Are Wars Between Men or Merely States?

”War is in no way a relationship of man with man but a relationship between States, in which individuals are enemies only by accident; not as men, nor even as citizens, but as soldiers (…)” Rousseau.[1]

On Thursday the 22 I held a mini-seminar about IHL for “my” Red Cross group. As always language was an issue, but luckily the volunteers seem to be fine with the chaos that sometimes evolves before the translator and I understand each other. I’m also learning to accept the situation, but must admit that it is frustrating to not know if you are understood or not, and not to be able to fully take part in the discussions. However, during the seminar the volunteers came up with relevant and interesting examples which tell me that the essence of what I am saying is understood. When we talked about international and no-international conflicts they had some very interesting examples from the region where they live and other former Soviet countries.

The volunteers from Ijevan live close to the Azeri border, where there still are occasional shootings. When asked, they all say that they can remember the war. So with a personal experience of what war is like, what do they think about Rousseau’s words?

Some argued that they disagree with Rousseau, because it is people who participate in war, not states. Then other argued, as Rousseau, that when you put on a uniform you become a representative for the state and not a civilian. Other questions do however arise. Is it possible to make a clear distinction between the state and its people? One of the volunteers meant that it differs in conflict to conflict, sometimes it might be merely a relationship between States, while other times it is the heart and soles of men fighting against each other. What do you think?

The question is difficult, and therefore it is so important to have clear rules for what is allowed and not in wars. In International humanitarian law there is a clear distinction between soldiers and civilians. Although our opinions might vary about whether men are enemies or that only soldiers are enemies, I believe that we all can agree upon one thing, no matter what; the rules of was should be followed.

[1] Rousseau’s statement is from ICRCs ”International Humanitarinan Law. Answers to your questions”,p.7.October 2002.

Not interested in hiv/aids?

“Those of you who don’t want to work with hiv/aids activities can join my group.”

Sounds a bit strange? Rannveig and I are in Ijevan, a medium sized Armenian town not far away from Azerbaijan and Georgia. The youths here already have a hiv/aids program, and Rannveig who is an Active Choice volunteer in Norway, is eager to work with this group. What I will work with for the next few weeks is a bit more uncertain.

After many hours of socializing, drinking tea and eating cookies all the volunteers have arrived at the Red Cross office and our meeting can begin. We introduce ourselves, and talk about what we are interested in working with. I say that I am interested in International humanitarian law(IHL), and that I would like to work with it. I also make it clear that I am here, first and foremost, to work with something that the volunteers are interested in, and an activity that will benefit the community in some way.

While saying this I sometimes forget to stop for translation from the youth leader, David, who is going to Norway next year. One of the major challenges working in Armenia is that most people don’t know much English. However, the volunteers here in Ijevan are eager to learn, and bring the dictionary with them almost everywhere.

We ask the volunteers to choose what they want to work with, and 6 people fit into the category “not interested in working with hiv/aids”. Luckily, the two guys with the most English skills chose to be in different groups. When I meet my group again later that week, we spend some time with yellow post-its and brainstorming. We manage to narrow our interests down to two main subjects; strengthening the volunteers computer and English skills, and working with IHL. Since Ijevan has two American peace core volunteers working in that field, so we decide to focus on IHL.

Our plan so far, is to visit the university and the colleges here to give them a taste of what IHL is about. First, however, both the volunteers and I need to refresh our knowledge about IHL. It will defiantly be a challenge for us discussing difficult topics with difficult terminology. But with lots of patients from both sides and a dictionary, I am sure we will succeed.

Making Plans

While the Smiley Club children are practicing their lines, the volunteers are making plans and organizing themselves. Arranging a theater performance takes lots of preparations.

Instead of our weekly meeting at the Red Cross office I invited the volunteers home to my apartment. The meeting was very fruitful; responsibility was divided among the volunteers, we wrote down a detailed list of tasks that needs to be done before the play, and started to prioritize the tasks. Later that week I sat down with, Annahit, the “director” of the play to make a big plan to put in the office so all the volunteers will remember their responsibilities and get a full picture of what needs to be done.

I am going to the regions for a period now, and I must admit that it is sad to leave all the nice Smiley Club children and volunteers in the middle of the preparations for our play. Luckily, I know they will mange well without me, and I know that I will come back and continue to make plans with them.

Smittende Smil

Hva har dere lyst til å gjøre i dag da? Tegne, tegne, tegne skriker barna. Så løper de bort til meg og gir meg kyss på kinnet. Jeg puster lettet ut, de furtende leppene og de fornærmede fjesene fra sist gang da vi fordelte roller til en teateroppsetning av Askepott er borte. Kanskje har de forstått at ikke alle kan ha hovedrollen, eller så er de bare glad for å se oss, og tar fram leppa igjen når replikk øvingen setters i gang for alvor.

I over 3 år har frivillige fra ungdomsavdelingen i Røde Kors arrangert aktiviteter for fattige barn. Noen av barna har foreldre som flyktet til Armenia på grunn av krigen med Azerbaijan, andre er bare vanlige barn som bor og lever i kummelige forhold.

Julia Khaehatryan, koordinator for prosjektet og tidligere frivillig, husker godt at de startet opp Smiley Club.

”Jeg husker første gangen vi tok med barna til dukketeater, og noen av mødrene kom bort til meg og sa at barna deres ikke kunne delta. Jeg skjønte ikke hvorfor, og fortalte dem at vi hadde mange frivillige som kom til å passe godt på barna. Så sa en av mødrene: Jeg har ingen penger til å betale for at datteren min kan være med. Jeg fortalte dem at Røde Kors kom til å betale for alt, og de ble så glade. ”

En liten jente sitter ved siden av meg og drar meg i armen mens hun babler i vei på Armensk, jeg roper på en av de frivillige for å få en oversettelse. Jenta vil at jeg skal finne en linjal til henne. Et par minutter senere begynner hun å snakke med meg igjen, kanskje er hun for ung til å skjønne at det finnes dem som ikke skjønner så mye armensk?
For tiden jobber ungdomsavdelingen med å utvide Smiley Club, slik at Røde Kors kan nå flere barn med leksehjelp, turer til teater og tivoli. FN regner med at rundt 2/3 av befolkningen i Armenia lever på under 4 dollar dagen. Det påpekes også at forskjellen på rik og fattig gjør at noe av befolkningen blir marginalisert. ”..inntektsforskjeller og sosial utstøting av ulike befolkningsgrupper fører til stor fattigdom.”[1] [2]

Herlig intetanende om tall og statistikk fra FN beundrer barna hverandres tegningen, og søker ros fra de frivillige. ”Den er kjempe fin” sier jeg, og blir belønnet med et smil som smitter og lokker tankene vekk fra Armenias urettferdigheter og over til et ubrukt ark og noen fargestifter som lubbene barnehender venter utålmodig på.

Etter et par timer pakkes fargestiftene ned, og vi klemmer barna adjø, vel vitende om at neste gang venter øving på replikker, og da er det fare for at smilene er gjemt og leppa henger ut hos noen av dem.

[1] Milenium Development Goals Nationalization and Progress: 2005 National Report Armenia. 27.02.2007: http://www.undp.am/docs/mdgs/un_armenia_mdgreport2005eng.pdf
[2] Egen oversettelse.

Contagious Laughter

What do you want to do today? Draw, draw, draw screams the children. Then they run over to give me a kiss on my cheek. I am relived that their disappointed and frowning faces from last time, when we divided the roles for a theater performance of Cinderella, are gone. Maybe they have understood that not everybody can have the lead role, or they are just happy to see us, and will bring back their sad faces when we start practicing the roles again.

For over 3 years volunteers from the youth department in the Red Cross has arranged activities for poor children. Some of the children have parents that fled to Armenia as a result of the war with Azerbaijan; others are just ordinary children who live in poverty.

Julia Khaehatryan, coordinator of the project and a former volunteer, remembers when they first started Smiley Club.

”I remember the first event when we were taking the children to the puppet theatre, and some of the mums told me that their children could not participate. I did not understand why. I told them that it would be safe, and that we have lots of volunteers that would take care of them. Then one of them said; I have no money to pay for my child to go. I explained to them that the Red Cross would pay for it, and they were so happy.”

A small girl sits next to me and pulls my arm while she is saying something in Armenian; I call for one of the volunteers for a translation. The girl wants me to find a ruler for her. A couple of minutes later she starts talking to me again, maybe she is to young to understand that there are some people who are not fluent in Armenian?
These days the youth department is working with expanding Smiley Club so that The Red Cross can help more vulnerable children with their homework, and take them to the theatre and Tivoli. UN estimates that around 2/3 of the Armenian population lives for under 4 dollars a day. A concern is also that the great economical differences between people is marginalizing parts of the population”.. income inequality and social exclusion of different layers of the population causes high poverty”[1]

Delightfully ignorant about numbers and statistics from UN the children admire each others drawings, and looks for praises from the volunteers. ” It is lovely” I tell them, and are rewarded with a contagious laughter that lures my thoughts away from Armenia’s difficulties and over to an unused paper and some colored pencils that chubby small fingers are waiting impatiently for.

Some hours later the colored pencil are put in their box, the children are given hugs, and we leave, well aware of that next time we’ll rehearse for the play, something which might make some of the children hide their smiles and put on a frowning face.

[1] Milenium Development Goals Nationalization and Progress: 2005 National Report Armenia. 27.02.2007: http://www.undp.am/docs/mdgs/un_armenia_mdgreport2005eng.pdf