The author of this blog is Mr Sahildeep Singh. He is an LL.M. Graduate from NLU Delhi and can be reached at sahildeep.singh22@nludelhi.ac.in.
 |
| A military man |
Introduction
The UN Chief said,
"The situation in Ethiopia is spiraling out of control".
The UN Spokesperson tweeted,
"Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is gravely concerned about the escalation of the fighting in Tigray, which is having a devastating impact on civilians in what is already a dire humanitarian situation".
The news related to the human rights crisis in the African
nation Ethiopia is reaching everyone’s ears these days, along with the
following questions: What is
happening in Ethiopia? What is the cause of the conflict? How humanitarian aid is reaching Ethiopia? Who provides humanitarian
aid in case of human rights crisis? What are the obstacles that humanitarian aid workers are facing in Ethiopia?
Let’s traverse some paths of stories and
insights that will answer all these queries and concerns.
The emerging conflict
The conflict is about the civil war happening in the Tigray region of Ethiopia, between the Ethiopian government and neighbouring Eritrea on one side and the Tigray People's Liberation Front on the other. The region was already facing issues of climate change, and with the influx of armed conflict, it has worsened. Deaths of children from malnutrition have risen from 508 in 2020 to 2450 deaths in 2022. The danger of war has limited the reporting of cases of malnourishment. Some of the problems that Tigrayans are encountering are:
- Low light levels at night,
- Displacement of people from Tigray and also the northern region of Amhara and Afar,
- Killing of civilians,
- Scarcity of air supplies (operational cash and food and water supplies),
- Malnutrition due to climate change and war.
Causes of conflict
There are constant upheavals of armed conflict in the Horn of Africa. The Horn of Africa comprises 8 countries, namely Somalia, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Eritrea, Sudan, South Sudan, and Uganda. This region is also a conflict-prone area of Africa, with the highest number of coups recorded in Sudan.
However, what is the source of conflict in this region and why do the disputes go unruly and become the news of the world? The situation gets grave when the civilians are affected to the extent that the danger lurks over the accessibility of the basic essentials of life or life itself. In this piece of article, I would focus on the factors behind the emerging conflict in Ethiopia.
Primarily, the root of the dispute in Ethiopia and also in Sudan is religion-based factors. Ethiopia is a land of a minimum of ninety ethnic groups. The fact that after the four-party coalition government came into power in the year 1991, one of the actions that the Ethiopian government took was to divide Ethiopia according to religion, irrespective of geographical limitations such as the size of the nation or allocation of natural or other resources. This resulted in ethnic disputes. The factors that aggravated these conflicts were poverty, and the lack of education of the majority population.
There were continuous human rights violations in the nation, which led to a change in the government, and the new Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed came into power in 2018. After the change of power and various movements initiated by the new Prime Minister, the leaders of Tigray feared that these steps would disrupt the federal system of Ethiopia. Consequently, the Tigrayan leaders started defying the Central government on several grounds.
 |
| Map showing Ethiopia, Tigray, and Eritea Source: BBC News |
Who provides humanitarian aid in cases of crisis
According to the recent UN updates,
"UN Spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric, said UN staff were now being allowed to rotate in and out of Tigray once more, but life-saving air supplies by road and air needed to resume urgently".
The most prominent bodies that help civilians in times of armed conflict are the UN partner organisation International Rescue Committee ["IRC"], and the International Committee of the Red Cross ["ICRC']. Similarly, there are other UN entities set up with the objective to render aid to a particular section during specific emergencies. Some of these are:
- UNHCR- To help refugees; headquartered in Geneva
- UNDP- To carry out operational activities in times of natural disasters; headquartered in New York City
- UNFPA- To provide life-saving sexual reproductive health services and supplies; headquartered in New York City
- UNICEF- For Children; headquartered in New York City
- WFP and FAO- To feed the hungry; headquartered in Rome, Itlay
- WHO- For all kinds of health emergencies; headquartered in Geneva
Roadblocks to the rendering of aid
Providing humanitarian assistance has never been an easy job. The volunteers and humanitarian aid workers risk their lives by entering the land of conflicts. According to the recent N reports, an IRC worker was killed while rendering humanitarian aid to the women and children in the town of Shire in Ethiopia. Apart from these imminent dangers, due to the barriers by local authorities or the military, they also have to deal with issues of resistance that obstruct them to reach the people in need.
According to the New York Times,
"At least 9.4 million people across northern Ethiopia need urgent help, according to the United Nations. But the government-imposed blockade of Tigray means that less than 10 percent of required relief aid has reached the region".
Final remarks
UN Secretary-General António Guterres paid emphasis upon the mediation process led by the African Union, and assures that the UN is ready to support the 'urgent resumption talks'.
Instead of deadlocked debates around the current crisis, immediate action is needed, after all on an individual level, war-mongers would survive and adapt, but those who desired peace right from birth, would either die or have to flee to the places where they might topple into the pit of another crisis called the refugee crisis.
The zeal and courage with which the humanitarian aid workers toil in the regions of conflict are laudable. During the period when the government and the armed groups are fighting amongst themselves, and the world is engaged in never-ending debates on causes and politics behind such discords, it is only the humanitarian or peace-making agencies who are attending to the needs of the civilian population. Thus, the necessity to establish more such organisations or expand the existing ones is quite lucid.
References
- https://news.un.org/en/story/2022/10/1129572?utm_source=UN+News+-+Newsletter&utm_campaign=bc3b11578c-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2022_10_15_08_23&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fdbf1af606-bc3b11578c-107661797
- https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-54964378
- https://www.un.org/en/our-work/deliver-humanitarian-aid
0 comments:
Post a Comment