8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
1/32
Red Cross Red CrescentI S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 r e d c r o s s . i n t
T H E M A G A Z I N E O F T H E I N T E R N A T I O N A L
R E D C R O S S A N D R E D C R E S C E N T M O V E M E N T
The power of
humanitariandiplomacy
Food security and the Horn o AricaThe catastrophic convergence o climate and confict
Voices o the Arab SpringCould this be the dawn o a Red Crescent spring?
Banning the bombIs the time right to end the era o nuclear weapons?
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
2/32
The International Red Cross and
Red Crescent Movementis made up of theInternational Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies (IFRC) and the National Societies.
The International Committee o the Red
Cross is an impartial, neutral and independent
organization whose exclusively humanitarian
mission is to protect the lives and dignity o
victims o armed confict and other situations oviolence and to provide them with assistance.
The ICRC also endeavours to prevent suering by
promoting and strengthening humanitarian law
and universal humanitarian principles. Established
in 1863, the ICRC is at the origin o the Geneva
Conventions and the International Red Cross and
Red Crescent Movement. It directs and coordinates
the international activities conducted by the
Movement in armed conficts and other situations
o violence.
The International Federation o Red Cross
and Red Crescent Societies works on the basis
o the Fundamental Principles o the International
Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to inspire,
acilitate and promote all humanitarian activitiescarried out by its member National Societies to
improve the situation o the most vulnerable
people. Founded in 1919, the IFRC directs and
coordinates international assistance o the
Movement to victims o natural and technological
disasters, to reugees and in health emergencies.
It acts as the o cial representative o its member
societies in the international eld. It promotes
cooperation between National Societies and
works to strengthen their capacity to carry out
eective disaster preparedness, health and social
programmes.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
is guided by seven Fundamental Principles:
humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality.
All Red Cross and Red Crescent activities have one central purpose:
to help without discrimination those who sufer and thus contribute to peace in the world.
International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
embody the work and principles o the
International Red Cross and Red Crescent
Movement in more than 186 countries. National
Societies act as auxiliaries to the public authoritieso their own countries in the humanitarian eld
and provide a range o services including disaster
relie, health and social programmes. During
wartime, National Societies assist the aected
civilian population and support the army medical
services where appropriate.
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
3/32
THE IMPLEMENTATION OF interna-tional humanitarian law (IHL) hasendured mixed ortunes over thelast two decades.
The creation o international institutions
to enorce the concept o personal crimi-
nal responsibility or war crimes rom
the ad-hoc tribunals or Rwanda and the
ormer Yugoslavia, to the special court or
Sierra Leone and the International Criminal
Court (ICC) raised expectations in the
late 1990s about a new era in the imple-
mentation o the laws o war.
The optimism aded somewhat with the in-
ternational response to the terrorist attacks
o 11 September 2001. The subsequent re-pudiation o undamental norms, such as
the absolute prohibition o torture, were
certainly a setback in the implementation
o IHL, as was the whole questioning o
long-held tenets o the rules o war, such
as the distinction between civilians and
combatants, and the requirement o pro-
portionality in military response.
In the context o the fght against terrorism
and asymmetric warare, some argued, the
traditional laws o war, initially intended to
address conicts between states, looked
outdated. One o the most blatant ex-
amples over the past decade came in the
fnal months o the civil war in Sri Lanka in
2009, when government eorts to eradi-
cate once and or all the Tamil Tiger rebels
led the army to indiscriminate shelling on
a scale that killed tens o thousands o ci-
vilians.
Yet the past decade has not simply beenone o setbacks. Somewhat paradoxi-
cally, the outing o the law has made us
more conscious o it. There is an increased
Guest editorial
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 1
How to ensure respect or
the rules o war?
awareness o IHL and its requirements both
in military circles and among political lead-
ers, as well as the general public. In some
theatres, there have been increased eorts
at compliance.
The way orward must build on these
achievements by encouraging the rebuild-
ing o a consensus on the norms. Consensusincreases voluntary compliance, which
is much more e cient than coercion as a
method o implementation. The ICRC has
the leading role to play in the preservation
o the integrity o the norms o humanitari-
anism but also in their modernization. Civil
society actors and academics are increas-
ingly engaged in the debates.
Eorts should be ocused on increasing
the eectiveness o mechanisms o en-
orcement. This should include a renewed
momentum or making the International
Criminal Court a truly universal body. The
ICCs eectiveness stems rom its legiti-
macy, but this is di cult to achieve in an
environment o perceived politicization
and double standards.
There have also been sensible calls or
a universal monitoring body. The idea,
expressed by US author and associate
proessor o political science Charlie Car-
penter and others, would be to establish
an institution that does or IHL what the
International Atomic Energy Agency
does or non-prolieration and the World
Health Organization does or medicalstandards by providing an independent
authority to investigate claims o viola-
tions o IHL on the ground. This could
serve to concentrate and proessionalize
the act-fnding and inquiry initiatives that
have prolierated in recent years, at times
with insu cient impact.
The ultimate objective must be, o course,
the prevention o armed conict. Political
engagement, humanitarian presence and
human rights protection all play a part in re-
ducing the deadly consequences o warare.
But as long as war continues to be waged,
the implementation o rules o universal ap-
plication on the conduct o combat remains
a signifcant and essential challenge.
By Louise Arbour
Louise Arbour is the ormer United Nations High
Commissioner or Human Rights, a ormer Justice
o the Canadian Supreme Court and a ormer chie
prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunals,or both the ormer Yugoslavia and Rwanda. She now
serves as president o the International Crisis Group,
www.crisisgroup.org
Paradoxically, the fouting o
international humanitarian
law in the last decade has
made many more conscious
o its importance.
Your turnI you would like to submit an opinion article or
consideration, please contact the magazine at [email protected]. All views expressed in guest editorials are
those o the author and not necessarily those o the
Red Cross Red Crescent Movement or this magazine.
Photo:
Jea
n-M
arc
Ferre
/Un
ite
dNations
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
4/32
New National Societyin South SudanWith South Sudan gaining its
independence at the beginning
o July, the southern part o the
Sudanese Red Crescent separatedto orm a new National Society, the
South Sudan Red Cross.
Just as the new country
aces many challenges to its
development, with limited
inrastructure or health services,
the new National Society also needs
to establish itsel.
Many o the volunteers who
have already signed up joined in
the National Society s frst o cial
act frst-aid assistance during
the independence celebrations.
With sweltering temperatures, the
volunteers attended to hundreds
o people who ainted due to
sunstroke or dehydration.
Were looking orward to
becoming a really well-unctioning
National Society, says volunteer
Latio Kudus Clement, who served
as branch manager or the
Sudanese Red Crescent in Juba,
South Sudans largest city and the
headquarters or the new National
Society. At the moment, we lack
people and expertise. But it willcome.
1.5 million afected byBangladesh oodsBangladesh was battered by
storms and oods in August and
September, with approximately
1.5 million people aected.Families and individuals have had
their homes devastated, orcing
them to seek out alternative,
ad-hoc accommodation. What
are we to do? asks Tuhin, a local
schoolteacher. Every single house
was ooded. There are hundreds
o us orced to the edge o the
roadside. We need help!
More than 1,100 homes in these
villages were either destroyed or
heavily damaged and, with so much
stagnant water, the risk o disease
is high. At an evacuation centre in
the village o Shener Ghati, a man
named Fazular tells a amiliar story:
I came here 20 days ago with my
wie and three children, he says.
My home was totally destroyed. All
is gone, all is gone.
The Bangladesh Red Crescent
Society, with support rom an IFRC
appeal and emergency unds, has
provided a wide range o assistance,
rom medical care to ood, water,
cash grants and provisional shelter.
Volunteer gives lie tosave othersBy the dim light o his torch, 32-year-
old Han Sun Il could just see the
two children hanging out o the
window. The children were crying
and desperately shouting or help as
ood waters rose around their home
during oods that ravaged the area
in late July.
Seeing that the house could be
washed away at any moment, the
volunteer or the Red Cross Societyo the Democratic Peoples Republic
o Korea jumped into the swirling
water to rescue the children.
Ater managing to get the 3-year-
old girl rom the hal-destroyed house
one o many that succumbed to
oods in South Hwanghae province
this summer he returned to etch
the 11-year-old boy.
But the water was running deeper
and aster. Stumbling, alling and
being carried away by the churning
stream, he reached the house across
the stormy water. On the way back,
the water rose almost to his chestand he struggled or another 30
minutes to get to shore.
Ater pushing the boy to land,
the exhausted volunteer was swept
away. I dont eel as though Han
has departed rom us. He will be
orever in the heart o my amily
and neighbours, said Ji Yon Ok,
the childrens mother. From now
on, his daughter is my daughter. My
husband and I will become Red Cross
volunteers to help other people.
Movement deploreskilling o Syrian RedCrescent rst-aider
The Red Cross Red Crescent
Movement called or greater
protection o health care workers
ater it learned o the death o Hakam
Sibai, who was killed when the Red
Crescent ambulance he was riding in
was struck by 31 bullets in the city o
Homs on 7 September.
The incident took place while
Sibai and two other Red Crescent
volunteers were on duty taking an
injured person to hospital. The two
other Syrian Red Crescent volunteers
were badly wounded in the incident.
Volunteers and sta o the Syrian Arab
Red Crescent have been providing
critical humanitarian assistance in
recent months, including in the
remotest areas o Syria.
The ICRC and IFRC join together
in calling all those involved in
the violence to strictly respect
and acilitate the work o the Red
Crescent sta and volunteers at all
times in order to enable them to
carry out their urgent humanitarianmission in an impartial manner,
according to a joint statement.
Norwegian Red Crossmobilized ater deadlyshootingsIn the wake o mass shootings on the
island o Utya, in Norway, volunteers
rom the Norwegian Red Cross helped
search-and-rescue operations and
supported relatives o those aected
and young people across the country.
The youths and their relatives, riendsand everyone around them have
been through an experience in the
last ew days that is impossible or
the rest o us to comprehend, said
Sven Mollekleiv, president o the
Norwegian Red Cross.
In brief...
2 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
Quotes o noteOur new Red Cross is born to
shine in the heart o Arica,
lets work or humanity.Excerpt rom the new anthem o the
South Sudan Red Cross, sung during
independence celebrations to mark the
birth o the Republic o South Sudan.
Women in Pakistans southern Sindh province inspect their cotton crops ater the region was hit hard by
monsoon rains that started in August, aecting more than 5.3 million people. The Pakistan Red Crescent
Society, the IFRC and other Movement actors responded by providing ood, shelter, sanitation and
medical assistance. Photo: Olivier Matthys/ IFRC/PRCS
4: Number o Libyan Red Crescent
volunteers killed in the last six months
30: Percentage o population
malnourished in drought aected
areas in the Horn o Arica
35: Epidemics o cholera, polio,
meningitis, yellow ever and other
communicable diseases responded
to by Red Cross Red Crescent
National Societies in 2010*
50,000: People on Colombias
registry o missing persons**
281,453: People living with HIV and
orphans who received psychosocial
support by Red Cross Red Crescent
National Societies during 2010*
440,000: Approximate population
o Kenyas Dadaab reugee camp near
the Somali border
Humanitarian index
Photo:
Conor
Ash
leigh/IFRC
Sources: *IFRC/Health in numbers **ICRC
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
5/32
26. Care along the Caguan
24. Voices o the Arab Spring
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 3
ContentsISSUE 3 . 2011 .redcross.int
Articles, letters to the editors and other correspondence
should be addressed to:
Red Cross Red CrescentP.O. Box 372, CH-1211 Geneva 19, Switzerland
E-mail: [email protected] ISSN No. 1019-9349
Editor
Malcolm Lucard
Product ion O cer
Paul Lemerise
Design
Baseline Arts Ltd, Oxord, UK
Layout
New Internationalist, Oxord, UK
Printed
on chlorine-ree paper by Swissprinters Lausanne SA, Switzerland
Editorial boardICRC IFRC
Yasmine Praz Dessimoz Alison Freebairn
Dorothea Krimitas Pierre Kremer
Florian Westphal Jason Smith
We grateully acknowledge the assistance oresearchers and
support sta o the ICRC, the IFRC and National Societies.
The magazine is published three times a year in Arabic, Chinese,
English, French, Russian and Spanish and is available in 187
countries, with a circulation omore than 80,000.
The opinions expressed are those o the authors and not necessarily
o the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Unsolicited articles are welcomed, but cannot be returned.
Red Cross Red Crescentreserves the right to edit all articles. Articles
and photos not covered by copyright may be reprinted without prior
permission. Please credit Red Cross Red Crescent.
The maps in this publication are or inormation purposes only and
have no political signicance.
On the cover: Humanitarianism has always had two sides:
direct assistance to those in need and advocacy or humanitarian
principles. Photo credit: Jakob Dall/Danish Red Cross; Mike Segar/
Reuters, courtesy www.alertnet.org; MM Studios/Ian Nixon
Cover story 4Speaking up or humanityEver since Henry Dunant wrote Memories o
Solerino, humanitarian action has had tworonts: direct relie and diplomatic action. As the
Movement meets with governments during the 31st
International Conerence in Geneva in November,
humanitarian diplomacy takes on international
humanitarian law, health care, nuclear weapons,
disaster law, support o r National Societies,
protection o volunteers and more. In the ield,
humanitarian diplomacymeans speaking up or
the vulnerable in the halls o power. Our coverage
begins in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, with a story about
Movement diplomacy at the Arican Union.
The art o persuasion 8The dynamic team at the Australian Red Cross engages
government, donors and the public in vital social
issues without getting caught up in politics o the day.
Focus 12Desperate hungerThe tragic confuence o confict and prolonged drought
hasmade the ood insecurity crisis in the Horn o Arica
one o the Movements most di cult humanitarian
and diplomatic challenges: how to providemillions o
people with live-saving aid while advocating or long-
term, locally based ood solutions?
Weapons 16Banning the bombThe nuclear brinksmanship o the Cold Warmay be over,
but worries over prolieration o nuclearweapons are
creating a new opportunity or diplomacy towards their
prohibition and eventual elimination. The Movement is
playing a central role in the debate.
4. Speaking up or humanity
12. Desperate hunger
16. Banning the bomb
Disaster preparedness 22Unnatural disastersOil spills, radiation leaks, chemical res these
are just a ew o the man-made emergencies thatNational Societies sometimes conront. In the wake
o the Fukushima nuclear emergency, Red Cross Red
Crescentmagazine asked IFRC President Tadateru
Kono what the Movement should do to better
prepare or technological disasters.
Humanitarian values 24Voices o the Arab SpringAs political turmoil and confict continue to reshape
societies throughout North Arica and the Middle
East, Red Crescent National Societies have also had to
redene themselves as governments ell and National
Societies were pushed to the limits o their capacity.
First in a series.
Health care in danger 26Care along the CaguanIn remote areas o Colombia, ICRC teams travel by
boat on the Caguan River to deliver health care to
vulnerable communities in areas plagued by armed
violence. Some people in these isolated river towns
say they eel as i they have no right to get sick.
National Society development 28
Bridging the digital divideWhen it comes to digital technology among National
Societies, there is a big gap between the haves and
the have-nots. Nonetheless, some National Societies
are doing a lot with a little, while the IFRC hopes to
bridge the divide. A story in a chart.
Resources 29
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
6/32
4 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
AS UNREST BOILED OVER into all-out civil warin Libya this past spring, the ICRC quickly de-ployed medical teams and sent other reliesupplies to areas in the eastern part o the country
where it could gain access.
Side by side with local medics and Libyan Red
Crescent volunteers in Benghazi hospitals, ICRC sur-gical teams put on their light-blue scrubs and white
surgical masks and got to work: perorming triage,
removing shrapnel and treating the injuries o peo-
ple wounded in the fghting.
At the same time, another lesser-known humani-
tarian response had also shited into high gear.
Roughly 3,700 kilometres (2,300 miles) to the south-
east, at the headquarters o the Arican Union (AU) in
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, a team o ICRC delegates had
been working on a dierent ront, having urgent dis-
cussions with all parties to the conict to obtain sae
access to areas still unreached by outside medical or
other humanitarian assistance.
At stake were the lives o thousands o people
caught inside the escalating conict, but with lim-
ited access to doctors, medical care or other help.
Vincent Ochilet, the deputy head o ICRC delega-
tion to the Arican Union, recalls patiently waiting
outside a meeting in March held between the AU
and representatives o the Gaddaf administration.We just waited around all day in the AU corridors to
talk with one o Gaddafs representatives in order to
Speaking upfor humanityA voice or vulnerable people in the halls opower, Movement diplomacy ranges romrapid response during emergencies to support
or long-term solutions and humanitarianvalues. Movement eforts at the Arican Unionofer a case in point.
K As ghting erupted in Libya,
the ICRC talked with all parties
to gain access to areas o confict
and ensure that health-care
workers were protected. Here, an
ambulance passes rebel ghters in
Ajdabiyah, Libya, April 2011.Photo: REUTERS/Esam al-Fetori, courtesy
www.alertnet.org
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
7/32
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 5
make sure that the ICRC extends its activities to the
areas controlled by Gaddafs troops, he says.
This was just one o many diplomatic eorts
launched by ICRC internationally to gain greater ac-
cess to the conict zone and to ensure protection or
health-care and other aid workers. At the AU, the ICRCs
status as permanent observer aords unique access to
decision-makers during emergencies.
That doesnt mean its easy even to get an audi-
ence or that you always get the results you hope
or. You have to be patient doing humanitarian di-
plomacy, says Ochilet.
Humanitarian diplomacy in action This is one example o humanitarian diplomacy in
action during a rapidly evolving emergency. Simi-
lar strenuous eorts have been made this year by
Movement diplomats at the AU and else-where as political unrest swept through
much o North Arica and the
When you see
anyone coming with
proo the impact
is dierent and
more useul.
Jean Ping, chairman o the
Arican Union Commission
The term humanitariandiplomacy has only
recently entered the lexicon
o international relie
organizations. But the idea is
ar rom new. One could say it
began as soon as Henry Dunant returned rom Solerino, Italy
in 1859, when the horriying atermath o war inspired what is
now the Red Cross Red Crescent Movement.
Armed with what was in a sense the Movements rst
advocacy report his bookMemories of Solferino Dunant
tirelessly lobbied riends, kings, generals, prime ministers and
ellow businessmen to help him develop the ramework or a
volunteer movement and a system o codes to protect civilians
and the wounded during battle.
Since its inception, the Red Cross Red Crescent has been
engaged in humanitarian diplomacy, notes Stephen Omollo,
IFRCs lead humanitarian diplomat in Arica. It is basically
persuading key decision-makers to act at all times to alleviate
human suering.
Today, 152 years ater Solerino, the issues we conront are
more complex, the methods o persuasion more diverse and
the messages we bring are based on a body o humanitarian
law o which Dunant could only dream. Still, the undamentalmessage is the same protect the vulnerable, care or those
in need, respect the rules o war.
ICRC humanitarian diplomacy is about raising awareness
about the plight o the victims o armed conficts and the
necessity o all parties taking part in hostilities to respect
international humanitarian law, says Vincent Ochilet, deputy
head o ICRCs delegation to the Arican Union, based in Addis
Ababa, Ethiopia.
This year, humanitarian diplomacy takes on particular
urgency as the Movement holds its 2011 statutory meetings:
the Council o Delegates, the IFRCs General Assembly and,
nally, the 31st International Conerence, the supreme
deliberative body or the Movement and a key chance to
consult with state signatories to the Geneva Conventions.
At the top o the agenda: strengthening international
humanitarian law, improving international disaster response
law, protection o health workers during confict, equal access
to health services, supporting local humanitarian action and
promotion o non-violence, among other key issues.
Faced with myriad new challenges, rom climate change
to new weapons technology or the rise o non-state armed
groups, the Movement will need to bring all its diplomatic
skills to bear as it seeks to address these issues and keep theundamental humanitarian values pioneered by Dunant
and his ollowers alive in the 21st century.
LProtection or displaced people is
a priority or the ICRC Arican Union
delegation in Addis Ababa. Here,
women displaced by ghting and
amine in southern Somalia rush
into a government eeding centre.Photo: REUTERS/Stuart Price, courtesy
www.alertnet.org
The two sideso humanitarianaction
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
8/32
Middle East, as violence in Cte dIvoire led to mas-
sive displacement o people into Liberia, and as the
ongoing Horn o Arica crisis descended into a re-
gional, complex emergency.
In all cases, Movement actors have to work on two
ronts: publicly and privately advocating or a robust
response to urgent needs, while at the same time,
promoting long-term solutions as well as adherenceto international humanitarian law (IHL) and regional
agreements that protect the displaced.
Fortunately, a more solid legal oundation or the
protection o displaced people throughout Arica
is emerging. In 2009, the AU (with ICRC assistance)
adopted the Kampala Convention, the frst-ever in-
ternational treaty or the protection and assistance
o internally displaced persons (IDPs) across an en-
tire continent.
Otherwise known as The AU Convention on the Pro-
tection and Assistance o Internally Displaced People,
the treaty contains important provisions or respect o
IHL that bind both state and non-state actors.
The ICRCs Addis delegation has been involved in
the drating process on IHL-related matters rom the
outset. But the work is ar rom over. The challenge
now is to assist the AU in promoting and, ultimately,
implementing the convention. At the levels o Arican
Regional Economic Communities and member states,
the ICRC is available to assist in the ratifcation, do-
mestication and entry into orce o the convention.
This eort is unique and coming rom the coun-
tries themselves, says Catherine Gendre, the heado ICRCs delegation to the AU. This type o diplo-
macy also takes patience even ater most actors
have agreed to the basic ramework. For example,
IDPs do not yet beneft rom the landmark 2009
agreement because it always takes time to have
states sign and ratiy instruments o law. Around
hal o the required 15 nations have adopted the
convention so ar, according to Gendre.
Turning pointEstablished almost 20 years ago, the ICRC delega-
tion to the AU was created with a view to advising
the bloc on humanitarian issues based on both IHL
and evidence gathered on the ground by its feld
operatives. It is also involved in a number o other
activities, including working with key panels on the
protection o conict-aected women and children.
Last year, it contributed to an international sympo-
sium on AU drat guidelines on the protection o
civilians during peacekeeping operations.
The delegation is also able to raise and discuss
humanitarian concerns with the Peace and Secu-
rity Council (PSC) during monthly meetings and,through a legal expert seconded to the Peace and
Security Department, help the AU Commission inte-
grate IHL into policies and activities.
For El Ghassim Wane, director o the powerul
PSC, a turning point in the arrangement was the
coordinated 1995 eort or the union to ban all land-
mines. We agreed to undertake three workshops,
which led to a decision by the Arican Union calling
or a total ban on all landmines, he says. It was ex-
tremely helpul working with the ICRC combining its
expertise and knowledge o landmines with our ca-
pacity to bring member states together. Since then
we have continued to work together on a range o
issues, especially humanitarian law.
An underunded crisisThe IFRC and National Societies also work closely with
key institutions and decision-makers at the AU. Thisyear, the IFRC established a permanent presence in
Ethiopias capital ater moving its continental human-
itarian diplomacy operation out o Johannesburg,
South Arica into the corridors o the Arican Union.
I I want to make a dierence I need to engage at
the very highest level, explains Stephen Omollo, the
IFRCs top Arica humanitarian diplomat. I civil soci-
ety is not up at the oreront with these issues, then no
action is taken. So we are trying to bring pressure to
bear to inuence change at the highest level possible.
This past summer, the Addis delegations aced an-
other humanitarian test, one just as dire and di cult
as the Libya conict. As drought and conict pushed
thousands o people rom Somalia into neighbour-
ing countries and arid conditions exacerbated ood
6 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
I civil society is not
up at the oreront
with these issues,
then no action is
taken. So we are
trying to bringpressure to bear to
infuence change
at the highest level
possible.
Stephen Omollo, head o
IFRCs delegation to the Arican
Union
LArican Union Commission Chairman Jean Ping and Somalias President
Shari Sheikh Ahmed arrive in Addis Ababa in late August or an Arican
Union summit on amine in Somalia and drought across the Horn o Arica.Photo: REUTERS/Stringer, courtesy www.alertnet.org
K In times o confict, treatment
o detainees is part o the ICRC
Addis Ababa delegations work
on behal o internationalhumanitarian law. Here, ghters
sit inside a prison in Benghazi,
Libya.Photo: REUTERS/Suhaib Salem/
courtesy, www.alertnet.org
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
9/32
insecurity throughout the region, representatives o
the AUs 54 member states gathered or a pledging
conerence or the estimated 12.4 million people in
the Horn o Arica in need o emergency assistance.
Media coverage o the event lambasted the poor
turnout o our heads o state and or the insu cient
unds (US$ 51 million) donated by Arican govern-
ments. For the Movement, the Horn o Arica crisishas posed a unique diplomatic challenge: a complex
and neglected emergency that had been oreseen
by many, but or which there has been a lethargic
and somewhat jaded international media and donor
response.
With IFRCs global emergency appeals still alling
short o goals (the Kenya drought appeal was 28 per
cent unded at press time), the organizations eorts
at the AU dovetailed with IFRCs global and very
public call or greater emergency response, as well
as sustainable solutions to recurrent drought cycles
that could and should become a greater staple o
development aid (see Focus, page 12).
This message was echoed by Omollo as he contin-
ued to work behind the scenes at the AU to reinorce
the message in one-on-one meetings. In one ex-
ample, he and a colleague held a meeting with the
president o Somalia, Shari Sheikh Ahmed, in which
they raised the issues o government support or the
Somali Red Crescent Societys operations and en-
suring we have a twin-track approach o relie work
and development.
National Societies also play a role in raising publicawareness, which can in turn inspire action in both
the public and private sphere. The Kenya Red Cross,
or example, worked with regional telecom compa-
nies to create Kenyans or Kenya, a campaign by
which people donate via cell phones. At press time,
the campaign had raised more than US$10 million,
oering a unding model or emergency relie and
long-term ood security that gives businesses and
ordinary citizens a role in aecting change.
Local credibilityOne advantage o building close ties with regional
bodies is that the diplomatic delegations are rela-
tively close to the feld. This enhances credibility and
allows or a responsive, evidence-based approach.
Our diplomacy is based on the reality on the
ground, so its something that is always linked to
a specifc situation its actual, Gendre says. I I
have to brie the president o the Peace and Security
Council, I will try to have maximum amount o inor-
mation rom my colleagues in the feld.
The chairman o the AU Commission, Jean Ping,
confrms that embellishment and exaggeration are notpart o the ICRCs modus operandi. When you see any-
one coming with proo, with inormation like the ICRC
has, the impact is dierent and more useul, he says.
The technique o speaking sotly but carrying a
big reputation allows the Red Cross Red Crescent
Movement to address thorny subjects directly and
eectively. The quiet diplomacy approach does
not mean that we are not able to talk about di cult
issues, says the IFRCs Omollo. We can talk about
di cult issues, but in a less threatening manner.
Less noise, more impactQuiet diplomacy doesnt mean that the Movement
is opaque in all its diplomatic eorts. For example,
the ICRC oten raises issues very publicly in cases
where violations o IHL go unaddressed or access
is impeded. Movement players are also oten very
public and transparent when raising the cry or an
emergency appeal, shepherding new legislation or
conronting world leaders.
Still, confdentiality is a critical diplomatic tool, par-
ticularly or the ICRC, which has a mandate to advisegovernments on compliance with IHL. I believe the
way the ICRC works is quite dierent rom others in
terms o confdentiality, Ochilet says. Confdential-
ity opens a lot o doors or the ICRC. People are aware
that we try and change things by talking ace-to-ace
to governments, not going to Voice o America or
CNN to disclose everything we have seen.
The Movements position o political neutrality
and its practice o advising governments confden-
tially sometimes invites criticism that it provides
succour to malign governments by ailing to disclose
inormation o vital public interest.
Yes, sometimes we are criticized, but the thing
is to explain why we do it this way, says the ICRCs
Gendre. I you want to have access to detainees,
you have to gain and keep the trust o those who
are doing the detaining. You cant spoil this trust,
otherwise you will not have access again.
The AU Commissions Jean Ping agrees that in A-
rica, this orm o quiet diplomacy is more eective
than the megaphone approach. The Red Cross Red
Crescent Movement, he says, makes less noise, but
has more impact.
By William Davison
William Davison is a reelance reporter based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 7
I I have to brie
the president o
the Peace and
Security Council, I
will try to have the
maximum amount
o inormation rom
my colleagues in the
eld.
Catherine Gendre, head o
the ICRCs delegation to the
Arican Union
LThousands o people have
been making the treacherous
journey rom the areas in Somalia
worst-hit by drought, which are
mostly under the control o rebels,
to Mogadishu. An internally
displaced man carries his son,
suering rom cholera, into the
paediatric ward at MogadishusBanadir hospital.
Photo: REUTERS/Alessandro Bianchi,
courtesy www.alertnet.org
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
10/32
8 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
sits, with his emale carer and walking rame nearby,
in the backyard o a private Alice Springs home in
central Australia, to which he travels or medical care.
This sot-spoken elder has himsel become a quiet
diplomat o sorts on the issue o nuclear weapons.
He wants to tell his story and help the Australian Red
Cross to Make Nuclear Weapons the Target, a cam-paign embarked upon ollowing a meeting in Oslo
in May 2011 co-sponsored by the Australian, Japa-
nese and Norwegian Red Cross societies that began
YAMI LESTER IS NEARLY 70, but being an Abo-riginal baby rom the South Australia bush,his exact birth date is unknown. His frst lan-guage was and still is Yakuytjatjara English came
much later so, even i he had heard them, he
would not have understood the patrol o cers who
came in 1953 to tell the elders at his Walatina home-
land that the British would be carrying out nuclear
tests at Emu Junction, about 160 kilometres (100miles) south as the crow ies.
What Lester, as a wee high child o 10, heard
on the morning o 15 October was a big bang. He
elt the ground shake and saw a shiny black plume
o smoke heading his way rom the south across
the mulga bushes. He thought he was witnessing
a mamu, an evil spirit. His mob, or tribe, ell sick:
vomiting, diarrhoea and skin rashes. Lester had re-
ally sore eyes. Four years later, he was totally blind.
The Royal Commission into British Nuclear Testing
in Australia in 1985 proved there was radiation allout,
but Lester, now white-haired, shows no rancour as he
J70-year-old Yami Lester went
blind ater allout rom British
nuclear tests blew through hisAustralian outback community
in the 1950s. Photo: Central AustralianAboriginal Media Association
The art ofpersuasionThe Australian Red Cross humanitarian diplomacy
team balances bold public campaigning with
behind-the-scenes persuasion on issues ranging
rom asylum and migration to nuclear weapons,
aboriginal issues and more.
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
11/32
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 9
a resh push or urther laws to confrm the illegality
o using nuclear weapons.
When they told me the big boss was Robert,
says Lester, rubbing his hands and smiling gener-
ously, I thought, Oh yeah, Ill talk.
Robert is Robert Tickner, the Melbourne-based
chie executive o the Australian Red Cross since
2005. He was also the longest-serving minister in the
nations Aboriginal aairs portolio and a member o
the ederal Labor Ministry rom 1990 to 1996. He is
thus well placed not only to lead the Australian Red
Cross ambitious push to put an end to nuclear war-
are but also to draw attention to another Red Cross
priority area: improving the poor health o many o
Australias oten marginalized indigenous people,
whose lie expectancy at birth is on average 20 years
shorter than other Australians.
Speak sotly, with a loud voiceThat evening in the Alice Springs township, Tickner
addresses one o dozens o public meetings the
Australian Red Cross is holding around the coun-
try to highlight the unacceptable humanitarian
consequences o the use o nuclear weapons and
encourage people to raise their voice on this issue
via social media such as Facebook.
It will be a long campaign. Tickner, however, is
hopeul that the Movement can agree upon a strong
position on these weapons at the upcoming Council
o Delegates. He notes that the Movement has otenspoken out on this topic since 1945. Like much o
the Australian Red Cross work, particularly over the
past decade, this is more than a public campaign.
Its part o a broad approach to humanitarian diplo-
macy that involves persuading all sectors o society
rom the general public to parliamentarians and
decision-makers to put into action the societys
humanitarian concerns.
Undeniably, Tickner and Brisbane-based lawyer
Greg Vickery, who was elected chairman o the
Australian Red Cross in 2003 (the title changed to
president in 2010), have worked hard to invigorate
their national society, developing a nationally cohe-
sive organization under the authority o a national
board while remaining mindul o the talent at the
grass-roots level.
Some o the bold work in pursuing a new level o
humanitarian diplomacy has occasionally included
graphic visual statements to highlight signifcant
humanitarian concerns, such as the prohibition on
torture or the illegality o using child soldiers. For in-
stance, in the streets o Australias state capitals, the
Red Cross has placed cardboard cut-outs o childrenholding machine guns to draw attention to child
soldiers, and blood-red-splattered white chairs and
The responsibility to persuadeAs the humanitarian landscape grows more complex with more actors, more requent
disasters, greater competition or resources and growing dangers acing humanitarians and
beneciaries there has been rising awareness o the need to enhance humanitarian diplomacy.
When the General Assembly o the IFRC adoptedStrategy 2020 in 2009, it identied
humanitarian diplomacy as one o three enabling actions central to the strategys success. The
subsequent adoption o the IFRCs Humanitarian Diplomacy Policy refects a new institutional
commitment to practise humanitarian diplomacy with greater consistency across the membership.
Meanwhile, more National Societies are investing in humanitarian diplomacy: adopting plans
and policies, as well as hiring humanitarian diplomacy ocal points. National Societies are best
placed to persuade decision-makers and opinion-leaders to act in the interests o the vulnerable,
says Goli Ameri, IFRCs under-secretary general or humanitarian values and diplomacy. As
auxiliaries to public authorities, they have the access to national and local governments.
But National Societies also ace many challenges, according to a recent IFRC survey o National
Society diplomatic readiness. The external obstacles include lack o government transparency
and misunderstandings about, or lack o interest in, the work o the National Society.
The internal challenges include retaining trained sta, making eective use o the auxiliary
role, lack o resources, dening areas o ocus, inconsistent evidence-gathering and reporting
systems, and a need to improve networking, lobbying and communications skills. The IFRC isdeveloping tools to help, some o which can now be ound on FedNet, where National Societies
are sharing diplomatic successes and rustrations.
JIn addition to high-level
humanitarian diplomacy, the
Australian Red Cross takes its
message to the streets. These lie-
sized posters, along with ull-sized
cut-outs, were placed in public
squares as part o its Even Wars
Have Rules campaign.
hu
Au
m
siz
cu
sq
Ha
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
12/32
dummies with hooded heads and rope
nooses to highlight torture.
Thin red lineBut such campaigns, say Tickner and
Vickery, are staged at careully chosen times to avoid
being seen as partisan responses to debates in parlia-
ment. Helen Durham, the Australian Red Cross head
o international law and principles, says the aim is to
ocus the public discourse and analysis on the impli-
cations or international humanitarian law (IHL) and
humanitarian issues not on political considerations.
Shes the frst to admit its only human to want to
speak frst with the heart. Every now and then I think,
Imagine the reedom to go out there and say whatI eel, she says. Im passionate and committed to
the work we do, but I deeply understand the need
to have a line in the Red Cross. We can be as creative,
innovative and exciting as we can, but always within
the undamental principles ollowed by the Red Cross
and Red Crescent everywhere in the world.
The pay-o or keeping within those principles is
that the Australian Red Cross can and does get
to make more specifc private suggestions and express
concerns, and gains access to areas o government
where other organizations that are publicly critical fnd
the door closed. Working this way, these humanitarian
diplomats argue, means the Red Cross is best placed
to assert and protect the needs o the vulnerable.
Tickner lists as Red Cross successes the Austral-
ian governments support or ratiying the ban on
landmines and the release o some women and child
asylum seekers into community detention. The Red
Cross recently mobilized to provide housing and
support or these reugee applicants in several
Australian cities, complementing its long-standing
oversight role and unlimited access to detention
centres. That role includes making confdential quar-terly reports on conditions.
Tickner predicts the Australian government will
also support a ban on cluster munitions, a project the
Red Cross Red Crescent Movement has worked hard
on with strong humanitarian diplomacy eorts. Ater
a number o submissions to government committees
and letters to relevant ministers rom the Australian
Red Cross, it appears that legislation on this topic will
come beore the ederal parliament this year.
How ar can you go?Despite Australia having a robust liberal democracy,there is always a sensitive value judgement about
how ar you can go in publicly articulating a case or
change, based on humanitarian principles, without
taking sides, without becoming a partisan political
player, says Tickner. Conversely, there are also some
times when Red Cross commitment to particular
principles may be so core, we have a duty to articu-
late the case and can perhaps push the boundaries
o what is possible urther in those particular cases.
Notably, while the Australian Red Cross has trained
without controversy some 140 indigenous people to
work in communities and deal with issues o Aborigi-
nal violence, health and diet, the ormer government
led by John Howard also asked the Red Cross to join
its intervention in the Northern Territory, a policy
under which the army was sent into remote indig-
enous communities to combat child abuse, banning
alcohol and pornography and restricting how Abo-
riginal people spend their social service payments.
The present government has continued the in-
tervention. But the prospect o hitching the Red
Cross wagon to the army and accepting money thatwould otherwise have been destined or indigenous
peoples personal bank accounts were both clear
deal-breakers or the Australian Red Cross.
We thought that was a very polarized space,
states Tickner. Essentially, we were oered unds
that had been quarantined [taken directly rom
Aboriginal peoples bank accounts] as a result o the
intervention, rom individuals, and we took the view
that was not the space that we could properly go
into, consistent with our principles.
In Brisbane, Greg Vickery elaborates: We did not
want to be seen as playing a part in a compulsory
intervention into communities. We thought the
purpose was worthy but the method was inap-
propriate. So we didnt get directly involved we
basically said, No look, well work in the community
ourselves, but were not going to work as part o the
intervention, we dont want to be working as part o
the government on this matter.
Growing recognitionThe Australian Red Cross steadily growing profle in
the humanitarian feld has meant ederal, state and ter-ritory governments are increasingly recognizing and
calling upon the auxiliary role to public authorities that
the society has always possessed. The National Society,
10 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
Sometimes when
the Red Crosscommitment to
particular principles
may be so core,
we have a duty to
articulate the case
and can perhaps
push the boundaries
o what is possible.
Robert Tickner, Australian
Red Cross CEO
J The Australian Red Cross
humanitarian diplomacy team:
CEO Robert Tickner and President
Greg Vickery. Photo: Sebastien
Calmus/IFRC
K Humanitarian law proessor and
adviser Helen Durham.Photo: Australian Red Cross
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
13/32
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 11
or example, made its presence elt strongly and switly
during this years Queensland oods, undertaking the
large logistical exercise o running the shelters or the
people whose homes were inundated.
Persuasion amid the realpolitik o parliament
requires players o all political stripes. Although
Tickner let the Australian Labor Party 15 years ago
and Vickery, a ormer vice-president o QueenslandsLiberal Party, has not been active in politics or 20
years, the national board includes Kate Carnell, a
ormer Australian Capital Territory chie minister,
who maintains a strong Liberal Party network, and
David Hammill, a ormer Queensland Labor state
treasurer, who still has Labor Party ties.
Sometimes, its about persuading the govern-
ment to act in a diicult international political
environment. Geo Skillen, a ormer senior lawyer
with the ederal Attorney-Generals department
and long-term member o the Red Cross IHL com-
mittee he was appointed chairman last year
recalls that in 2001 and 2002 it looked as though
the Australian government might not support the
ratifcation o the International Criminal Court (ICC)
given the staunch opposition o the US administra-
tion under ormer president George W. Bush.
Australia did eventually ratiy the ICC, ater the
Australian Red Cross comprehensive submission
and appearance beore a parliamentary committee.
I believe the Red Cross attitude was instrumental in
persuading [the parliamentary committee] to avour
ratifcation, says Skillen.
Inormal channelsOten, diplomacy depends on undamental rela-
tionship skills building trust, keeping your word,
respecting conidentiality. Having connections
doesnt hurt either and phoning a riend is oten
part o the equation.
The co-convenor o the Parliamentary Friends o
the Red Cross, ederal Queensland Labor parliamen-
tarian Graham Perrett, says inormal channels are
key: he can readily call Attorney-General Rob Mc-
Clelland or Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd to discuss
pressing Red Cross concerns. Kevins my next-door
neighbour and hes a big inuence on my being in
parliament in the frst place, says Perrett o Rudd,
who is also a ormer prime minister.
Those networks will continue to be crucial, as newchallenges arise. For several months until the end o
August, the Australian government under Prime Min-
ister Julia Gillard was indicating it intended to press
ahead with the so-called Malaysia solution to send
800 new asylum seekers to Malaysia, in exchange or
4,000 already processed reugees, in a bid to deter
people smugglers and new arrivals by boat.
Weve done our private advocacy on that, says
Vickery. Weve let [the Australian government]
know what we think. But nonetheless we will work
with that our humanitarian imperative is to help
because they [the asylum seekers] are in need and
someone needs to be looking ater them.
That oer derives rom Australian Red Cross work
programmes with asylum seekers in Australia, and
will be available in uture or whatever other arrange-
ments might be made or oshore processing in the
wake o a six-to-one ruling o the High Court o Aus-
tralia on 31 August which restrained the Australian
government rom sending the 800 asylum seekers
to Malaysia. The Australian Red Cross will maintain
its role as a strong persuader, a humanitarian diplo-
mat, on behal o these vulnerable voyagers.
By Steve Dow
Steve Dow is a reelance journalist based in Sydney, Australia.
The work aheadJust as Dunants real work began ater Solerino, the successes o the Movements diplomatic
eorts rom 2011s statutory meetings will be measured in the months and years that ollow.
Eective diplomacy, many say, is not just about our ability to persuade, the access granted by the
Movements unique status or our connections to people with power and money. Its about ollow-up.
The pledges made and resolutions adopted will require consistent monitoring and shepherding, both
to ensure ull implementation and to lay the groundwork or uture renements and strengthening.
A key part o that ollow-up involves building the capacity o the Movement players to eectivelygather, analyse and report on evidence rom the eld. The Movement message, many note, is only as
good as its ability both to deliver and to convincingly show that its making a concrete dierence.
We need to develop tools that go beyond the key messages and position papers, says Mirwan
Jilani, who heads IFRCs delegation to the United Nations. We need to provide governments with
serious documentation that will support National Societies in doing this kind o diplomacy.
That means improving systems or getting quality inormation quickly to and rom the eld
and then to governments, the media and international and regional bodies.
Others interviewed about humanitarian diplomacy also said there is a need or better
Movement cooperation and coordination, a disciplined, Movement-wide ocus on key issues and
better integration o humanitarian diplomacy into emergency response.
Humanitarian diplomacy needs to be better integrated into initial emergency assessments,
Jilani adds, so that we can start tackling issues [such as customs, access, land use] rom the
beginning all the way through to recovery.
KHumanitarian diplomacy can
boost a National Societys role as
auxiliary in emergencies while
ensuring independence. Here,
Australian Red Cross rst-aiders
treat a re ghter in an area
aected by bushres that claimed
the lives o 210 people, in 2009.Photo: Rodney Dekker/Australian Red Cross
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
14/32
12 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
Desperate hunger
Focus
Drought. Confict and armed violence. High energy costs. Climate
change. Inequities in ood production and distribution. Changes
to traditional pastoral and agricultural systems. Donor atigue.
These are a ew reasons why 1 billion people go hungry or
malnourished every day, despite ample global ood production,
according to IFRCs World Disasters Report 2011. The crisis in the
Horn o Arica is an extreme example and it highlights why oodinsecurity is one o the Movements most vexing humanitarian
and diplomatic challenges. As the Movement deploys urgent
lie-saving aid to millions, it must also advocate or sustainable,
local solutions in a world jaded by recurring natural and man-
made crises. These photos, rom the Horn o Arica and beyond,
highlight the causes and consequences o hunger and oer
some images o hope or home-grown humanitarian solutions.
L Well beore the most recent drought cycle, the ICRC and the Somalia Red Crescent Society
were providing emergency medical and ood assistance throughout Somalia, including areas
controlled by rebels. Above, a worker or the Somalia Red Crescent constructs a shelter at a
camp or displaced people in Puntland. Photo: Olav Saltbones/ICRC
KEven beore drought and confict orced a massive migration into Kenya and Ethiopia, violence and ood insecurity had already displaced thousands o people to makeshit camps in
Somalias capital Mogadishu, where they aced the prospect o amine. Below, a woman and child who have just arrived at a temporary camp in Mogadishus Hodan district.Photo: REUTERS/Feisal Omar, courtesy www.alertnet.org
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
15/32
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 13
IWith a population o roughly a hal a million, Kenyas Dadaab camp
is the worlds largest reugee encampment. A testament to the chronic
nature o armed violence in neighbouring Somalia and o ood insecurity
in the region, the UNHCR camp is more than two decades old; many
teenagers here have known no other home. Right, reugees gather or
prayer. Photo: REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst, courtesy www.alertne.org
JLIn north-east Kenya, near the Somali border, the drought has
lasted or our years. Water holes have dried up and people spend all
their energy hauling water. Already acing competition or grazing land,
nomadic people here have lost almost all their goats, cattle and camels
their primary investment and their only source o money and ood.Photos: Jakob Dall/Danish Red Cross
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
16/32
Focus
LThe Horn o Arica is not the only area where climatic events are causing ood shortages. Around the world,
foods, tropical storms and wildres ruin crops that are essential to large populations. Lake Penuelas, on the
outskirts o Valparaiso, Chile has all but dried up. Food prices have soared as a result, leaving the countrys
poorest citizens the hardest hit. Photo: REUTERS/Eliseo Fernandez, courtesy www.alertnet.org
LIFood insecurity is not always an issue o ood availability. Globally,
there is su cient ood to eed a growing population. But even though
there is ample ood, more than a billion people go hungry. One o the
least understood causes are the commodities markets. Speculation in
cities such as London, Tokyo or Chicago can aect ood prices as ar away
as India, where ood price infation has recently been in double-digits.Photo (right): REUTERS/Ajay Verma, courtesy www.alertnet.org
Photo (above): REUTERS/Kevin Coombs, courtesy www.alertnet.org
14 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
17/32
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 15
IDespite the despair engendered by chronic ood
insecurity, there are reasons or hope. Sustainable
ood and livelihoods development is putting the
power o ood production in local hands. A big
part o the US$ 10 million raised by the Kenya Red
Cross Societys Kenyans or Kenya campaign, or
example, goes towards agricultural development. In
Somalia, ICRC projects have dramat ically increased
grain production and livestock health, while
Movement eorts elsewhere have transormed aid-
dependent communities into ood producers. In the
Maphungwane (right) area o Swaziland, members
o the Swaziland Red Cross grow vegetables on small
lots as part o a ood-security and income-generating
programme. Photo: Yoshi Shimizu/IFRC
K Below, the Tana River Drought Recovery Project
in Kenya helps ormer pastoralists earn mo ney
by growing bananas, mangos, papayas, peppers,tomatoes and melons on 33 nearby arms. Still, armed
confict remains one o the most intractable barriers
to durable ood security in the Horn o Arica and
around the globe. Both a cause and an eect o ood
insecurity, confict poses perhaps the most di cult
diplomatic challenge or those trying to nd long-
term ood security solutions. Photo: Jonathan Kalan/IFRC
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
18/32
16 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
AS THE AUGUST SUN beat down, the still,sticky air was flled with the shrill hum o ci-cadas. It was only a ew minutes ater 08:00,but already the day was fercely hot. In the grounds
o Koi Primary School in western Hiroshima, the
headmaster decided to give the sweat-sodden
schoolchildren a ew minutes break rom their daily
semaphore practice.
As the youngsters sat in the shade o the
ginkgo and cherry blossom trees, one boy sud-
denly pointed up to a silver dot in the cloudless,
azure sky. A B-29! he shouted. Reiko Yamada,
sitting with her riends on the edge o the sand-
pit, looked up, scanning the blue expanse or the
American plane.
I thought the plane was gone at frst, but itstarted to turn and I remember thinking how
pretty its vapour trail looked, she says. Then, all
o a sudden, there was a blinding white ash and
everybody instantly began to run or the schools
air-raid shelter. I elt the hot sand on my back as
I ran, and I was blown over beore I reached the
shelter.
Struggling under the branches o an uprooted
tree, 11-year-old Yamada managed to ree hersel
and sprint down the steps to the crowded bunker.
Although she didnt realize it during those frst
disorientating moments, the United States had just
dropped the worlds frst atomic bomb 2.5 kilome-
tres (1.5 miles) to the east, less than a month ater
successully testing a similar device in the New Mex-
ico desert. The date was 6 August 1945.
The Enola Gay dropped its deadly payload, con-
taining 60 kilograms (132lbs) o uranium-235, at 8:15.
At 580 metres (1,900 eet) above the centre o the
city that was flled with people heading to work andschool on a Monday morning, Little Boy detonated.
Destructive efectsA brilliant ash brighter than the sun temporar-
ily blinded anyone looking in the direction o the
explosion as a freball o white heat, measuring
thousands o degrees Celsius, instantly vaporized or
Banning the
KThe atermath o the atomic
bomb dropped on Hiroshima
August 1945 is chilling testimony
to the catastrophic humanitarian
consequences o nuclear weapons.The sheer devastation serves
as a stark reminder o why
these weapons are inherently
inconsistent with international
humanitarian law, which requires
ghting parties to protect non-
combatants, humanitarian workers
and the wounded. Photo: ICRC
Sixty-six years ater two atomic bombs destroyed Hiroshima and Nagasaki
and two decades ater the Cold War ended some say the time is right
to restart the drive towards the elimination o nuclear weapons.
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
19/32
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 17
carbonized almost everyone close to the hypocen-
tre. At the same time, intense heat rays and radiation
were released and a powerul shockwave radiated
out rom the blast, obliterating buildings up to 4km
(2.5 miles) away. A billowing column o white smoke,
reaching up to 17,000 metres (55,770t), ormed a
giant mushroom cloud over the shattered, burning
remains o the city. A smothering blanket o smoke
and dust turned day to night.
Yamada was heading towards the hills around
Hiroshima when black oily drops o radioactive rain
began to all. We were shivering and our teeth were
chattering, it was so cold, the 77-year-old recalls.
We didnt know i we were shivering because o the
cold or because we were scared.
Up to 80,000 people were killed instantly by theexplosion. Another 70,000 suered horrifc burns
and other injuries. But with a vast area o Hiroshima
levelled, including most o the hospitals, there were
ew acilities and medical sta to help deal with the
catastrophe. Chaos reigned.
Even beore the ICRCs Marcel Junod be-
came the irst western medical expert to set oot
in Hiroshima ater the bombing, the ICRC had
questioned whether atomic weapons were lawul
in a 5 September 1945 circular to National Socie-
ties: It is clear that developments in aviation and
the increasingly destructive eects o bombing
have made practically inapplicable the distinc-
tions hitherto drawn, whereby certain classes
o people had by right a special protection (orinstance, the civil population in contrast to the
armed orces).
There was little doubt that the events o Au-
gust 1945, as well as numerous other incidents
during the six years o the Second World War, had
ushered in a new era o warare that would have
serious implications or the Geneva Conventions
and Protocols, the treaties that established the
humane rules o war. Since humanitarianism was
at the heart o the e orts o the ICRC, the organi-
zation was determined to ensure the protection
o civilian populations during conlicts through
international law.
While the 17th International Conerence o the
Red Cross, which met in Stockholm in 1948, took
a frm stand against atomic weapons, the overrid-
ing message o the ollowing years Diplomatic
Conerence was somewhat ambiguous. Although
the conerence a rmed the principle o civilian
immunity during wartime in the Fourth Geneva
Convention, the delegation o the Soviet Union
didnt believe it went ar enough and called or a
ban on the use o atomic weapons. The proposalwas rejected.
A little over two weeks ater the end o the coner-
ence, the Soviets successully carried out their frst
nuclear test. A modern, deadly arms race had begun.
The ensuing years o the Cold War were marked by
hundreds o nuclear tests (which also resulted in seri-
ous humanitarian consequences), the development
I elt the hot sand
on my back as I ran,
and I was blown over
beore I reached the
shelter.
Reiko Yamada,77-year-old
Hiroshima survivor
bomb
Photo:
NickJones
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
20/32
18 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
o ever-more powerul weapons and an expansion
o the so-called nuclear club.
Contrary to the rulesIn the years ater the all o the Berlin Wall with
Cold War brinksmanship at an end the interna-
tional community shited towards containing the
prolieration o nuclear weapons and themajor powers towards reducing existing
stockpiles via Strategic Arms Reduction
Treaties (START I and START II).
Although various agreements, such
as the Treaty on the Non-Prolieration
o Nuclear Weapons (NPT) and numer-
ous test-ban and arms-control treaties,
have sought to reduce arsenals, pre-
vent the spread o weapons and stop
nuclear testing, none o these pacts
has restricted the actual use o nuclear
weapons.
While the nuclear superpowers have cut their ar-
senals signifcantly rom roughly 60,000 warheads
to about 22,000 today the number o countries
in the nuclear club has increased. The destructive
power o any one o those weapons is many times
that o the bombs dropped on Hiroshima and Na-
gasaki.
The international community has tried to stem
this prolieration with sanctions and intense diplo-
matic pressure. But in recent years, many among the
worlds diplomatic and military elite have suggestedthat these diplomatic eorts would be more eec-
tive i nuclear-armed countries took even bolder
steps towards eventual disarmament, an important
goal o the NPT.
Theres been a realization that the only way to
stop this trend o prolieration is to have a credible
process that leads to the elimination and prohibi-
tion o nuclear weapons, says Peter Herby, head o
ICRCs Arms Unit.
Several ormer military leaders and statesmen
members o the diplomatic elite who in some cases
were hawkish deenders o nuclear weapons during
their careers have recently made strong state-
ments calling or reductions in and the elimination
o stockpiles.
These calls are not entirely based on humanitarian
concerns. Because nuclear weapons are extremely
expensive to maintain, many political and military
leaders question the value o weapons that e-
ectively cannot be used or political and moral
reasons and which are ar rom the weapon o
choice in modern asymmetric warare.
Catastrophic consequencesAt the same time, due to persistent advocacy by
the ICRC and others, there is also growing recogni-
A hero o HiroshimaAs streams o blackened gures clogged the roads out o the decimated city, hundreds o
kilometres away in Japanese-controlled Manchuria a 41-year-old Swiss doctor visited Allied
prisoners o war. Marcel Junod was on his way to Tokyo to take up his new post as head o the
ICRC delegation. Arriving in the Japanese capital on 9 August, he was oblivious to what had
happened in Hiroshima three days beore and that morning in Nagasaki.
By the end o the month, an ICRC delegate, Fritz Bilnger, managed to reachHiroshima. His telegram detailing the extent o the horriying devastation and
mysteriously serious eects o the bomb prompted Junod to contact the Allied
occupation orces and appeal or ood and medical supplies or the victims in
Hiroshima.
On 8 September, accompanying a special investigation team o ten Americans
and two Japanese doctors, along with 12 tonnes o relie supplies, Junod set o
or western Japan. In a paper entitled The Hiroshima Disaster, he described the
scene as the plane few over the port city: The centre o the city was a sort o
white patch, fattened and smooth like the palm o a hand. Nothing remained.
As the rst oreign doctor to visit the ormer bustling preectural capital,
Junod, whom Reiko Yamada reers to as the saviour o Hiroshima, toured the
apocalyptic landscape. In the midst o an indescribable pile o broken tiles, rusty sheet iron,
chassis o machines, burnt-out cars, derailed trams and buckled lines, a ew trees pointed their
charred and fayed trunks to the sky, he wrote. On the banks o the river, boats lay gutted. Here
and there, a large stone building was still standing, breaking
the monoto ny.
One such building that remained was the concrete-
constructed Red Cross Hospital, situated 1.5km (0.9 miles)
rom the hypocentre. Heavily damaged and without much o
its equipment, the hospital was inundated with 1,000 patients
on the day o the blast; 600 died almost immediately. Junod
witnessed many more similar scenes o hopelessness elsewhere.
Ater observing so much indiscriminate destruction andsuering, Junod was convinced that nuclear weapons should
be banned in much the same way that poison gas had been
ater the First World War through the 1925 Geneva Protocol.
I this weapon is used in a uture war, he warned, we shall
experience the annihilation o thousands o human beings in
appalling suering.
I this weapon is
used in a uture
war, we shall
experience the
annihilation o
thousands ohuman beings
in appalling
suering.
Marcel Junod
Photo:
ICRC
Photo:
Japanese
Red
Cross
Soc
iety
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
21/32
I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | 19
tion o the humanitarian consequences o nuclear
weapons. One o the key developments came in
May 2010, when a review conerence o NPT states
drated a resolution that expresses deep concern
about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences
o any use o nuclear weapons and rea rms the
need or all states to comply with international
humanitarian law. This may come across as a rather bland state-
ment in the ace o the destructive power o nuclear
weapons. But these 27 words are signifcant. They
mark the irst time in the treatys history that
signatory states have made any o cial acknowl-
edgement o the human toll o nuclear weapons.
Now all NPT states have recognized these cata-
strophic humanitarian consequences. And once
youve recognized this, it entails a certain responsi-
bility to act, adds Herby.
While the NPT conerences statement alls short
o clearly stating that nuclear weapons violate hu-
manitarian law, it does, says Herby, raise a big
question about the legality o nuclear weapons
because IHL [international humanitarian law] is
specifcally intended to prevent catastrophic hu-
manitarian consequences rom warare.
Its an important step as there is still no defni-
tive legal consensus declaring nuclear weapons
contrary to IHL. Although the International Court
o Justice did conclude in 1996 that the use o nu-
clear weapons would generally be contrary to the
rules o international law, the court was uncertainon whether using them in extreme cases o sel-de-
ence would be unlawul or not.
Nuclear diplomacyThe statement rom the NPT states, meanwhile, did
not come by chance. Like much o the language con-
tained in international accords, these two phrases
were the result o intense diplomatic eorts by vari-
ous parties, working independently, to develop a
consensus among states party to the treaty.
In the days, weeks and months beore the May 2010
NPT review conerence, the Swiss delegation to the
conerence developed and lobbied or such language
while Swiss ederal councillor Micheline Calmy-Rey
made a speech suggesting that nuclear weapons are
essentially illegal under international law.
ICRC President Jakob Kellenbergers address to
diplomats in Geneva just weeks beore the NPT con-
erence added to the renewed emphasis. Coming
exactly a year ater US President Barack Obama out-
lined his vision or a nuclear-ree world in a landmark
speech in Prague, Kellenberger urged all countries
to ensure that the horrors o Hiroshima and Naga-saki were never repeated.
The ICRC today appeals to all states, and to all in
a position to inuence them, to seize with determi-
nation and urgency the unique opportunities now
at hand to bring the era o nuclear weapons to an
end, he said.
Timed just beore the NPT conerence, the speech
was accompanied by a media communications e-
ort that brought additional attention and pressure
to bear.
IFRC President Tadateru Konoe has made simi-
lar speeches, decrying nuclear arms as a weapon
against humanity. Earlier this year, he discussed
nuclear weapons (and the Movements response tonuclear emergencies such as Fukushima) in a meet-
ing with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who
also supports the call or a world ree o nuclear
weapons.
A historic momentWhile most o these steps have not been widely re-
ported and the public seldom know about them,
momentum is clearly building. Right now is a
unique moment in history, and some might say the
last moment, to really address this issue beore the
genie is completely out o the bottle, beore more
states, and potentially non-state armed groups,
have nuclear weapons, says Herby.
Ironically, public awareness and concern over
nuclear weapons is at a low point, having aded
considerably since the Cold War era. At the
moment, there is not a large public cry or the elim-
ination o nuclear weapons, says Herby. People
think that it was solved at end o Cold War, which
is not the case. Still, in the ace o a lot o public
apathy, there is something very positive happening
right now. The way to seize the moment, says Herby, is to
help shape the environment so that states are under
pressure not to use or acquire nuclear weapons and
Pursue in good
aith and conclude
with urgency and
determination
negotiations to
prohibit the use
o and completely
eliminate nuclear
weapons througha legally binding
international
agreement,
based on existing
commitments
and international
obligations.
Text rom a drat resolution tobe presented to the Council o
Delegations on the elimination
o nuclear weapons
LKnown as the Atomic Bomb
Dome, this building survived the
Hiroshima bombing though it was
at, or very near, the centre o the
explosion. Photo: Nick Jones
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
22/32
20 | R E D C R O S S R E D C R E S C E N T | I S S U E 3 . 2 0 1 1
The Hospital o Hope still treats Hiroshimas survivorsHiroo Dohy (below) points to a clump o blackened rock in a wooden cabinet and
explains how the ossil-like mass was once roo tiles. This was 350 metres [1,000
eet] rom the hypocentre and it was melted into one piece, he says.
Lining the walls o the dingy, one-roomed museum o a nondescript corridor
in the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital are glass-ronted shelves lled with pickled
human organs. There are slices o emur bones in jars, revealing leukaemia-saturated marrow, alongside diseased livers, lungs and brains.
Sixty-six years ago, they all belonged to men and women who, on the morning
o 6 August 1945, happened to be in the centre o Hiroshima commuting to
work, running errands, chatting with riends. When the worlds rst atomic bomb
exploded above the city, they received massive doses o radiation and most likely
appalling injuries rom the reball and blast wave.
Eventually succumbing to leukaemia and various orms o cancer, their deaths
are recorded succinctly in English and Japanese on cards next to the jars. Autopsy
No. 84. Age 54, Male. Exposed (1.0km). Acute Myeloid Leukemia. Cryptococcosis.
Date o Autopsy: February 1, 1959. reads one summary. Beside it sits a section o
a grey, inected lung.
The room today serves as a stark reminder o that hot summers day and the
enduring eects o the weapon that ell rom the cloudless sky.
Unlike most buildings in the vicinity o the hypocentre, the concrete-
constructed Red Cross Hospital remained largely intact. Although the devastating
shockwave blew out the windows and destroyed much o the interior, the acility
owes its survival to its solid design.
Ken Takeuchi, an army surgeon who had studied medicine in Germany and the
United States, oversaw the hospitals construction in 1939. My mother used to
say that her ather was so involved in designing the hospital because, I think, he
had such a precise, engineering mind, says Mitchie Takeuchi, the granddaughter
o the hospitals rst president.
Naturally, the hospital was inundated with hundreds o horrically burnt and
injured victims on that ateul day, many o whom died soon ater. Marcel Junod,
head o the ICRCs Japan delegation, arrived at the hospital on 9 September. All the
laboratory equipment had been put out o action. Part o the roo had caved in and
the hospital was open to the wind and rain, he wrote in his journal o that time.
While the old building has since been torn down (a section o it has beenplaced at the entrance o the new hospital), the Hiroshima Red Cross and Atomic
Bomb Survivors Hospital remains in the same location. A relie o Junod can be
seen in the entrance o the hospital, while another monument to the Swiss doctor
is located in the citys Memorial Peace Park.
In my understanding, the Atomic Bomb Survivors Hospital is a symbol and a
psychological support or the survivors, explains Dohy, the institutions present-
day president who was born just outside Hiroshima less than a month beore the
atomic bomb was dropped. The treatment o leukaemia and cancer is the same
as at other hospitals, but some survivors choose to come here.
The hospital now treats more than 100 survivors, or hibakusha as they are
reerred to in Japanese, as inpatients and around the same number as outpatients
each day. Naturally, many o the hospitals sta are experts in health matters related
to radiation exposure, and the hospital has trained numerous doctors rom abroad.
Following the Chernobyl nuclear accident in 1986, a number o medical sta
were dispatched to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine to provide support. And only
this year, 15 advisers rom the hospital travelled to Fukushima Preecture to aid
local Red Cross personnel ater a devastating earthquake and tsunami crippled a
nuclear plant there.
Although irrevocably linked to the atomic bomb, the Hiroshima Red Cross Hospital
continues to use that legacy to help both survivors and those who all victim to the
potentially deadly energy that lay waste to the city one morning in 1945.
by Nick Jones
Photo:
NickJones
8/3/2019 Red Cross, Red Crescent Magazine. No. 3, 2011
23/32
through new international agreements.
National Societies can help by creating more
dialogue and awareness about the catastrophic
humanitarian consequences o nuclear arms and
by persuading their governments to address
nuclear weapons, through prevention and elimi-
nation.
This will be easier or some National Societiesthan or others. In some countries, the nuclear
question is deeply connected to national iden-
tity and politics. But advocates say there
is consensus that National Societies can
play a role by ocusing solely on the hu-
manitarian consequences o the weapons
and the implications they pose or IHL.
We need to broaden the base o con-
cern, Herby notes. For decades, this
advocacy has been in the hands o nuclear
weapons experts and associated think
tanks, and civil society NGOs [non-govern-
mental organizations], most o whom at
the moment do not have a broad base o
support.
Human agencyNational Societies, however, do have a
broad base. A consortium o National Societies
Australia, Japan and Norway are running an
international campaign on the issue. The Australian
Red Cross is engaging younger Australians by using
local celebrities and digital media, such as a web sitethat demonstrated the eects o a nuclear explosion
on an Australian city by calculating the number o
Facebook riends a user would lose.
Preben Marcussen, a policy adviser with the
Norwegian Red Cross, says that the Red Cross Red
Crescent, as a credible humanitarian organization,
has the potential to reinvigorate an international
campaign that peaked in the 1980s. A stronger
Red Cross Red Crescent voice will ensure that the
global debate ocuses upon nuclear weapons as
an urgent humanitarian challenge, and that it will
bring about the political pressure the world needs,
he says.
The next big chance to exert that pressure will
come during Novembers Council o Delegates,
which is expected to adopt a resolution that will be
reported to the International Conerence.
The resolution is a result o consultations between
the ICRC, National Societies and the IFRC in May 2011
in Oslo, Norway, where the elements o a possible
resolution were presented to 21 National Societies.
Organized by the Australian, Japanese and Norwe-
gian Red Cross societies, the meeting was ollowedby urther consultations that then became the basis
o the drat resolution.
The drat presented to the Council o Delegates
appeals to states to ensure that nuclear weapons
are never used again and to pursue in good aith
and conclude with urgency and determination ne-
gotiations to prohibit the use o and completely
eliminate nuclear weapons through a legally bind-
ing international agreement, based on existing
commitments and international obligations.
It also calls on all components o the Movement,
in light o our common commitment to humani-
tarian diplomacy, to engage in activities to raise
awareness among the public, scientists, health pro-essionals and decision-makers o the catastrophic
consequences o nuclear weapons and to engage,
to the extent possible, in dialogue with government
and other relevant actors on the implications or IHL.
The resolution, it is hoped, will cre