Action needed to protect persons during natural disasters

MEDIA RELEASE

6 May 2011

Thousands of people have to flee their homes in the Pacific every year due to natural disasters. It is important to have comprehensive policies and legislation in place that ensures the rights of internally displaced persons are respected at all times, stated the organisers of a conference and workshop on human rights and disaster-induced displacement.

As a follow-up to the initial conference on Internal Displacement in Natural Disasters which was held on 3 May, a Pacific-wide workshop on protection for internally displaced persons was organized in Suva, Fiji, from 4-6 May, where these issues were discussed. Participants included representatives from Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.

The workshop found that authorities need to plan now for situations of future displacement, and at the same time need to take into account the protection concerns faced by displaced men, women and children. These groups face specific threats to personal safety, such as insecure shelter, loss of contacts with children and family members, psycho-social stress, sexual and gender-based violence and loss of identity documentation. They also need the governments to facilitate their return to a normal life by ensuring that they are fully informed and supported in pursuing options for returning home, integrating within host communities or settling elsewhere in the country.

Paul Lokani, Chairman of Tulele Peisa at the Carteret Islands in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, said: “Carteret Islands’ chiefs, through local NGOs, have taken the lead to initiate and implement the relocation of people to the mainland. They want, however, increased support from the government through policies and funding for the relocation of internally displaced persons.”

The workshop highlighted that people have different needs before, during and after natural disasters, depending on their different vulnerabilities, and these needs should be recognized by decision-makers and aid providers. Vulnerable groups with special needs include people with disabilities, pregnant women, children and the elderly.

The workshop used the United Nations Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement, which were created on the basis of existing international human rights law, to guide participants in their protection efforts.

Viviane Obed, Secretary-General of the Vanuatu Association of Non-Governmental Organizations (VANGO) said: “The principles and guidelines presented in this workshop will help us in preventing that certain groups, such as children and the disabled, are overlooked when offering assistance to internally displaced persons. Currently, the police is the main actor involved in assistance and relocation of internally displaced persons in Vanuatu. However, more stakeholders need to start taking part in these processes; in fact the whole community should be involved”.

The workshop was organized by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), in partnership with the Brookings-LSE Project on Internal Displacement.

A discussion paper by OHCHR on this topic entitled “Protecting the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons in Natural Disasters, Challenges in the Pacific”, is available on OHCHR Pacific’s webpage: http://pacific.ohchr.org/

The Secretary-General of the Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PIFS), Mr. Tuiloma Neroni Slade, chaired the opening session of the Conference on 3 May, prior to the workshop. His opening remarks are published on the PIFS’s web page:
http://www.forumsec.org/pages.cfm/newsroom/speeches/2011-1/sg-opening-remarks-conference-on-internal-displacement.html

ENDS