Rights in Crisis
Right to Protection
All people have the right to be protected from human rights violations. However, during times of armed conflict the safety and security of people is often threatened.
Humanitarian Protection is concerned with mitigating or preventing the more damaging effects (direct or indirect) of armed conflict on the civil population. It relates mainly to the way in which armed conflict is conducted and the way people, including displaced populations, are treated.
One way humanitarian agencies aim to protect people in crisis situations is by helping to set up displaced peoples camps in ways that improve public safety. Appropriate camp lighting; special areas for vulnerable people such as unaccompanied children; positioning of toilets; and provision of materials that minimise the need for people to go outside the relative safety of the camp; can all minimise peoples vulnerability to harm.
Reducing the threat of widespread, targeted attacks on civilians may also involve local, national and international advocacy. Oxfam expects governments and the international community to meet their obligation to protect civilians in times of crisis.
Who is responsible for protecting refugees?
States have the primary responsibility to protect all people on their territory. For refugees this includes providing fair and accessible asylum procedures, ensuring that their basic needs are met, and helping people to find durable solutions. However, particularly in situations of mass influx of refugees, host countries may lack the capacity and resources to protect refugees and they may therefore require international assistance.
State assistance is often channelled through the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which was created in 1950. The UNHCR is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, and find a permanent solution to their displacement.
On request by the Secretary General or the General Assembly and with consent of the state concerned, UNHCR’s mandate sometimes covers internally displaced persons as well. This is the case, for example, in Sri Lanka.
The Arms Trade
The increasing globalisation of the arms trade fuels conflict, poverty and human rights abuses around the world.
There are about 640 million small arms in the world or one for every ten people on earth. The majority, 59%, are in the hands of civilians. 38% are owned by government armed forces, 2.8% by police and 0.2% by armed groups. Ten to 14 billion units of ammunition are manufactured every year, which is enough to kill every person in the world twice over.
Arms kill more than half a million men, women, and children on average each year. Many thousands more are maimed, or tortured, or forced to flee their homes. The uncontrolled proliferation of arms fuels human rights violations, escalates conflicts, and intensifies poverty. The time for world leaders to act is now. Tens of thousands of children are armed and fighting in more than 20 conflicts around the world.
To confront this crisis, Oxfam, Amnesty International, and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) have together launched an international campaign calling for effective arms controls to make people genuinely safer from the threat of armed violence. You can help us to put an end to this horrific abuse.
Log on to www.controlarms.org and become part of the largest, most effective visual petition in the world.
