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From Poverty to Power Green, Oxfam 2008 - weman

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FROM POVERTY TO POWERCourt, for example, found the government’s failure <strong>to</strong> protect internallydisplaced people <strong>to</strong> be unconstitutional – and in response, the governmentcommitted more than $2bn <strong>to</strong> IDPs for the period 2005–10. Thestate’s independent Human Rights Ombudsman’s office has set up agroundbreaking early-warning system <strong>to</strong> investigate allegations ofabuses by civil society organisations.Individual leaders can also make a remarkable difference. NelsonMandela steered South Africa <strong>to</strong>wards peace without retribution,while on the other side of the coin Jonas Savimbi, the Angolan rebelleader, pursued a relentless war until his death in 2002, after which apeace deal was agreed.Besides avoiding messages of hate and division, governments need<strong>to</strong> ensure peaceful livelihoods for those who, without them, are mostlikely <strong>to</strong> turn <strong>to</strong> violence. <strong>From</strong> Haiti <strong>to</strong> Sierra Leone, governmentshave proved better at disarmament and demobilisation than at thethird task, reintegration of former fighters in<strong>to</strong> peaceful society. All<strong>to</strong>o easily, demobilised combatants drift in<strong>to</strong> lives of banditry orcrime. The reintegration in<strong>to</strong> society of young women involved inconflict as fighters or sex workers is often forgotten by the authorities,and is complicated by the social stigma attached <strong>to</strong> their wartimeactivities.Many conflicts are born of felt grievances and are rooted in longstandinginequalities, and can only be resolved with measures thataddress the roots of discontent. Societies <strong>to</strong>rn asunder by social,economic, or political exclusion will not achieve peace unless theyseek, and find, genuine political solutions. The opposite approach <strong>to</strong>resolving conflict – seeking outright military vic<strong>to</strong>ry – may seemsuperficially attractive, but it is never easy and can condemn a country<strong>to</strong> protracted pain. When warring parties seek that vic<strong>to</strong>ry at all costs,ignoring the restraint that international humanitarian law demands,they fuel a cycle of atrocities that makes peace very much more difficult<strong>to</strong> find.The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians demonstrates all<strong>to</strong>o clearly how a vicious circle of violence sustains the very fear andhostility that make peace so difficult <strong>to</strong> achieve. Rooted in Israel’soccupation and its treatment of Palestinians, the 60-year conflict issustained by a cycle of atrocities committed by both sides that, since284

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