Viet Nam Human Rights
»
home
»
Day Marks the End of the Second World War-But the World is Still at War
Day Marks the End of the Second World War-But the World is Still at War
12/5/20
The world commemorated the 75th Anniversary to mark the end of the 2nd World War also called VE Day on 08 May 2020.
With her nation, and much of the world still in lockdown due to COVID 19, England's Queen marked 75 years since the allied victory in Europe with a poignant televised address. From Windsor Castle, Queen Elizabeth said, "the wartime generation knew that the best way to honour those who did not come back from the war, was to ensure that it didn't happen again".
But the world is still at war. Proxy wars or localised conflicts are wreaking havoc on human development and humanity in virtually every corner of the world. By the end of 2018, wars, violence and persecution have driven record numbers of over 70 million people from their homes worldwide, according to UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency. This is the largest ever displacement of humanity, post the 2nd world war.
Never has the appeal by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres been more pertinent: "The world is in pieces; we need world peace."
The United States signed a historic deal with Afghanistan that outlines a timetable and exit plan for American troops, setting the stage for the potential end to nearly 18 years of war in Afghanistan. The UN Secretary General welcomed the US-Taliban peace agreement. The United States won the unanimous backing of the UN Security Council on March 10, 2020 to this ambitious peace deal.
The implementation of the peace agreement will need leadership, courage and resolve and there will be spoilers who will attempt to upend the peace process. The road to peace will be characterized by violence, set-backs and numerous false starts, but it will need diplomacy, determination and drive to keep the peace process on track.
Hubris must not prolong the agony of this appalling war.
The war has cost over $2 trillion and killed more than 2,400 American soldiers and 38,000 Afghan civilians. As per various reports casualties among Afghan security forces are estimated to have reached around 40,000 between 2007 and 2017.
Wars are appalling. As a combat veteran, I have witnessed first-hand how armed conflicts have transformed some of our finest soldiers into shells of the people I once knew. Combat is savage, it is brutal, it is reckless, it diminishes us as human beings and jeopardizes our humanity.
General William Sherman once said, "It is only those who have neither fired a shot nor heard the shrieks and groans of the wounded who cry aloud for blood, more vengeance, and more desolation. War is hell."
Today, research backs up what soldiers have described for decades, and what was once called shell shock or combat fatigue. We have terms like Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), chronic depression, cognitive impairment, and traumatic brain injury to help explain the symptoms suffered by active and returning soldiers.
For a long time, many of the grim statistics about war centred on fatalities and did not include the conflicts' deep mental wounds. Today we have a better understanding of the kind of moral and psychological toll wars take on soldiers, their families, and communities.
The United States is a leader in the understanding of psychological and emotional damage to soldiers and has taken some steps to address their mental health. The conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan have left between 11% and 20% of military personnel suffering from PTSD. As many as 375,000 US veterans have been diagnosed with traumatic brain injuries between 2000 and 2017, mostly caused by explosions.
But suicides in the US armed forces have continued to rise in recent years, reaching record levels in 2018 when there were 25 deaths per 100,000 service members. Former defence secretary Leon Panetta once said that the "epidemic" of military suicide was "one of the most frustrating problems" he had faced.
More than $350 billion has already gone to medical and disability care for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan combined. Experts say that more than half of that spending belongs to the Afghanistan effort.
Homelessness among veterans is pervasive, and soldiers still struggle to access benefits and healthcare if they suffer from mental health issues rather than from physical wounds. At any given time in the US, more than 40,000 veterans are homeless, constituting around 9% of all homeless adults in the country.
In the United Kingdom, spurred by a dozen suicides among Afghan war veterans in just two months, the government expedited new mental health programs to help deal with former military members' PTSD and addiction.
What does this now mean for the Afghan security forces? They and their families do not have the same support structures.
All this ‘hell', but to what end? Afghanistan remains one of the world's largest sources of refugees and migrants. Since 2004 alone, more than 1.8 million Afghans have become internally displaced. Afghanistan's human development and progress has been set back by decades. Women and children have suffered the most and countless are emotionally and psychologically scarred for life.
While we like to see soldiers as stoic and heroic, we must open our eyes to the fact that wars scar minds as well as bodies, often in ways medical science cannot yet comprehend.
Just like the world is desperately seeking a cure to end the coronavirus pandemic which has killed over 275,000 people so far and leaving a trail of human, economic and social misery, the world too must find a way to end wars, or else we may be defeated as a civilization.
Popular Posts
-
Religion is a part of the spiritual life in society, this phenomenon of the superstructure has been strongly changed with economic - social... -
Vietnam has just done well for the second cycle of Universal Periodical Review (UPR) in Geneva, Switzerland. So, what’s the UPR? an... -
Thai people in Shutdown Bangkok protests Not until this crisis, we have realized the ne... -
Representatives from foreign countries congratulate Viet Nam on its election to the Human Rights Council for the first time on November ... -
A street flowers vendor in Hanoi Another new spring has come to Vietnam, bring... -
If nothing changes, there will be a preferential credit program with hundreds of thousands billion of capital for agriculture and r... -
Recently, several anti-governmental individuals have established series of illegal groups and organizations in the name of civil soci... -
Radio Free Asia (RFA) is a private, nonprofit international broadcasting agency of the United States government that broadcasts and...
All comments [ 21 ]
Seventy-five years ago, the deadliest war in human history ended, but only after having caused untold suffering to hundreds of millions of people around the world.
We are indebted to those who fought and sacrificed, in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Allied Powers, and lest we forget, the people of the former Soviet Union.
The defeat of the fascists and aggressors in the Second World War, and indeed in all wars and conflicts, proved that actions driven by expansionism, militarism and the thirst for conquest and dominance can never bend the will of nations to fight for their independence and freedom.
No force can triumph over the burning desire of nations for peace and the shared values of humanity.
For Vietnam, the end of World War II helped bring a new beginning, as the nation emerged independent, after nearly a century under colonialism.
Rising from the ashes of World War II, nations have come together to rebuild a more peaceful, stable and prosperous world.
Unfortunately, the end of the Second World War did not mean that peace was guaranteed. Colonialism and aggression continued to wreak havoc on nations.
Vietnam, for one, suffered decades of devastating wars before our final victory in gaining independence, unification and peace.
Given the lessons learnt from the World War II and from our own history, Vietnam believes strongly that upholding international law, strengthened solidarity, cooperation and mutual trust on a global scale must underline our efforts to preserve the hard-won peace and stability in all parts of the world.
The people everywhere love peace, and they hate wars. People everywhere wants to live in independence and freedom.
We continue to believe that our common human aspiration for peace, freedom and justice, and our determination to defend our independence, sovereignty and territory, will prevail over confrontation, the use of force and attempts for domination and conquest.
Friday marks 75 years since the end of World War II in Europe. A date that would traditionally have been commemorated with pomp and pageantry, May 8 this year will be celebrated very differently.
VE Day marks the end of a war in which tens of millions of lives were lost and the course of world history changed forever.
This year's celebrations take on a special significance, marking the 75th anniversary of VE Day.
While members of the public thronged the streets to celebrate in 1945, social distancing measures mean that public gatherings such as veterans parades and street parties have been canceled this year.
There is a very important day coming for us, VE Day, and I would like to commend those governments who have made the brave decision to postpone parades, to put health at the center.
We have great respect for that date... but we need not to jeopardize human lives.
As the name suggests, VE Day only marks the end of the conflict in Europe, when Nazi Germany surrendered after almost six years of war.
At this time of remembrance and reconciliation, we pay tribute to the millions of people who lost their lives in the Second World War, and remember their sacrifices.
Our world is still suffering the impact of conflict. Even during the current COVID-19 crisis, we see new efforts to divide people and spread hatred.
Your comments