The war in Yugoslavia and the subsequent refugee crisis in Albania and Macedonia have led the Italian community of civil protection in a new phase of operations, an event that through March of 1999, many in the field is not expected, despite the fact that management refugees arrived in Italy had become a daily job for many rescuers. Despite the difficult conditions due to operations carried out abroad, also in a country like Albania, which is not well equipped with infrastructure and even in places not far from the front in the war, the emergency has been addressed with seriousness, professionalism and the humanity for which Italians are justly famous. For many aid workers, work in Albania has been an educational experience, and the Kosovo crisis was certainly an event that has expanded the scope and range of activities of the Italian Civil Protection, as well as an opportunity to test its operational structures and its versatility in the crisis.
Clearly, in the modern world, the international migration of refugees is not new, given that since 1945 more than 150 wars and several natural disasters have created a large number of movements of the peoples of the world. Despite the work of hundreds of humanitarian organizations working with refugees, the world is very difficult to estimate the number of people who have been driven from their lands and homes. If you include not only Refugees International, but also groups of people persecuted but who have not crossed a national border (the so-called internally displaced persons , IDP), the overall figure could rise to over 20 million people.
A refugee is a person who, for political, religious, ethnic or otherwise, has been forced by threats or physical violence to leave their land of origin. Over the past 50 years the problem has grown a lot, but unfortunately the legislation that provides a legal definition of the term 'refugee' and the rules for the protection of that is not evolved as the problem.
The Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees fu adottata dall'ONU nel 1951 ed è ancora in vigore, sebbene modificata da un Protocollo del 1967 e chiarita da una Dichiarazione sull'Asilo Territoriale del 1967 e una Dichiarazione sui Diritti Umani dei rifugiati che l'Assemblea Generale dell'ONU ha adottato nel 1985. La Convenzione del 1951 si riferisce esclusivamente a persone diventate profughi in seguito alla Seconda Guerra Mondiale. Solo 16 anni dopo, quando il Protocollo sui profughi fa adottato, fu estesa la definizione a tutte le vittime della persecuzione che hanno varcato i confini della propria patria.
La formula di tutela dei diritti umani che risulta da questi strumenti non è particolarmente adatta alle condizioni del profugo moderno: essa fu elaborata to protect small groups of people to be persecuted dissidents (historically, they have been at least relatively well-off members of the bourgeoisie of their own countries). But the legislation is not well formulated to protect large numbers of people fled the so-called ethnic ACleaning @, a rather unusual given the fact that these atrocities are far from new in the history of the world (some authors even considered the conquest of the American West and of ' Latin America similar to the phenomena of 'ethnic cleansing' of our day).
Moreover, the legal definition of a refugee is not applicable to internally displaced persons who have been forced to flee their homes but have not crossed the border. Yet many of these refugees are in the full sense of the word, especially where a war has caused the fragmentation of a nation in a series of separate territories. Furthermore, the definition excludes the victims of famine, natural disasters and severe economic hardship, although in reality each of these factors can be a compelling reason to leave their homes in the same way, for example, of religious persecution.
The various conventions, protocols and declarations do not explain how to define the 'fear of persecution', which is the most recognized grounds for granting refugee status to those not wanting to return home. There are even measures speciali per le vittime delle guerre, le quali ormai costituiscono la maggior parte dei profughi esistenti nel mondo. Mentre le Dichiarazioni sui diritti umani elaborate dall'ONU specificano chiaramente quali sono i diritti fondamentali di tutti gli esseri umani (la Dichiarazione del 1948) e di persone che si trovano fuori del paese di origine o di nazionalità (la Dichiarazione del 1985), questi accordi non hanno lo stato di leggi e non possono essere imposte legalmente con la forza.
Malgrado queste inadeguatezze, la tutela dei profughi ha subito una notevole evoluzione negli ultimi decenni. Il principale ente di coordinamento, l'Alta Commissione per i Profughi dell'ONU ( United Nations High Commission for Refugees , UNHCR) does not provide aid directly to those protected but instead solecisms and coordinate assistance from third parties, and wherever possible, to negotiate a solution to the refugee problem. The main objective is to organize the voluntary repatriation of refugees to their place of origin in conditions of peace and adequate security. If these requirements can not be guaranteed, the UNHCR tries to settle the refugees in the host country or a third country that is willing to house them.
Over the years, Western countries have become increasingly unwilling to accept new refugees on its territory, preferring to donate money or materials that may help repatriate refugees and settlements elsewhere. The UN High Commission has had considerable success in the accommodation of refugees, but, nevertheless, can work in a particular country only if it has the full and express permission of the national government, which may restrict the mandate of the UN prohibit certain operations and the ability to play others.
is often true that non-governmental organizations (known in English as an NGO) have more freedom of movement in relation to UN agencies. In the past they have made mistakes, but the major NGOs have also learned the appropriate lessons. One of these is that the solution of large refugee crisis is never immediate, but takes a long time. In fact, between 4 and 6 mesi sono solitamente necessari per svolgere tutte le operazioni di acquisto, trasporto, trasloco, immagazzinamento e distribuzione di viveri e altri materiali destinati a mantenere grosse popolazioni di profughi a lungo termine. In passato, i ritardi sono risultati fatali per un elevato numero di profughi. Ad esempio, nel 1978 ben 10.000 di 200.000 profughi birmani sono morti in Bangladesh a causa della scarsita di aiuti alimentari offerti dalla comunità internazionale, la quale aveva calcolato male le esigenze.
In seguito a tali problemi, gli enti di soccorso umanitario hanno imparato a ricercare e riconoscere i segni premonitori di crisi nascenti tra popolazioni di profughi. A questo proposito, uno degli aspetti più sfortunati della situazione of Kosovo refugees was the absence of signs of the crisis and then a preparation by the humanitarian agencies to immediately accept the first groups. However, as a reward, the Kosovo crisis was an event with so many high-profile international assistance has been provided quickly. But when you write this essay (June 1999) is not yet clear whether the aid will still be sufficient and in some cases, unfortunately it seems that they are not.
The long-term accommodation for refugees is not strictly an issue of civil protection, but rather a question of humanitarian aid (although the difference is not always clear). The ability of the international community to provide assistance varies with the relative degree of attention given to every new crisis or situation that happens in the world. In addition, the size and severity of a refugee problem varies with the military and political conditions prevailing at any given time, which can create new waves of instability within a single day in practice.
Over the years the management of refugees has become a job well exercised. The teacher in the design of refugee camps was a Texan, Dr. Fred Cuny, who, however, was brutally murdered in 1995 during a humanitarian mission in Chechnya. Cuny fields designed to minimize the risk of fire and disease transmission, improve social cohesion and allow the expansion of the field without compromising the delivery of services. It is important to remember that the absence of any fundamental element of the field can affect the health and safety of residents. So, the points of water supply, showers, latrines, clinics, soup kitchens and landfills should not be absent and should be designed to ensure maximum functionality and accessibility. A second important observation is that some forms of social cohesion and survival emerge among the refugees, mostly where the design and management of the camps are likely to facilitate.
The refugees are groups of people who are at the bottom of the social ladder and come from a company severely damaged. But given the chance, they will begin to regain their human dignity and develop mechanisms to gather and mutual support and social support. The well-designed fields favor these mechanisms and at the same time minimize the risk of overcrowding and deteriorating health.
When he arrives in a field for the first time a refugee may be injured, hungry or sick. From that moment on, his health will depend not only on its condition on arrival, but also the quality of food and medical care that is offered to him while he resides in the field. The leading expert on these issues is Dr John Seaman of Save the Children Fund in London. He Note that in the larger fields in the most chaotic and is easy to miss the health status of refugees, and then ignoring a crisis in the developing world. Poor management of health and nutrition of the refugees may result in increased mortality, especially children and the elderly.
Among children a poor nutrition can lead to growth failure and increased susceptibility to disease or even death. Dr. Seaman was one of the pioneers of anthropometry, a technique capable of measuring the physical characteristics (height, arm circumference and waist, weight, etc.). Children over the age of the subject in order to estimate the extent growth and put in relationship with the power of the subject. The very large fields (some in Asia contain more than 200,000 residents) require a repeated statistical analysis to estimate the health status of refugees, since they are too numerous for each visit. The health of young children may not only fragile, but also the indicator of the general level of health of residents of a field.
successes and failures in the delivery of aid for refugees, relief agencies have provided a rich repertoire of experiences. Many things have been reported in the journal Disasters , which was founded in 1977 by a group of English scholars, the London Technical Group. It is currently treated by the British Government through the Institute for the Development of Foreign Countries. One of the objectives of Disasters is to improve the management practices of the refugees. In order to enhance the knowledge of this, in 1988 he opened another journal, the Journal of Refugee Studies , based at the University of Oxford in England.
Despite their experience, providers of international aid they face from the event caused a major dilemma of so-called 'complex emergencies'. In these, the fate of refugees is linked to the collapse of the social, economic, political and military, often complicated by natural disasters such as floods, droughts, earthquakes, as happens repeatedly, ad esempio, in Africa Centrale. A parte la difficoltà di gestire situazioni in cui i meccanismi di base del mantenimento della vita e il tessuto sociale sono ceduti, le organizzazioni internazionali hanno dovuto lottare per mantenere la loro neutralità davanti a grosse violazioni dei diritti umani, spesso compiute da vari gruppi che partecipano in un dato conflitto. I convogli di aiuti umanitari sono stati attaccati, i veicoli sono stati dirottati, e gli aiuti destinati ai profughi sono stati comandati, sotto la minaccia delle armi, da soldati.
La proporzione di civili tra le vittime delle guerre è salita da circa il 50% negli anni '40 a quasi l'85% in alcuni conflitti attuali. La maggioranza delle vittime civili sono donne e bambini e in some cases the children themselves constitute 60% of those killed. So the humanitarian relief agencies have begun to debate whether, in truth, they should work in neutral conditions, or even if you can keep them. The answers are not clear, but it is certain that humanitarian aid have failed to prevent the refugee crisis, they have only improved their worst effects.
In mid-1999 with the dilemma of neutrality has not been explicitly placed the forces of the Italian civil protection work in the Balkans. But this may change if, for example, the conflict was exported to the refugee camps located on the edge of Yugoslavia, or if groups of refugees coming across the border were also composed of Serbs, not only of Kosovo Albanians.
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