24/25/2004

 Introduction:

 The humanitarian and charitable NGOs witnessed during the 20th century, unprecedented developments which made of this phenomenon, that was marginal till the end of the 19th century, a real social expression of the inter-human solidarity. This progress comes on top of the development of their roles, internal structures and connections with the political and civil societies, both on national or international levels. If the stock exchange seems to be responsible for the death of about ten thousand human beings a year, and this is without any businessman crossing the frontiers of the poor countries, the humanitarian action attempts to save just as much people on the ground of the concerned countries. Therefore, the humanitarian NGOs became a reality in states’ geopolitical framework and in people’s aspiration to a better life.

Various governments and political institutions, after having understood the importance of the NGOs’ phenomenon - which became a great legal and civil stake on the local and international level – have tried to influence them, to contain them, and to use them in political and cultural purposes.

The instrumentalization and the manipulation of the humanitarian NGOs have widely weakened this phenomenon and spread the doubt in the international public opinion which lost its unity and its universal spirit each time when the humanitarian action is evoked. The death of American doctors, who dedicated their lives for sick people in Yemen, aroused little protests in the Arab world. Also the case of Rachel, the young American who died under an Israeli bulldozer in Gaza, has also been ignored by her country’s media and politicians: the United States. Politics and ideology make us lose an essential principle in the humanization of our existence: the necessity of discovering the international solidarity’s capacity to build bridges between people and cultures.

September 11th can be just another occasion for the NGOs of the North, but was a disaster by all measures for those of the south, in particular the Islamic ones. The temporary troubles that the associations with Islamic nature experienced became a real war like never seen before on behalf of the American administration; a war that has employed the laws of exception and the secret proofs’ methods in order to cover the violations which, aimed at a big number of associations known for their great professionalism and their feasibility.

A merciless war has been carried out against them including: freezing their assets, arbitrary stigmatization as terrorists, continuous unnecessary alerts to frighten the public. IT attained a point where volunteers of one of the charities were tortured by the Italian forces being a part of IFOR (in Kosovo), which is a clear violation of the European Agreement on human rights and fundamental freedoms.

This campaign puts us face to face with the need to coordinate between the humanitarian NGOs of the North and those of the South, in order to protect this natural bridge which gathers all the charitable and humanitarian associations.

In order to stop politicians from striking a blow at this main axis of people’s life, the Arab Commission of human rights called for a conference of humanitarian NGOs which took place last year in Paris. It gathered 151 humanitarian and charitable organisations of which their action’s principles conform to the international humanitarian law. They considered that the protection of the individuals - without distinction - from disasters, is in the heart of their objectives. Experts and a selected number of international NGOs, such as the EC, the HCHR, the UNESCO, the international Red Cross, UNICEF, and the OM, took part in this conference. An International Bureau was elected to form an international confederacy of the humanitarian NGO capable of coordinating and protecting workers and the associations of humanitarian nature. Now this bureau calls for a 2nd international conference of the humanitarian NGOs to be organised in Geneva between 24th and 26th September 2004. The conference which will be addressed in three languages: French, Arabic, and English, will gather more than 150 representatives of the humanitarian and charitable NGOs, half of whom will come from southern countries.

 Conference objectives

 1- Study of the main problems known by the charitable and humanitarian NGOs at the beginning of the 3rd millennium, notably within the framework of globalization.

 2- Presentation of a synthesis on the defence’s modalities and the protection mechanism of the humanitarian NGOs, on a national as well as on international scale.

 3- Exposing the role of charitable organisations in the enhancement of community cohesion in various societies. Also highlighting the importance of their role in defending the social and economic rights of poor and deprived people, living in wars situations, tragedies, or disasters. Thus necessitate their protection and ask for the facilitation of their actions on the ground.

 4- To deploy a system that guarantees the protection of the charitable and humanitarian NGOs against any shape of arbitrary power and repression, notably in wartime. Moreover, to widely distribute the universal statement, emanating from the Conference of Paris on the rights and responsibilities of individuals and groups doing humanitarian work, in order to adopt it by the general assembly of the UN, as it was the case for the protection of human rights’ defend                                       

Back