Keep civilians safe
When communities get caught in the cross-fire, they suffer. Innocent lives are lost. People are forced to flee from their homes. Living a normal life becomes impossible.
Some claim there's little that can be done to prevent such suffering. But they are wrong. The massive, unnecessary impact that conflict has on people can be reduced. Oxfam is campaigning for action.
Living with conflict is a grim reality for millions of people. The women pictured here are from Eastern Congo. Even after the war ended in 2002, people continue to suffer. It is estimated that 1500 people still die every day as a result of ongoing conflict there. People have little security, few opportunities for education, little access to decent health care, and face an uncertain future.
Photo: Tineke D'haese/Oxfam Solidarité
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On film
Oxfam's Ed Cairns explains how the massive, unneccessary impact that conflict has on civilians can be reduced.
For a safer tomorrow
Oxfam's report on how local, national and regional action can be combined to protect civilians caught up in conflict.
It is estimated that fighting in Darfur, Iraq, and the Democratic Republic of Congo has taken the lives of up to three-quarters of a million people a year - 30 times the annual death toll from global terrorism.
It's a figure that's hard to take in. And these are just three of the 31 major conflicts that are taking place around the world - most of which go unreported outside their own countries.
Photo: Adrian McIntyre/Oxfam
Although many people feel enormous sympathy with those who suffer such atrocities, it's easy to feel that nothing can be done to prevent them.
They are wrong. The massive, unnecessary impact that conflict has on people can be reduced and the world should choose to do so.
Some governments have started to prioritise the protection of civilians.
Liberia used to have the world's worst record on sexual violence. During the conflict there, which ended in 2003, a bewildering 74 per cent of women and girls were raped. But under a new president, Africa's first elected woman leader, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the government is now taking action against sexual violence. The girls pictured here are reading a poster titled 'No help for sex', at their school in Monrovia, the Liberian capital. With its "We Can" campaign Oxfam supports projects around the world to end sexual violence.
Photo: Aubrey Wade/Oxfam GB
Ten years ago, the Ottowa treaty, which banned the use of landmines, came into force. Though initially seen by some as a token gesture that would have little effect, some estimate that the treaty has reduced the toll of death and injury from landmines by as much as two-thirds.
Photo: Howard Davies/Oxfam
The international ban on landmines helped kick-start larger, more far-reaching movements to control the flow of weapons around the world. Thanks to global public pressure through the Control Arms campaign, the United Nations voted to begin work on a historic Arms Trade Treaty to better regulate the arms trade.
Photo: Oxfam
But governments must go further to keep civilians safe, and they must act now. For many poor people, whose lives already hang in the balance, there is little scope to manage the risks they face.
Climate change is now threatening to push more poor communities into conflict, as unpredictable weather - longer droughts, more frequent floods, and more intense hurricanes - causes increased competition for land and natural resources.
Photo: Crispin Hughes/Oxfam
Governments should act to stop conflict before it begins, they should speak out against war crimes and be more ready to impose sanctions on abusers.
In July 2007, the UN announced that a new, stronger peacekeeping force would finally be sent into Darfur. However, many UN nations are failing to provide what they promised. Governments should ensure that peacekeeping forces, like the troops in Darfur, are both effective and properly funded.
You can join us and use your voice to demand change - take action to protect the people of Darfur
Photo: Oxfam
