Fawzi Abu Jame’a, with his 7-year old daughter Raghad, sit in the ruins of what was once his parents’ home Khan Yunis, Gaza. Houses in the area were destroyed by Israeli air strikes during the 2014 war between the state of Israel and the Hamas government of Gaza.

The UN’s most senior official, Ban Ki-moon, launched an inspiring call to action to world and community leaders and individual citizens everywhere.  We must invest in preventing and ending conflicts, disasters and suffering, and to comply with international law.

In his “Agenda for Humanity” prepared for the first ever World Humanitarian Summit (WHS) in Istanbul on 23-24 May, the UN’s Secretary General (UN SG) marks the “outrage and frustration…at the lack of global unity and solidarity”.

ACT Alliance welcomes his proposals and in particular, backs his demands for shifting the centre of gravity of the humanitarian system towards local responders; for increasing investment in preparing for disasters, preventing conflict and building resilience; and for a global campaign to “uncompromisingly pursue the protection of civilians”.

When speaking at the UN to launch the report, Ban Ki-moon urged for a reaffirmation of humanity as the driver of our choices:

“Our shared humanity must shape our politics, steer our behaviour and manage our financial decisions” and exposed the “utter lack of respect for the fundamental rules of international humanitarian law”.

The aim of the law of armed conflict, also known as international humanitarian law, is to protect the victims of armed conflict and to regulate the extent to which hostilities can inflict death, injury or destruction on anyone. However, ACT Alliance has observed that the gap between what is legally acceptable and practice is widening. As humanitarians, ACT Alliance’s main concern is that aid gets to those who need it most, safely, and that civilians are better protected.

It is time to take stock, and to act.

Refusals to respect law – indiscriminate attacks on civilians, medical facilities, and schools and arbitrarily denying impartial aid to those most in need – illustrate the urgency of the UN SG’s appeal that the protection of civilians must be placed above the narrow interests of armed groups and forces. The effects of El Nino’s changing and recurrent weather patterns are yet again felt in the Horn of Africa and Asia amongst other places, and we have surpassed the fifth anniversary of calls from Syrian citizens for greater protection. Acting when cities are under siege and people are starving is too little, too late. For this reason, we would urge for an International Law Commission study on the arbitrary withholding of consent to humanitarian relief operations building on work commissioned by UN OCHA, and welcome the attention that the UN SG gives to establishing a “watchdog” to identify early signs of violations in international law. In relation to this we also welcome the attention to gender empowerment and equality, to opening the space for women to lead decision-making, and to eradicating sexual and gender based violence.

These violations of the law undermine the most basic framework for humanitarian assistance and protection, and so the efforts of our local partners.

Yet, civilians, hospitals, schools, medical and relief workers – all supposed to be immune from direct attack, have been recently targeted or have become “incidental loss and damage” in all armed conflicts, even though on the face of the massive civilian losses, the attacks blatantly had not sufficiently distinguished between civilian and military actors, fly in the face of the rule of proportionality, and had not taken sufficient precautions. There seems to be no, or scant, heed to provide effective warning to civilians prior to attacks, but what effect does warning have when those in hospital beds can’t move or cluster bombs are used? It is high time for State parties to the Geneva Convention to accept the ICRC’s assessment that the rule of proportionality is customary international humanitarian law in all armed conflicts. It is also high time for the remaining 93 States to become party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions (1980).

While ACT Alliance welcomes the Inter-Agency Standing Committee’s process for a protection policy, making this a reality requires States and their military planners and commanders to enter into deeper dialogue with frontline humanitarian agencies on how to reduce and prevent the humanitarian consequences of their military decisions, and lead to the “common understandings” proposed by William J. Fenwick, a leading IHL lawyer, so that constant care is taken “to spare the civilian population, civilians, and civilian objects”.

As the UN SG says, the protection of civilians’ interests must be placed above national sovereignty and security. ACT Alliance sees his proposed global campaign to affirm the norms that safeguard humanity as another opportunity to address this. That campaign will however need to be flanked by listening to and supporting local capacities so the humanitarian community can act early enough to major risks. In that vein, ACT Alliance’s commitment, ‘In an expression of global solidarity with poor and marginalized people, we will amplify the voices that promote human rights and international humanitarian law and speak out against social and structural injustice”, responds to the UN SG’s appeal to ‘speak out on violations”, and is one of 11 commitments we have made in response to all five of his Core Responsibilities.

The UN SG’s strong agenda is very welcome, but to make this a reality now the onus is on State leaders to come to the Summit “prepared to assume their responsibilities” and implement commitments that systematically pursue and uphold the norms that safeguard humanity.

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Jane Backhurst work as Senior Adviser, Humanitarian Policy and Advocacy for Christian Aid. She previously worked in the Red Cross, UN, EU development and humanitarian aid, and NGOs, in many countries affected by conflict and severe poverty, in operational, senior management, advocacy, and community protection roles.

Water reserves depleting rapidly

The majority of the population in the Raytu District, the drylands of the Bale Region, make a living from animal husbandry. Availability of water is very important. The water reserves are depleting rapidly because very little rain fell during the last rainy season. The basins in which rainwater is collected are emptying very quickly. These basins, dug by the local people, the government, and aid organizations of the EECMY (Ethiopian Evangelical Church Mekane Yesus), are the only sources of water in the area. If they are empty, people have to move elsewhere with their cattle.

A water basin provides water for a long time
This is not yet the case in Finco. Last year, the EECMY, together with the local population, dug a large water basin at least three metres deep here. This basin is used by 120 households. There is enough water for household use and for the small livestock. Cows have a different watering hole. Where other, smaller and more shallow basins are already empty or will be so in a month, this basin still has enough water supply to last until the next rainy season.

Staying in one place because of the water basin
Ashha Umer, 30 years old, came with her donkey to collect water this morning. “Every day I collect 50 to 60 litres water at the basin. This is enough for me, my five children, and the goats. My donkey gets its daily ration of water here. My husband brings the cows to another watering hole. This water basin has improved our situation greatly. Previously, we could not stay in one place, because there was never enough water to allow staying long in one place. Since we have the basin, we can stay here.”

Registration with the government now possible
“It is easier to practice agriculture now; during the rainy season, we plant a field with some grain, wheat, and sorghum. Unfortunately, the harvest was very bad this year. We will have to sell cattle in order to buy food. An advantage of being able to stay in one place is that we can be registered with the government. If you’re registered, you are eligible for food aid. When you keep moving around, it is hard to get yourself registered.”

Hoping for food aid
Her 18-year-old daughter Kemeria Hussein has also come along to get water. Like her mother, she has a small field where she cultivates teff, sorghum, and maize. She has had no harvest because of the lack of rain. “The last rainy season was so bad that we could do no planting. I am hoping for food aid from the government to be able to feed my child in particular. Fortunately, we have water all year round and can stay in one place. I, too, hope that I can be registered with the government.”

Text: Mariken Stolk

Amene Ahmed’s story

Ethiopia, Sawena district, Adele

Amene Ahmed (22 years old) lives with his wife and two daughters in Adele in the lowlands of Bale region in Ethiopia. He works as a farmer and has one hectare of land, which is adjacent to that of his father who has 2 hectares of land.

Bad harvest
Amene has a few cows and oxen, which he uses to thresh his wheat. The harvest is just home and Amene is busy threshing. The harvest this year is a lot worse than usual. Amene: “In a good year, with sufficient rainfall, I would have harvested 2,500 kg of wheat per hectare. This year’s yield is far too small, I have now harvested 150 kg per hectare, not even ten percent of what I normally get. And last year’s yield was also disappointing, it was 700 kg per hectare. We have two rainy seasons per year, and especially the rainy season from July to November last year, was particularly bad. That is our main rainy season. Instead of eighty days of rain, we only had about twelve days of rain in September.”

Serious problems for the family
When he has a good harvest, Amene sells part of it in the market. It enables him to buy clothing, medicine and food. Because the harvest is now so disappointing, he will have to use all the wheat itself. “Because I cannot sell anything, I have no more money. When my children are sick, I cannot buy medicine or go to hospital. Also, I cannot buy other foods if our wheat stock is exhausted. The stock of wheat that I have now,  lasts my family and me for less than half a year. And we can only eat wheat, there is no money for meat or vegetables. Vegetables are hardly available here. So I foresee major problems for my family. I will have to sell some of my cattle to make ends meet. In the past, I also had to sell cattle. Fortunately, my father can help out in case of emergency, he has more land and more cows. So he has some reserves.”

A three hours’ walk for water
In addition to the failed harvest, Amene has another problem. “Because of the drought, there is hardly any drinking water in the area, all drinking water sites are already exhausted. Every night I therefore walk with my cows and oxen to the nearest watering hole, which takes 3 hours. I let my cows drink there and spend the night there. Then I come back with a new supply of drinking water the next morning. This takes a lot of time every day.

Help needed badly
I do not get aid from the government or from other organisations. I hope we will make it to the next harvest in August. I would like to get training on how to work the land more effectively so that I can harvest more grain. Aid in the form of agricultural machinery, such as a threshing machine, could also make my work much more effective. ”

Text: Mariken Stolk

Sabeen Abdulsater (center, in black coat), project officer for the Bekaa Valley for International Orthodox Christian Charities, talks with women refugees from Syria in the village of Jeb Jennine, Lebanon. Photo: Paul Jeffrey

It is good to see that ‘Political Leadership to prevent and end conflict’ features as Core Commitment 1 for the World Humanitarian Summit next month in Istanbul, 23-24 May. This pays tribute to the fact that first and foremost, before speaking about effective and efficient humanitarian aid, world leaders in Istanbul must acknowledge their responsibility to take action on preventing and ending conflict and addressing its root causes. Preventing and ending conflicts requires top-level discussions and efforts, complemented at the same time by bottom-up approaches and efforts to strengthen social cohesion and address grievances. It requires courageous leadership that acts early, invests in stability and ensures broad participation by affected people and civil society. This type of courageous leadership and broad bottom-up participation is needed if we want to reach a more coherent and determined approach to conflict prevention and resolution.

In light of this, we as ACT Alliance have made our own commitment to support the WHS Core Commitment 1, namely:

‘We will use our influence with our constituencies, civil society and government leaders to promote stability and long-term community reconciliation, strengthen social cohesion and address grievances.’

As an international network of church and faith-based organisations, over 75% of ACT Alliance’s members are rooted in their societies in the global south, where they are trusted by the communities they serve. It means these organisations are always there – before an emergency, during, and after. And it is to these groups that people turn in emergencies for refuge, for help, and for moral support.

Given our members’ reputations often as recognised and respected stakeholders in their countries with well-established links with local and national governments, we are well placed to achieve our Commitment, because we can very practically play a meaningful role in dialogue, policy and peace-building discussions.

Faith is one of the strongest forces and motivators for bringing about change in society and in people’s lives. This force needs to be geared towards stability, peace and development both in times of disasters and conflicts, but also during peacetime to reduce conflict risks and enhance social cohesion. Whether it is the churches changing burial rituals in West-Africa to prevent the spread of Ebola, or engaging in mediation between rivalling parties, or even churches and Islamic leaders linking to pre-empt possible tensions between Islam and Christianity, we as ACT Alliance have great potential to engage in this field. In parts of the world we are already engaging in this field, but there is potential to do much more. Therefore, as part of our commitment we will make successful conflict prevention efforts visible by capturing, consolidating and sharing good practices and lessons learnt within and outside the ACT Alliance.

We have also signed up to the Core Humanitarian Standards and the Charter for Change, which aim to (a) enhance accountability towards people who are entitled to receive humanitarian aid, and (b) to foster localisation of humanitarian aid, for example by increasing the amount of direct funding to southern-based NGOs. These give us a powerful tool to promote the engagement of local actors and people in cities and villages, to take care of their own emergency aid, linking it to recovery and peace as they conceptualize it themselves. That’s at the core of our work. Our members are rooted in this group of local actors and as an alliance we believe empowering them in their roles as faith-based agencies can facilitate the building of bridges between conflicting parties or the bringing together of several parties to collaborate for building back better.

Furthermore, since ACT Alliance members are multi-mandate organisations, this enhances the possibilities they can play also in reducing fragility by investing in the development of inclusive and peaceful societies. In working together with platforms at local, national and regional level we are supporting early action and conflict resolution capacities of these actors. We thereby actively promote resilience both towards natural disasters and conflicts. By doing so we link the need to help alleviate suffering and save lives with the longer term desire of ACT members and their constituencies to cope better with unforeseen and negative conditions in the future, be they wars, drought, earthquakes, floods, economic crises and so forth.

Speaking out for a just world is at the core of the mission of ACT alliance. If basic rights are at stake, churches and faith-based organisations have a role that we can play, and we accept that role. Therefore, at the WHS and beyond, we will honour our Commitment using our unique position to help develop solutions with and for people that address grievances, strengthen social cohesion and promote stability and long-term community reconciliation.

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Jeroen Jurriens is a Disaster Manager at Inter-Church Organisation for Development Cooperation (ICCO Cooperation) in the Netherlands, member of ACT Alliance. He specializes in the fields of resilience, Disaster Risk Reduction and humanitarian action. He is chair of the ACT Alliance Community of Practice on Disaster Risk Reduction/Climate Change Adaptation and member of the Working Group on Disaster Risk Reduction within the Voluntary Organisations in Cooperation in Emergencies (VOICE). He lives in the Netherlands, is married and father of two children.

Ranjit Srestha / ICCO Cooperation / ACT

“We are a group of Women’s Saving Group and we have 40 members who save Rs 50 (Nepalese Rupee) every month. Our village is a tough place to be a farmer, nothing much grows here except potatoes. So, it helps to have our own savings group, where everybody pools money together which we can loan to people within the community for a fair interest rate. It saves us from having to go to a moneylender and bear high interest rates.

We lost everything in the earthquake but thankfully, our lives were spared and when ICCO/ACT Alliance came along and helped our Savings group with Rs 50,000 as revolving fund, we found the much needed support to rebuild our lives.

We decided as a group to use the fund to give out loans to women who want to start Ground Apple farming in our village. It’s a high value crop and every plant will yield upto 18 kgs of the fruit, with each kilo fetching between Rs 200- 400 depending on the market. It’s a new venture for us subsistence farmers, but making the switch to a high value crop, will help us bounce back stronger.”

– Putali Mata Shrestha, Chairperson, Kalinchowk Women’s Saving Group, Pokhare, Sindhupalchowk

PRESS RELEASE

Today, as Heads of State and ministers from more than 150 countries come together in New York to sign the climate agreement finalised in December last year, international humanitarian and development network ACT Alliance has hailed the moment as a long needed move towards “concrete action” for the most vulnerable communities of the world.

The signing, which signals a confirmed commitment to implementing the agreement, comes after years of negotiations among governments to agree on how to tackle climate change together.

“I am happy to see so many ministers and Heads of States coming together to sign the Paris Agreement,” said ACT Alliance board member, Birgitte Qvist Sørensen, who is attending the signing ceremony in New York. “Their signatures symbolise a commitment to taking the agreement forward, and to turn it into concrete action. Some of the smallest, and poorest, countries seem to be the most eager to sign the agreement, and to begin implementation. For them climate change is a question about survival and future development, and there is no time to lose. Let the work begin!”

ACT Alliance General Secretary, John Nduna, added: “As a faith based network working at community level and from our engagement with poor and vulnerable people around the world, we know the challenges climate change is causing already today. The Paris agreement has given us a pathway towards a green and sustainable future, where nobody should be left behind. We hope that this signal today by governments of the world will lead to increased ambition, to a sharing of the burdens, and to moving forward in partnership.”

ACT Alliance through its 140 members across the world has been working in the area of environmental sustainability with communities on the ground for many years. In Central America where the El Nino phenomenon has caused severe drought across numerous countries, ACT Alliance members are on the ground working on projects to protect restore the environment, providing environmental education, and working with environment ministries in support of policies that will contribute to keeping global warming below 1.5 degrees.

In 2015 members of the alliance brought hundreds of thousands of voices from communities to the global arena through a three-month journey cycling through eight countries from Mozambique to Kenya and a pilgrimage from Norway to Paris,  in a petition of signatures handed to UN Executive Secretary Christiana Figueres at the Paris COP21 in December calling for climate justice.

Earlier in the week on Monday 18 April more than 200 senior religious leaders from religions of the world delivered a global call for ambitious action to be taken to address climate change. Their statement, supported by thousands around the world including ACT Alliance, was handed to the President of the UN general assembly, Mogens Lykketoft, calling on governments to sign, ratify and implement the Paris Agreement. For the full statement click here: http://www.interfaithstatement2016.org/statement

ENDS

1. ACT Alliance is a coalition of 140 churches and faith-based organisations working together in over 100 countries to create positive and sustainable change in the lives of poor and marginalised people regardless of their religion, politics, gender, sexual orientation, race or nationality in keeping with the highest international codes and standards.
2. For more information or and interview about this press release contact Birgitte Qvist Sørensen on +45 29 70 06 23.

PRESS RELEASE

18 April 2016 – Today, four days before the signing ceremony for the Paris Agreement on climate change adopted by UN negotiators on 12 December, a Statement from 250 religious leaders supporting this pact and urging much more ambitious action is being handed to UN General Assembly President, Ambassador Mogens Lykketoft.

Eminent signatories include Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Chancellor of the Pontifical Academies of Sciences and Social Sciences of the Holy See, The Very Rev. Thabo Magkoba, Primate of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Archbishop Zakeos Mesrob, 84th Armenian Patriarch of Istanbul & All Turkey, Rev. Dr Olav Fykse Tveit, General Secretary, World Council of Churches, the Most Rev. Desmond Tutu and Chief Rabbi Shear Yashuv Choen.  In addition to the high level signatures, the Statement is supported by 4,639 individuals and 86 groups from around the world.

The Interfaith Climate Climate Change Statement to world leaders supports the full and ambitious implementation of the Paris Agreement and all other decisions adopted at the 21st Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP 21) which met in Paris in December.

The Statement also reaffirms the faith community’s support for more ambitious climate action, such as the swift phase out of fossil fuel subsidies, accelerating the transition to 100 percent renewable energy, and the commitment to keeping the global temperature rise below 1.5C.

“The planet has already passed safe levels of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere,” the Statement warns. “Unless these levels are rapidly reduced, we risk creating irreversible impacts putting hundreds of millions of lives, of all species, at severe risk.”

Both the Statement and the 18 April event serve to renew the strong commitment of the faith community to remain active in defining humanity´s moral responsibility to care for the earth.

ACT Alliance General Secretary John Nduna said: “As a faith based alliance, we have hope. Climate change is a tremendous global challenge, but we are convinced that we can do something about it. ACT alliance has followed the UN climate talks for many years, and together with members in 140 countries, there has been a strong push for climate justice. The Paris agreement should not be judged by the ink on the paper, but by the concrete results on the ground. It is time to turn words into action.”

There are 60 million refugees globally. Behind every number is a unique story. In the documentary “If we ever get out of here” we get to follow three individuals and their families in the refugee camp Kakuma, Kenya: Klementine and her five children; Deeqa who cares for her wounded and paralyzed mother; and Jackson who together with his uncle takes care of his younger siblings after their parents have died from malaria. What have they fled from? What does their every-day life look like and what are their dreams and hopes for the future? We get to follow them in their daily struggles but also when they, in spite of harsh circumstances, find strength and courage to go

Script and direction: Marika Griehsel and Lollo Jarnebrink
Photo: Anders Kronborg and Simon Stanford

If we ever get out of here (English subtitles) from Svenska kyrkan on Vimeo.

Ahead of a meeting of the European Council, five European ecumenical organisations have written to EU political leaders urging action on the refugee and migrant crisis. The Churches’ Commission for Migrants in Europe (CCME), the Conference of European Churches (CEC), Eurodiaconia, EU-CORD, and ACT Alliance EU call on European governments to fulfill their promises and obligations under international law.

The letter calls on the EU to increase civilian search and rescue efforts in the Mediterranean region, while at the same time creating safe and legal passages for refugees and appropriate support services once in Europe. Safe passage must include sizable refugee resettlement and humanitarian admission programmes, as well as private sponsorships and family reunion, among other mechanisms. Such an approach is necessary to prevent refugees from risking their lives or resorting to smugglers.

The refugee crisis is a challenge for both the EU and its neighbourhood, requiring extensive cooperation and collaboration with countries beyond the EU´s external borders. The letter expresses concern with the proposed EU-Turkey deal, which includes a blanket return of refugees to Turkey and a so-called ‘one in, one out’ plan for Syrian refugees, leaving out refugees from other countries, such as Afghanistan and Eritrea.

”European states must not shift the responsibility for refugee protection on other countries, they have to share and take the responsibility and alleviate the countries most affected by the current refugee crisis, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey,” Doris Peschke, general secretary of CCME commented.

The letter welcomes EU participation in peace processes, and calls for enhanced efforts to end conflict in Syria. All must pay heed to the example set out by many people in Europe in welcoming refugees, providing services and humanitarian assistance and extending a hand of friendship. Together, CCME, CEC, Eurodiaconia, EU-CORD, and ACT Alliance EU call on European governments to develop more humane responses for refugee protection. Europe can and must do more to protect the lives and dignity of the most vulnerable among us.

PRESS RELEASE

ACT Alliance is this week raising an alarm over the increasing violation of the space for civil society to operate in Central America.

“The deteriorating situation for civil society organisations and human rights defenders in Central America in general, and in countries like El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras in particular, is of major concern,” said John Nduna, ACT Alliance General Secretary.

Nduna was addressing the alliance’s forums in Honduras and in Central America upon the recent killing of indigenous rights defender, Bertha Cáceres in her hometown of La Esperanza, Honduras.

While the circumstances of Cáceres’ death are not yet clear, ACT Alliance is urging the Government of Honduras to take decisive action to ensure human rights defenders and civil society organisations in the country are protected.

“Every violation of civil society space, and the rights and freedoms of civil society should be addressed without impunity or exception,” said Nduna. “Governments must exercise their duty to protect human rights defenders, and the international community must show solidarity to the victims of this worrying trend, and hold all perpetrators accountable.”

ACT Alliance, a network of 139 faith based organisations working with communities and governments in over 100 countries globally, has long been assessing political and social developments that impact on the space for civil society and been standing with communities as they assert their human rights.

Research conducted by the alliance found that increasingly, human rights defenders and civil society organisations across the world face considerable risks and restrictions, particularly when they promote democracy, human rights and social justice, despite international recognition of civil society as playing a vital role in advocating respect for human rights, shaping development policies and overseeing their implementation.

This role was acknowledged by the Accra Agenda for Action in 2008 as integral to driving aid and development effectiveness, and was reaffirmed by the subsequent 2011 Busan Partnership for Effective Development.

Yet increasingly, the alliance said, the work of these groups is carried out in a climate of fear where people are subjected to harassment, censorship and inequitable legislation.

“Our experience shows that it is not sufficient for civil society to be left alone in securing and strengthening an enabling environment for development,” said Carlos Rauda, ACT Alliance Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean. “Guaranteeing and protecting the role of civil society actors in their own right requires the support of a wide range of stakeholders, including the international community.”

“We are committed to ensuring that communities, particularly indigenous groups, women’s organisations and other marginalised and disadvantaged groups are able to participate meaningfully in the decision-making processes,” he continued. “It is imperative, because sustainable development and democracy cannot be achieved in the absence of a robust and independent civil society.”