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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters A red letter day
By Fatemah FaragOn 8 May each year, the work of the International Commission of the Red Cross (ICRC), which operates in over 50 countries, is recognised around the world. The date was chosen to commemorate the birth of Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross. In 1901, Dunant received the Nobel Prize, yet he himself continued to live in a Swiss poorhouse, donating all the monies he received to charitable causes.
The history of the Red Cross began years before, in 1859 at the battle of Solferino, when 40,000 people were killed or wounded in the space of a few hours. Medical services were grossly inadequate; the wounded were simply abandoned to their fate. Dunant, who witnessed the horrors, subsequently wrote a book entitled A Memory of Solferino, which led to an international conference in 1863. The conference, which was held in Geneva, adopted the red cross on a white background as the sign to identify and protect those who assisted wounded soldiers in times of war.
The ICRC acts on the basis of the mandate it received from states bound by the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. Its tasks include monitoring the treatment of prisoners of war, and offering services in order to alleviate the suffering of victims of armed conflict. The International Commission also has a duty to draw attention to violations of international humanitarian law. This includes "systematically reminding all military and civilian authorities directly involved in armed conflict or internal violence of their obligations under international humanitarian law and the other humanitarian rules by which they are bound".
For its efforts, the ICRC was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1917 and 1944, in tribute to its humanitarian activities during the two world wars, and again in 1963 on the occasion of the Movement's 100th anniversary.
Since 1945, ICRC has visited, in situations not covered by the Geneva Conventions, approximately 100,000 detainees in more than 50 countries. Between 1980 and 1985 ICRC delegates carried out 12,250 visits to more than 600 different places of detention and registered 151,000 detainees, in 1995 almost 4 million Red Cross messages were forwarded to families separated by conflict or detention. Further, a special service to reunite families was established under the name Central Tracing Agency. In 1996, 1,908,527 Red Cross messages were exchanged, 10,492 families were reunited and 17,302 individuals traced. A relief budget worth 2 billion Swiss francs has been distributed to conflict victims since 1945, the biggest operations including Angola, Lebanon, the Sudan and Yemen.
The ICRC works only with the agreement of the authorities who are party to a conflict. Any comments made by the organisation based on the neutral evidence it collects are submitted solely to the authorities involved; actual reports remain confidential. "If we get approval we can offer better services, not just relief," explained an official of the Cairo office of the Red Cross. "No organisation can do just anything in any country without the approval of the authorities, unless they resort to force, which is not an option." The most recent example cited as proof that the strategy eventually pays off is Burma. "For the last 10 years we have been in contact with the Myanmar authorities to let us have interviews with detainees in jail. It is only recently that we obtained that approval, and we have started to act within the past few days," added the source.
In cases of internal conflict, the Red Cross does not have a mandate to help, although an initiative may nevertheless be decided. They add, however, that in the case of war the mandate is clear. "In the case of war, we have the right to be in and if a government refuses us access, this is a breach of international law," explained the Cairo source.
However, real life situations indicate that these rights are often far from clearly defined. For example, during the Second World War, Red Cross officials did nothing to help the victims of the Holocaust, despite the fact that they were aware of the existence of the Nazi death camps. "During World War Two, the Geneva Conventions had not yet come into effect and international humanitarian law did not protect civilians, only prisoners of war (POWs) and the wounded. We now recognise that we did not do enough for the civilians and we have apologised for being too legalistic. However, on the ground and at the time, the people working there were faced with a dilemma. If they had been more vocal, they could have endangered all the POWs to whom they had access," said the source.
Today, too, relief workers face similar dilemmas which ultimately limit the extent of the 'relief' they can offer. In Kosovo, the Red Cross pulled out approximately one week after the NATO strikes began, because the Yugoslav government would not offer them guarantees of safety. This is not a breach of international law on the latter's part. The Red Cross official commented, "We have told them we should be there and we have been promised recently that we will be allowed back. We have expressed concern regarding what is happening to civilians in Kosovo. But you must understand that there is always a dilemma on the ground. That is why we are always reminding governments of their obligations and we always keep our government contacts secret unless gross violations are taking place."
