinely displaced tens of thousands around the world. Over the past few years, the international community?s response to these catastrophes has become ever swifter and more sophisticated. Until very recently, however, and in the rush to deliver life-saving aid, little attention was paid to the rights of these displaced people. The publication of these guidelines reflects an understanding of the need for the humanitarian system to provide to the people on the front lines of disaster response the guidance they need to ensure the protection of the rights of the people left homeless by natural disasters. This document is the result of a collaborative approach that took place over more than a year. The Representative of the UN Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons, Mr. Walter Kälin, prepared draft Operational Guidelines on Human Rights and Natural Disasters. These were shared with the members of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Working Group. Each member of the IASC WG contributed its own expertise, operational experience and insights to the collaborative process. This ensured that the final product is one that meets the needs of those affected by disasters. This version of the Operational Guidelines was formally adopted by the IASC WG at a meeting in Geneva on 9 June 2006.We want to thank all the members involved for their work and participation. The Guidelines are short and easily accessible. They are complemented by a Manual that gives the human rights background which underpins them. The Manual also sets out practical operational steps to provide humanitarian workers with examples of how these Guidelines can best be implemented. Human rights are as much a part of the lives of the people we are called upon to assist and to protect as are their needs for food and shelter. For the first time, these Guidelines will provide responders with the information they need to make a rightsbased approach a part of the emergency response."
Creator/author: Walter Kaelin
Source/publisher: Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC)
2006-06-00
Date of entry/update: 2010-08-07
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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Description: Summary: "In its resolution 1992/58, the Commission on Human Rights established the mandate on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, which was then extended by the Human Rights Council in its decision 1/102 and resolution 5/1. In March 2008, by its resolution 7/32, the Council extended the mandate for one year. On 26 March 2008, Tomás Ojea Quintana (Argentina) was appointed as the new Special Rapporteur, and he officially assumed the function on 1 May 2008. The present report is a follow-up report on the status of implementation of Council resolutions S-5/1 and 6/33, as requested by the Council in its resolution 7/31. In the report, the Special Rapporteur focuses on the human rights issues pertinent to the current constitutional process in the country, the developments with regard to the crackdown on the demonstrations in September 2007, and the human rights impact of tropical cyclone Nargis. The report builds upon the preliminary findings and further developments included in the previous report submitted to the Council (A/HRC/7/24). Since the present report is his first to be submitted to the Council, the Special Rapporteur also presents an overview of his methodology and programme of work in discharging his mandate. The Special Rapporteur would like to pay tribute to the victims of cyclone Nargis, present his condolences to the families at this tragic time and convey to the people of Myanmar a message of encouragement in the recovery phase of that natural disaster."
Source/publisher: United Nations (A/HRC/8/12)
2008-06-03
Date of entry/update: 2008-06-05
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
Format : pdf
Size: 70.12 KB
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Description: A Working Visit to Asia by the Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons Walter Kälin
Creator/author: Walter Kälin
Source/publisher: United Nations
2005-03-00
Date of entry/update: 2008-06-04
Grouping: Individual Documents
Language: English
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