Front Page
BOOK REVIEW
Struggles of the invisible refugees

Caught Between Borders: Response Strategies of the Internally Displaced

Edited by M Vincent & B R Sorensen

Reviewed by Sreeram Chaulia

Among the new challenges confronting the humanitarian and human rights comity, the most burning and intractable is that of internally displaced persons (IDPs), people who have been forced to flee their homes as a result of war and generalized violence, but who do not cross an international border. There are an estimated 25 to 30 million IDPs in the world today, leapfrogging from 7 million in 1990, and begging an urgent remedy from the United Nations system. No single international organization or legal instrument has the resources or mandate to cater to the immediate and long-term needs of IDPs. National governments, who normally have the primary responsibility of ensuring the rights and wellbeing of their citizens, are either insensitive to or directly responsible for IDP situations. Forlorn and woebegone, unlike their relatively better cared for cousins, refugees, IDPs are forced to devise innovative and courageous responses to adversity with scanty external inputs.

This collection of 10 case studies from Africa, Asia, Latin America and Europe documents sui generis coping mechanisms that IDPs in various trouble zones of the world have developed to barely survive and live another day. The intention of the editors in compiling such an anthology is to "look more closely at local capacity" and "provide a counter-discourse to the traditional hegemonic humanitarian labels of 'vulnerable groups', 'beneficiaries' and recipients'." (p 6) Perceiving IDPs as passive recipients of aid and denying their ability and agency to determine their own destinies are serious flaws residing in the psychology of humanitarian actors who lack the "ability to listen". Vincent and Sorensen hope that Caught Between Borders is "the first step towards abandoning the humanitarians' self-image as benefactors". (p 281).

Angola
Nina Birkeland and Alberta Gomes narrate the horrors of being Deslocados (Portuguese for 'out of place') in Africa's longest and most internecine civil war. As many as 3.8 million Angolans have fled homes and native places to escape the ravages and atrocities of 37 years of Government-UNITA fighting over power and mineral wealth. In Huambo province, new Deslocados do not have access to fields, unlike the 'established' IDPs from previous decades, even though both groups can be said to be leading a hand-to-mouth existence. Resettlement centers, which are located closer to home villages of the IDPs to enable them to travel and farm on their own lands, have living conditions "unfit for animals". (p 31)

Lack of security compounds destitution, what with UNITA soldiers seizing whole villages and using machetes to murder civilians, thereby saving bullets for fighting the Angolan army. IDPs have formed 'civil defense groups' with light arms to try to ward off soldiers, but these squads are regularly ambushed and slaughtered. The preponderance of landmines in the countryside has led to as many as 17 people from the Caliamama camp being killed in one month of the year 2000. Exploding mines play spoilsport with subsistence activities like firewood collection and trading in the informal sector. Though external agencies try to provide some accessible IDPs with seeds and tools, "lack of safe arable land means people are likely to end up eating the seeds they are supposed to plant if they have no other source of food". (p 42) Government favoritism toward investing business firms and powerful NGOs has also led to land farmed by IDP families being snatched away and given to oil companies and so-called "environmentalists". The low cost self-help strategies of Deslocados have little potential to generate decent incomes in the face of such institutional obstacles.

Burundi
G Boutin and S Nkurunziza profile IDPs in one of the world's poorest countries, Burundi. Political violence by fanning of ethnic hatred has forced hundreds of thousands of Burundians into successive waves of displacement since the 1960s. For the subsistence farmers of Burundi, "displacement can mean starvation, since they generally have few sources of cash income" and no savings. (p 51) The government's controversial policy of forced "regroupment" of civilians in Bujumbura Rurale province has accentuated loss of livelihoods. Most of the regroupement camps have "no access to water or sanitation, and most inhabitants suffered from hunger and disease". (p 57) IDPs feel that their dignity and pride have been seriously undermined by confinement in these camps. In Rutana province, when military posts in charge of protecting the camps leave, adults keep night vigils to protect or warn against rebel or government attacks. As a result, "men and women became weak from lack of rest and so had difficulty tending their plots during the day". (p 64)

So meager and unsuitable is humanitarian assistance that many IDP families sell goods received from NGOs and the UN to soldiers and local government officials. Though all IDPs desire education for the young, girls and orphaned children are kept away from local schools to care for newborns or earn supplementary income. In some heart-rending cases, impoverished parents "brought their own children to an orphanage, claiming that the children's parents were dead". (p 72) Boutin and Nkurunziza find interestingly and sadly that there is a "learning curve" concerning displacement among Burundians, with the more "experienced" IDPs who have fled repeatedly in a better position to identify risks from rumors and planning ahead.

Sudan
K Jacobsen, S Lautze and A M Osman research the festering sore of Sudan, which has the greatest number of IDPs in the world, both absolutely and as a percentage of total population. Since 1983, the Islamic dictatorship based in Khartoum bombed and displaced civilians in the south as part and parcel of its war against Christian and animist rebels and for exploiting oil fields. Those IDPs who have migrated to Khartoum are under constant government harassment and intimidation. Southerners in Khartoum face a "particularly virulent form of oppression based on ethnicity, religion, socio-economic class, geographic origin and political affiliation". (p 82) Since the late 1980s, more than 1 million IDPs have lost their homes - often more than once - to the Housing Ministry's bulldozers for "slum clearance" and "city beautification" purposes.

After 22 protestors of demolitions were shot in 1992, IDPs have a new passive resistance strategy of salvaging roofing and other valuable materials before the bulldozers arrive. Revolving community funds (sanduk), financed by regular small contributions out of savings, have been established by IDPs to be disbursed to families which are unable to afford school fees, bribes, medical and travel expenses. The level of penury is so abject in some cases that "displaced women are deliberately becoming pregnant to qualify for food rations allocated for pregnant and lactating women". (p 91). IDP women are also faced with the constant fear of arrest and imprisonment under the strict Kasha laws that have been imposed in the name of Sharia. A Kasha Sanduk fund for coping with arrests and related fines and confiscations is also in operation. Unaccompanied street children in Khartoum sleep in defunct drainage pipes to avoid conscription into the army and indulge in petty theft and begging by day to eke out a square meal.

Uganda
A Olaa takes up the case of the lesser known Acholi IDPs of northern Uganda, who have been displaced by intense fighting between the Christian fundamentalist Lord's Resistance Army, the Holy Spirit Movement and government forces. Since the mid '90s, these rebel armies looted and burned homes, abducted and tortured inhabitants, laid landmines along village paths and ambushed civilian commercial traffic. Children are specifically targeted for forcible recruitment and kidnappings. Forced to relocate to Kitgum town and adjoining villages, the Acholi have fallen back on traditional beliefs, customs and clan networks to tide over difficulties. The power of spirits and ancestral intervention, which were gradually eroding in the pre-displacement era, have made a comeback and help rationalize present calamities in the minds of the IDPs. A traditional justice system, based on reconciliation rather than punishment, is used in the camps to settle disputes, helping to bind the community together.

If reversion to tradition is one interesting coping mechanism, some traditional practices are also being replaced. Women make small-scale savings and invest them in a revolving fund, kalulu, for starting tiny handicrafts or alcohol brewing businesses. Men, who used to be breadwinners in the past due to farming knowledge, now "felt that their authority over the family was undermined by the women's new economic clout", causing domestic discord (p 108). Child prostitution and begging, unknown phenomena in the Acholi value system, are other harmful practices that have cropped up among IDP families desperate for additional income.

Afghanistan
G Farr's essay on Afghan IDPs reveals the classic situation of IDPs sandwiched between borders and unable to cross over and become refugees. Twenty five years of crisis of governance and order, beginning in 1978, have left more than 1 million Afghans internally displaced. Location of fighting and the attitudes of surrounding countries have prevented most Afghans from leaving the country entirely. Until late 2001, the main escape routes to the south and east were under Taliban control and the borders into Pakistan, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan were closed. Caught between a rock and a hard place, Afghans have fled wherever there is hope of minimum safety.

In the Panjshir valley, an estimated 50 to 70 percent of the displaced had no food, as of March 2000. According to UNICEF, 268,000 Afghan displaced children die each year from easily treatable illnesses. Subsistence farmers try retaining major mobile assets like cattle and roofing when they flee and very often IDPs return to their lands to cultivate clandestinely, traveling at nights by circuitous routes. These daring attempts are not enough to feed and clothe all IDPs and so begging and human trafficking are common. A generation of Afghan IDP youth has grown up without even a traditional education. Taliban's totalitarian Sharia rules exacerbated economic difficulties of IDPs, especially women who had no male relatives or employment avenues. The craters of war and displacement will take decades to heal, assuming that the present tenuous peace will hold.

Burma (Myanmar)
C Cusano's brilliant chapter on 200,000 Karen IDPs in Burma's southeast shows that various displacement experiences - hiding in the jungle, fleeing to a refugee camp in Thailand, migrating to the city or finding a job abroad - "are not always distinct routes, but steps along a single path", ie, milestones on a journey of endless displacement. (p 140) Karens flee not only the brutality of the Burmese military junta but also draconian demands of the rebel Karen National Union, which requires households under its administration to contribute one member to "the revolution". The Burmese army, on the other hand, marks off an area populated by Karen civilians and sends orders to "clear it" in 24 or 48 hours.

Since forests are safest, most IDPs hide there, but "life in the jungle is harsh, and becomes even harsher the longer people stay". (p 150) Despair and displacement in Karen mythology and folklore are used to explain present-day woes and find solace in the troubles previous generations had with the dominant Burman race. Karens "describe themselves as disenfranchised people ... transformed from indigenous people to strangers on their own land within 50 years". (p 153) For physical survival, IDPs stash rice in well-concealed locations in the jungle, but the risks of termites and wild animals discovering it are phenomenal. Cusano has observed some IDPs dividing their rice and belongings into smaller stashes to spread the risk. If discovered, executions, beatings and rape are other dangers of hiding grain from soldiers.

Covert barter trade in commodities and food also occurs in Tenasserim province between jungle IDPs and those in nearby "relocation centres". Some Karens join armed groups with no other end in sight. To escape military infliction, male Karen villagers are becoming Buddhist monks, who are spared by warriors. Despite hazards of travel, many IDP families send their children across the border to Thai refugee camp schools. But for the tightening of border patrols and asylum laws in Thailand, the IDPs would wish to become refugees rather than suffer a listless fate inside Burma.

Sri Lanka
Co-editor Sorensen's account of the 100,000 Muslim Tamil IDPs in Sri Lanka brings out a case of internal discrimination among the minority Tamils on the basis of religion. LTTE rebels believe that Muslim Tamils act as informers for the government and began ordering out Muslims from the Puttalam-Mannar area from 1990 onwards, with no more than one polythene bag containing personal belongings. In ad hoc village settlements and welfare centers, IDPs have re-established zakat funds, the traditional Muslim system of charity, to assist those in need.

Besides working as field laborers, some IDP men invest in commercial onion production, but with few successes. "No matter how hard they work, they cannot save enough to be able to invest in their own equipment and build up their own businesses." (p 187) As women's economic contributions to the household increased through brisk sale of palmyra leaf baskets, the sexual distribution of labor has undergone changes and abrasions. The unique institution of a Mosque Trustee Board (MTB) has emerged, negotiating with LTTE and government troops, overseeing welfare funds that support children's education and settling internal disputes. The MTB adopts subtle ploys of "avoidance, compliance and silence" when talking to and dealing with armed groups. But no amount of community bonding is able to prevent premature marriages, child labor and other egregious ways which are outcomes of deteriorating social services in a country which was once a model of prosperity for South Asia.

Colombia
E H Delgado and T Laegreid unearth the endangered existence of 2 million Colombian IDPs, who have formed "occupational layers" of sorts in the 50-year civil war. The authors found highly developed warning systems in areas that were traditionally well organized. In Bucaramanga, "people used cattle horns to make far-reaching sounds that would warn others of the proximity of armed forces". (p 208) The most wanted persons of the paramilitary or FARC rebels stay in different houses after 5 pm to minimise chances of being taken away or killed altogether.

"Colonization" of forest areas for virgin land farming, while keeping IDPs from starving, is endangering the environment. Younger IDPs veer towards joining the warring factions since they offer good salaries, clothing, food and lodging in return for wielding guns. Families of youths who have joined militias use silence as the most effective protection strategy. "Not to disclose, or lie about, who you are and where you came from can increase the chances of survival." (p 212) "Peace Communities" which declare certain areas as possessing civilian autonomy from armed raids have been experimented with and yielded positive benefits for freedom of movement and temporary rebuilding of homes. Ollas Communiatarias, or soup kitchens, have aided maintenance of minimal nutrition standards. However, "rental nomads", street panhandling and prostitution are inevitable fates of IDPs in a country with no infrastructure for development. But for occasional bright spots like a displaced teacher in Villavicencio starting a school after his children could not be admitted to a local school, Colombian IDPs have a baleful future to look forward to.

Georgia
J Kharashvili's portrait of the 280,000 IDPs of Georgian origin who were expelled from Abkhazia after the break-up of the USSR is less tragic than the African, Asian or Latin American cases, as the levels of privation and suffering are not as extreme. Footwear has been in short supply after the 1992 attack of Abkhaz rebels and the mass exodus into interior regions of Georgia. A displaced woman in Racha-Lechkhumi is teaching IDPs in the communal center to knit thick socks for the winter and the model has gradually been exported to other IDP camps. Lack of space and dwindling electricity and household facilities are causing intense distress to a community that was once fairly well off.

The decision of the Georgian central government to sustain the Georgian provincial government of Abkhazia "in exil" has helped some IDPs to continue to work in bureaucracy and professional posts. In Kutaisi, IDPs have started, with government assistance, a big tea and stationery firm. For the less fortunate, selling cigarettes, nuts and other popular items in Tbilisi and across the Russian border is a staple form of employment. In case there is a severe bread shortage in some years, some IDPs sell part of their daily rations to local consumers. Local and international NGOs have set up "psycho-social" counselling and training centers to help affected IDPs overcome trauma and find jobs.

Yugoslavia
V Ilic's study of the 220,000 Serbian IDPs from Kosovo illustrates advanced preparation for flight as a special strategy. Most ethnic Serbs prepared for decades for the 1999 eventuality by saving money and weaving a network of connections in central Serbia to receive and host them. The Roma gypsies of Kosovo, who fled with the Serbs without prior planning, are living in cramped camps ("20 people into a 4 square metre room") of Kragujevac, Deponija etc. Both Serbs and Roma from Kosovo face the hostility of Serbs in Yugoslavia as they are considered guilty of provoking NATO's bombing by staunchly supporting Slobodan Milosevic.

Left to themselves with minor NGO and international aid, the IDPs in Belgrade earn their living almost entirely through illegal activities or by manual labor as unregistered workers. The former sub-elite and elite among Kosovo's Serb politicians do not assist ordinary IDPs at all. Illegal food trade with Montenegro in citrus fruits and meats exists, but displaced persons are brutally exploited in both the legal and illegal sectors of the Serbian economy. Kosovo Serbs "must endure insults, physical violence, stoning and attempted murder" every time they step out of their ghettos, leading most respondents in a recent opinion poll to say they would gladly return home to Kosovo if accorded military protection against the KLA. (p 264)

Conclusion
"Capacity building" is the new buzz phrase in the humanitarian world, but it has not moved beyond the point of rhetoric and lip service. A methodically researched volume commissioned by the Norwegian Refugee Council, Caught Between Borders pleads the case for "walking the talk" and bolstering the capabilities, skills and strategies that IDPs possess intrinsically or have evolved in the face of extreme hardships. The lesson for UN and NGO practitioners is not just to read this book and adopt attitude changes about the human capital inherent in IDPs, but also to plan external interventions and solutions that are complementary to IDP ingenuity and resourcefulness instead of imposing them from above.

One would have wished for chapters on the 500,000 Kashmiri Hindu IDPs in India and the 2 million IDPs in the Congo, but there is always scope for a sequel to cover the invisible refugees whose stories could not be fitted into this volume.

Caught Between Borders: Response Strategies of the Internally Displaced, edited by M Vincent & B R Sorensen, (Pluto Press, 2001), ISBN 0-7453-1818-5, price US$23.95, 317 Pages.

(©2002 Asia Times Online Co, Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact
[email protected] for information on our sales and syndication policies.)
 
Aug 17, 2002


 


 

 

Affiliates
Click here to be one)
     
       
 
No material from Asia Times Online may be republished in any form without written permission.
Copyright Asia Times Online, 6306 The Center, Queen’s Road, Central, Hong Kong.