Committee for Conflict Transformation Support |
CCTS
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The Ethics of Post War Intervention - dilemmas of conflict transformation practice: Discussion NotesConnecting with structural injusticeAfter violent conflict it is common for local people to be victimised and for civil society to be in a state of collapse. This is the current reality in Sri Lanka, where one participant remarked that it is hard for local people even to understand where international funding is coming from or what it is intended to achieve. For this reason some local peace workers prefer not to accept international money, but to depend on the support of activists within their own community. This puts a particular duty on international NGOs to be clear and open about their funding. In such circumstances is also important that INGOs take particular care in their reports and conversations (for example with Embassies, who are sometimes quite poorly informed) not to reveal confidential information or to name people who might then be compromised. Care about staff recruitment can also be important. One participant recalled a development agency that had lost the trust of local workers when it became apparent that they had employed someone who had been a US State Department official, with rumoured links to the CIA. Longer-term injustices should not be forgotten either, and the work of 'internationals' should always be accompanied by an awareness of the wider structural injustices suffered by the countries in which they operate. It is important to acknowledge the past (and Britain's less than glorious role) when working in countries that have suffered from it ("we were a colonial power" rather than "our countries have a long relationship").
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