Foreign Policy for Civilians

Defense Secretary James Mattis in Baghdad. Such hard information is freely available from multiple sources. Large numbers of civilian casualties from coalition actions have been reported in local outlets and by Syrian monitoring organizations since well before the official start of operations inside Raqqa itself.

In the three months leading up to June, Airwars researchers estimated that more than civilians were likely killed by coalition strikes as the Syrian Democratic Forces surrounded the city. Airwars currently assesses that more than 5, civilians have likely been killed in coalition actions in both Iraq and Syria since This classification requires there to be two or more reliable sources indicating civilian casualties and citing the coalition as having launched the strike, no conflicting attribution for instance, the presence of Russian or regime strikes , and acknowledgement by the coalition that it did launch strikes in the vicinity on that day.

Reports of the damage wrought by coalition strikes have been corroborated by investigators on the ground. Researchers from Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have recently visited the cities, towns, and camps around Raqqa and interviewed survivors, who all tell similar stories of terrifying air and artillery strikes, as well as Islamic State actions. The coalition itself has so far finished examining just a fraction of civilian casualty allegations reported in Raqqa since the assault began.

Another 13 allegations are pending review. Airwars has informed the coalition of individual alleged incidents at Raqqa for June alone. Airwars monitoring shows that the civilian death toll in Raqqa is closely linked to the intensity of the assault. When fewer coalition bombs fall, fewer civilians are killed. In July, for example, estimated civilian deaths from coalition strikes fell in Raqqa by about 33 percent compared with June.

Munitions fired at the city by the coalition also fell by almost exactly the same amount — 32 percent. Though some civilians are able to bribe their way out of the city, local monitors like the Syrian Network for Human Rights say children are often marooned with their families. Jana al-Hariri, a baby girl, was reportedly killed along with four family members in a raid on July 6; on Aug. A photo of an unidentified foreign woman lies in the dirt outside the damaged primary school in Loopo.

Rebel soldiers patrol in Jalimo town in Kajo Keji county. Rebels walk across a deserted field in Loopo, near the front lines in Kajo Keji county. So Kajo Keji is now a land of soldiers. The army, largely consisting of a notorious ethnic Dinka militia called the Mathiang Anyoor, controls key border posts and towns along the road to the national capital of Juba, while the rebels roam the hilly countryside.

In between are empty villages, burned huts, and silence. Dense bush overtakes abandoned fields. With a few exceptions, the only people I met were rebels. Banding together under the leadership of former Vice President Riek Machar, himself a Nuer, they massacred Dinka civilians and others, plunging the country into a cycle of violence that continues today. Machar remains at the helm of the IO, but he has been in South Africa since December , after a brief unity government fell apart and he was chased into exile.

Meanwhile, mechanized government troops have routed the Nuer rebel units in the northeast, where most of the fighting occurred from to As a result, the war has shifted south to the region that snakes along the porous borders with Uganda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, making Equatorian troops a dominant group within the IO. Victor Moses is one of those troops. Born in Kajo Keji in the s, he joined the SPLA in , back when it was a rebel group fighting the Arab-dominated government of then-united Sudan. So this year, he deserted his post in Juba, came home to Kajo Keji, and went back to war.

The blackboard in a classroom in Kajo Keji county still shows the instructions for a social studies paper assigned before the conflict broke out. The first night I stayed with them, the rebels camped in a cluster of primary school buildings that once accommodated some students. In one classroom, guns and combat boots lined the wall beneath a blackboard that still listed instructions for some long-canceled social studies paper.

The next day, during the visit to Loopo, I saw a ransacked classroom with the same instructions on the blackboard, suggesting that people fled simultaneously across the county. It was not a slow exodus but an immediate, sudden emptying.

In the mornings, the rebels brushed their teeth, drank tea, and gave each other haircuts. Younger soldiers played with a pet monkey that had the honorary rank of lance corporal. When they patrolled in their pickups, piled in the back with weapons bristling, the rebels sang and teased. Near a displacement camp in the west of the county, where the few remaining civilians have taken refuge, the men whistled as they passed a group of young women walking toward the Ugandan border.

The women giggled and waved back. But Machar has been unable to manage the mix.

Non-Nuer soldiers have defected from Machar to join other rebel leaders not affiliated with the IO, accusing him of favoring his Nuer tribespeople. The diversity of the rebels in Kajo Keji mirrored their ragtag appearance.

Oletussivusto

One officer wore a shining green police helmet, another a tiger-striped cowboy hat. They wore camouflage army fatigues, blue police uniforms, jeans, T-shirts, windbreakers, and winter jackets. On their feet were rubber rain boots, worn-out sneakers, and flip-flops. Their armory was just as eclectic.

One soldier had a battered Czech submachine gun. Another wielded a flare gun built by a company in Florida.

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A young insurgent, looking barely 18, cradled an ancient-looking grenade with a wooden handle. Another packed a wooden bow with jagged, steel-tipped arrows in a fur-lined quiver.

Returning Users

The Finnish Government comprises 12 ministries, each responsible for the preparation of matters and the functioning of administration within its own sector. This year, special attention will be called to the difficult situation of civilians affected by acute conflicts in, for example Syria, Yemen, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo DRC. Contrary to the rules of international law, millions of people fall targets of hostilities: The international community, including Finland, is responsible for ensuring safe and effective assistance to these people.

The need for humanitarian aid is growing around the world. By the end of July, the funded amount was USD 9. It is estimated that 96 million people in about 40 countries are in need of urgent assistance. In addition to the support provided by states, humanitarian organisations need support from private donors and societies. Finland aims to raise its funding of humanitarian assistance to EUR The biggest amounts of assistance have been provided to Syria crisis, Yemen, South Sudan and Somalia. The funding is channelled via the UN specialised agencies, the Red Cross Movement, and Finnish civil society organisations.

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This year, nearly half of Finland's humanitarian assistance is provided in the form of core funding, allowing the humanitarian organisations to decide about its allocation quickly and flexibly. In international contexts relating to humanitarian assistance, Finland has also strongly promoted the improvement of the position of people with disabilities.