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Latest News
CWS Media Releases 2008
Update: An alternative news bulletin on global justice issues. Read the most recent edition here
4th Anniversary of Invasion of Iraq
Jonathan Fletcher National Director CWS speaks out at the rally in Cathedral Square, ChCh, 17 March 2007
Im extremely disappointed to be here today marking the fourth anniversary of the deadly, illegal and totally unnecessary occupation of Iraq. My disappointment is all the more acute because it looks very likely that I will have the opportunity to come back in a years time to mark the 5th anniversary.
CWS and its member churches have since well before the war started raised their voices in opposition to the invasion. It is not that we would blindly oppose any international intervention anywhere, rather that the invasion lacked United Nations sanction and is totally illegal. We have backed that opposition with calls for the United States and its allies to withdraw their troops a necessary precursor to beginning the long road to establishing peace in Iraq.
We have also backed our opposition to the invasion with supporting the work of our international partners trying desperately to provide humanitarian relief. In particular we have supported the Iraqi Relief and rehabilitation programme of the Middle East Council of churches. The stories that they are to tell are truly heart-breaking stories of senseless destruction, crippling injury and death in a war in which the main casualties are innocent civilians struggling to survive in poor communities.
The situation is particularly tragic because where the need is greatest the provision is the most difficult. Most of the international non-government aid and emergency agencies have been forced to leave Iraq because it is too dangerous and because getting access to even basic supplies is too difficult and too costly.
The result is spiralling pressure on those few local NGOs that have been able to remain and continue operating they struggle nearly overwhelmed by need, and short of basic supplies from electricity to medicines and desperately understaffed. A situation made all the more tragic by the fact that those raining down death and destruction seem to be well funded. The USA alone has spent close to US$500 billion on the war to date that is about NZ$30,000 US for every woman man and child in Iraq (it would have been far more successful and immensely more humanitarian to have paid the money over in cash!).
One of the schemes of the Iraq relief project is supporting is the provision of basic school supplies kits to primary school girls and boys the kits containing pencils an eraser and exercise books really basic stuff, but without it and with parents unable to afford to buy them the children are denied schooling.
Another project involves providing medicines to three central Baghdad health clinics two run by volunteers and one by an order of catholic sisters. Between them they are able to treat 170 patients a day, but are always running short of basic medicines and medical supplies.
It is so hard to see such places run by dedicated staff but struggling to fund essential supplies when the merchants of death and destruction seem to have millions to burn.
We are still appealing for funds to support Iraq relief and rehabilitation, and we are confident that what we raise does get safely to its destination and is effectively used. There is information available on these flyers (hold them up) about the appeal and how you can donate. Thank you.
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Sri Lanka Update
Roadside blasts, suicide bombings, and land and sea battles have
killed thousands of people, Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese, in the north and east, as well as combatants and military personnel since Sri Lanka's 2002 cease-fire between the army and the Tamil Tigers. The new chapter of the two-decade conflict bodes ill as calls from the international community to cease fighting are ignored. In 2006 the death toll as a result of conflict was over 3,000 people. It is feared that the bloodshed will only get
worse.
The limited food supply in the conflict-affected areas has caused many problems for the internally displaced, as well as for the rest of the communities living in those areas. Medicines are also scarce and the prices of the few available items have escalated beyond the reach of most people. Abductions are reported daily.
More than 200,000 people are internally displaced. With no regular supply routes by land, prices of essential items in Jaffna have risen sharply. The soaring prices coupled with no proper means of livelihood makes the life of some 500,000 people in Jaffna Peninsular a nightmare. Fishermen are banned, without warning, from going out to sea. The ban can remain in force for weeks, lifted for a short period and then re-imposed.
The 80,000 or more IDPs in the Eastern Province also suffer in the same manner. The land routes are open and food trickles in. However, there is a massive shortage of food as all the crops have been destroyed and many people have lost their means of livelihood. There is a lack of clean water and sanitation facilities. Medical assistance is urgently needed.
Many of the IDPs in the north and east have been impacted by one calamity after another - war, floods, tsunami and again war - without having the chance to fully recover.
With support from CWS partner ACT International, local NGOs have been carrying out emergency relief distributions to assist the most vulnerable
communities using their own resources or borrowed funds.
ACT International will provide emergency relief for a period of three months to assist Tsunami/conflict affected people and communities in the north and east of the country who have had to flee the fighting and are homeless. they are currently living with host families or in camps and welfare centres set up by the churches or Divisional Secretaries of the region. The programme plans for food and non-food items, water and sanitation, medicines and some livelihood support to a value of just under US$ 600,000.
ACT International - Geneva, 23 February 2007
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Sumatra, Aceh Floods Update
By mid-January many people who had been affected by the floods of December 2006 were still facing difficulties in access clean drinking water as many of the water sources had been contaminated. However, water pipelines in 12 of the affected sub-districts were still working and being operated by the PAM (Drinking Water Company).
The government is planning to build barracks for people whose houses have been destroyed by the floods till permanent housing can be assured. People are currently living in makeshift shelters made from debris (plywood, wood, corrugated iron sheets) that they have salvaged, with requests by communities that family tents be provided to the affected. The government is also encouraging people living near the river areas to relocate further away from the banks of the river.
CWS partner ACT International responded by providing non-food items,
distribution to many villages. Water and sanitaiotn is another vital area of support. So far, seven wells have been cleaned. Six of the wells are located in Rantau Bintang village, Bandar pusaka sub-district, while the other one is located in Pematang Durian village, Sekerak sub-district.
A water purification unit from Meulaboh arrived in Rantau Bintang village, Bandar Pusaka sub-district (in the CWS base camp). The purification unit was to be installed to cover the need for clean water in Bandar Pusaka sub-district and two other neighboring sub-districts.
Other services have included providing health services, with medical units. So far, health services have been provided to1,522 people. Supplementary feeding has also been regularly provided for people. Since January 06 through to the 16th (2007), supplementary feeding was provided to a total of 787 children under five and 86 lactating mothers in Bukit Rata village (Mawar, Melur, Melati dan Kamboja hamlet), Sukamakmur and Pematang Durian village.
The supplementary feeding is conducted once a week and at the end of every month. Health consultations are to be conducted, including anthropometric measurements.
Psychosocial support and education are other areas of support, based on an assessment done in three focus villages (Pematang Durian, Sekumur and Rantau Bintang), where transportation access is difficult, children in particular seemed to have managed to cope with the latest disaster. However, the need for education is a concern, as by mid-January there had been no clear instruction from the local education department to re-activate teaching learning activities. Schools had not been cleaned and most teachers had also been affected by the flood. Schools are expected to re-start in the coming month or two.
School kits have been distributed to elementary school children in the three villages mentioned above, as well as in Suka Makmur villages. The kits contain bags, shoes, uniforms, writing books and stationery. YEU is currently assessing the data before distributing the school kits.
ACT International January 30th 2007
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