One Day the Soldiers Came - Charles London [117]
Refugees International was founded in 1978 in response to the crisis in Cambodia and has grown into a powerful independent advocacy organization. Refugees International generates lifesaving humanitarian assistance and protection for displaced people around the world and works to end the conditions that create displacement. They accept no public money in order to remain an independent voice for action. Sixty percent of the proceeds of this book benefit their work. You can learn more about what they do at http://www.refugeesinternational.org. Their Web site also allows you to get involved through donations, hosting an event, contacting policy makers about issues concerning displaced and vulnerable people, and writing editorials for your local newspaper.
In addition to Refugees International, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (http://www.child-soldiers.org/) works to prevent the recruitment and use of children as soldiers, to secure their demobilization, and to ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration into society.
Save the Children (http://www.savethechildren.org) helps children in crisis and children in poverty around the world. They run many community outreach, health, education, and recreation programs across Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Save the Children also offers teacher’s guides for discussing these subjects in the classroom.
CARE is a global poverty fighting organization, whose work focuses primarily on empowering women and on delivering aid to all people affected by armed conflict. You can become part of their fight by joining the CARE Action Network and making your voice heard (http://can.care.org/).
The Women’s Commission for Refugee Women and Children (http://www.womenscommission.org) coordinates the Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict, which advocates on behalf of the children of war on a policy level and publishes thorough reports on the state of children around the world affected by armed conflict.
Additionally, Human Rights Watch (http://www.hrw.org) investigates the conditions of children around the globe and advocates for their freedom, safety, development, and dignity.
By far the largest organization that helps refugees and displaced people is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (http:// www.unhcr.org). UNHCR is mandated to protect refugees, displaced persons, stateless persons, and all other persons under its mandate, to coordinate efforts all over the world in order to solve the problems faced by the displaced people and ensure respect for their fundamental rights: the right to employment and to education, the liberty of worship, the right to travel, and the protection of the law.
If you would like to learn more about refugee issues, there are many useful books and documentary films available, in addition to the material in this bibliography. These titles should be available from your local library. For a staggeringly thorough account of the contemporary phenomenon of child soldiers, Peter W. Singer’s book, Children at War, is an invaluable resource. A Bed for the Night: Humanitarianism in Crisis by David Rieff examines the development of humanitarian organizations from their beginnings as organizations devoted to the alleviation of suffering to their current, more partisan state, and Michael Maren’s The Road to Hell: The Ravaging Effects of Foreign Aid and International Charity looks at the effects of international aid on the societies it is meant to serve. Darfur: A Short History of a Long War by Julie Flint and Alex de Waal details the history of Darfur: its conflicts, and the designs on the region by the governments in Khartoum and Tripoli. It investigates the identity of the infamous “Janjaweed” militia and the nature of the insurrection, charts the unfolding crisis and the international response, and concludes by asking what the future holds in store. Shake Hands with the Devil: The Failure of