Michael also shared her dedication in helping his fellow IDPs, as group leader she
takes it as is responsibility to communicate the needs and concerns of the
members of his team to the camp manager. She also ensures that these needs are
addressed. Asked of her request from the government, she said that many IDPs
request for the provision of training and employment in addition to the housing
that the government promised. She also wanted to have scissors and other hair
cutting kits so she could continue providing hair cut services even among fellow
IDPs.
Michael is a very courageous person. As a LGBTI person moving around in a heavily
populated Muslim space – who are mostly practicing Islam faith – she allowed the
interview to be conducted. Even though LGBTI is a taboo topic for Islam, Michael
still discussed her gender and sexuality. ###
Gender considerations alone do not accurately describe situation and trauma that Tarhata,
Fatima, and Michael experienced; it needs multiple lenses to describe the issue that leads to an
effective humanitarian response. For example, the fear and worries of Tarhata as a young mother
living under Martial Law is rooted out of the historical injustices her family experienced. The
narrative that her mother told her about Martial Law is embedded in that fear; adding to that,
was her experience as a young mother giving birth beneath the sound of gunfire and bombs at
her door step. The fear was not only for her safety, but also for the life of her child inside her and
the lives and safety of her other children and husband stuck inside a combat area. The
psychological trauma she experienced is so telling that she nicknamed her recently born son as
Martial Law.
Likewise, the story of Fatima is not isolated, her narrative multiplies four-folds because of her
intersecting identities. Therefore, in responding to the needs, vulnerabilities, and priorities like
Fatima’s we need to design and implement programs for people like her who are internally
displaced with multiple dependents, a solo-parent, those who have experienced personal or
psychological trauma, a Muslim woman, and a person who is missing half of her children
because of the war. We would want to understand how gender intersects with these other
identities to structure the experiences of the residents of the camp in order to design effective
programs for them.
Lastly, women are subjected to gender discrimination in Muslim society; which is almost the
same for a LGBTI person. A Muslim woman, however, does not experience the same
discrimination as a transgender Muslim woman – like Michael – who have the privilege to
switch her gender expression to secure his safety amongst his IDP neighbors. Michael’s fitting
gendered sexuality in Muslim society gave him the privilege to lead and hold power compare to
other women who lives in the EC. Identity is a relative concept; at any given time, we are
operating from some position of power, whether it is our experience, ability, class, religion, age
or sexuality. But just like Michael, it can work towards holistic and powerful solutions from the
places where our relative privileges intersect.
Children Situation and Assessment
Similar to the section above, the CHR-CRC have released their initial findings – gathered by the
children cluster team – in a memo dated 27 July 2017147. Which aims to draw out narratives and
descriptions of the problems that relate to specific rights under the UN Convention of the Rights
of the Child, and from which policy and program recommendations may be developed. Which is
consonant to the structural assessments – culled by the IDP general, government, and EC
mapping cluster teams. Below is the summary of the report:
P ROTECTION AND H UMAN R IGHTS A SSESSMENTS
Education plays a very important role in helping children in situation of armed conflict recover
from the traumatic experiences of the war. Attending regular classes gives children a sense of
normalcy. Exploring new things and doing home works keep their minds off from the negative
147 See: Appendix E
28
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents