Rumiko Seya, Secretary General of the Japan Center for Conflict Prevention

Rumiko Seya

Born in Gunma Prefecture in 1977. Graduated from Chuo University and received an MA in Conflict Resolution from the University of Bradford in the UK. Specialist in post-conflict peacebuilding and reintegration of ex-combatants into society. In the past she held various positions in conflict areas, such as NGO staff (Rwanda), UN volunteer (Sierra Leone), Special Assistant to the Ambassador (Japanese Embassy, Afghanistan), and UN Peacekeeping Operations staff (Côte d'Ivoire). She became Secretary General of the JCCP in April 2007.

JCCP's website http://www.jccp.gr.jp/

The question I posed to you in the previous issue was about what you need in order to live and about what points of similarity and points of difference there are between refugees, including displaced people, and ourselves. Many of you cited "water," "food," and "housing" as common conditions.

According to The United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) Emergency Handbook, refugees need shelter, water, food, toilets and other sanitation facilities, daily necessities, medication, and so on. Your answers were mostly the right ones.

At refugee camps, tents are often provided as shelters. Water is mainly supplied by water trucks, or simple wells are drilled and water pumps are set up. People tend to think refugees don't need cash at camps, but in fact, money is needed for clothes, which are excluded from emergency aid. It is difficult for refugees to find a place to work, so most of them sell their food supply and other goods to obtain cash.

A refugee camp provides a temporary living place until refugees are able to return home after the conflict has been resolved, and it is important that some level of "safety" ("peace") is secured there. To that end, United Nations forces guard the camps. Four girls who attend Sagotani Junior High School in Hiroshima--Miei Shimote, Erika Sumimoto, Yuki Akimori and Shoka Ikegami--provided this answer "safety" ("peace").

Women draw water from a well at a camp for displaced people in Darfur. (Photo by Rumiko Seya, September 2007)

At a camp for displaced people in Northern Sri Lanka which I visited last September, I found that people who had fled from battle were living temporarily in the classrooms of an elementary school. Although there were no security problems, the start of the new school term was approaching and they had been told that they would be relocated, so they would have been living in a state of anxiety until their next location had been decided.

People who have fled from conflict will at the very least suffer some emotional trauma, so a peaceful heart is as important as the outer circumstances of peace.

Moreover, as some readers--such as second-grade students of Gion Higashi Junior High School: Ryota Nakamura, Naoko Machiya, Ai Matsuzawa, and others--answered, "a group of friends" is important, too. All at once wars produce millions of refugees and displaced people, creating a situation in which it is very difficult to distribute sufficient relief supplies. On such occasions many mutual assistance groups are created for that purpose.

For instance, when foods that need to be processed before they can be eaten, such as wheat, are distributed, people work together to mill wheat and fill the gap in life's necessities. Such cooperative work can form the foundation for a refugee's life. At a camp for the displaced that I visited in the Darfur region of Sudan last September, I found tens of thousands of people living in a single community like a village. Conflicts would break out even in the camp so some groups had been formed to settle disputes and listen to the problems of the people involved in them.

Increased anxiety and discontent in refugee camps often leads to disputes and riots. As you would expect, the feeling that they have lost their homes and independent way of life causes refugees to suffer from a sense of insecurity. That being so, as Ryota Hayashi of Gion Higashi Junior High School points out, the clear "hope" that "we can go back home" can be a great source of strength. In many cases, it is difficult for refugees to realize this hope on their own, so the international community provides them with support.

The longer the refugee life continues, the harder it becomes for hope to be maintained. With poor sanitation and malnutrition, the number of people who die of disease will increase. Opportunities to receive education are also likely to dwindle. A drawn-out conflict deprives those who survived of both "time" and "opportunity."