The
international committee of the red cross is a private humanitarian institution
boned in Genera conventions of 1949, and the additional protocols of 1977and
2005 have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and
internal armed conflict. Such victims include the rounded, prisoners, refugees,
civilians and other non combatants. The ICRC is part of the international red
cross and red crescent movement along with the international federation and 186
national societies. It is the oldest and most honoured organization within the
movement and one of the most widely recognized organizations in the world. The
ICRR has the noble peace prize three times- in 1917, 1944 and 1963.
Historical background:
Until the middle of the 19th century,
there were no organized and well established army nursing systems for
casualties and no safe and protected institutions to accommodate and treat
those who never rounded on the battle field. In June, 1959, the sivis business
man, Henry Dunant traveled to Italy to meet the French Emperor, Napoleon III
with the intention of discussing the difficulties
involved in conducting business in Algeria which at the line was under French
occupation when Dunant arrived in the small town of Solferno, he witnessed the
battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Austro- Hungarian war: in a single
day, about 40,000 soldiers from both sides either died and were left rounded in
the battle field. Henry Dunant was shocked by the terrible aftermath of the
fighting, the agony of the wounded solders and the near total lack of medical
attention In the midst of the carriage.
He
completely abandoned the original intent of his jouney and for several days
devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. he
succeeded in organizing and overwhelming relief assistance by motivating the
local population to provide aid without discrimination. Back home in genava he
decided to write a book entitled “ a memory of solferino” which was published
in 1962. he sent copies of the book to leading political and military fginess
throughout Europe. In addition to putting down a clear description of his experiences
in Solferion, he sharply advocated the formation of national voluntary relief
organizations to help provide nursing assistance to wounded solders in the
events of war.
In
addition he called for the development of international treaties to guarantee
the neutrality and protection of those wounded on the battle field as well as
medies and field hospitals. In 1863, Mr Dunant formed the “ committee of the
fire” in Geneva with four other leading figures form well known Geneva
families. This committee created the commission of the Geneva society for
public welfare. The aim of the commission was to organize an international
conference about the possible implementation of Dunant ideas. The conference
was attended by official delegates from Baden, Bavaria, France, Britian,
Hanover, Hesse, Italy, the Nether lands, Austria, Rrussia, Russia, Saxony,
Sireden and Spain.
Among the proposals written in the final resolution of the
conference adopted on October 29, 1863 were:
1. The
foundation of a national relief societies for wounded soldiers.
2. Neutrality
and protection for wounded soldiers
3. The
utilization of volunteer forces for relief assistance on the battle fields.
4. The
organization of additional conferences to enable these concepts into legally
binding international agreements and treaties.
5. The
introduction of a common distinctive protection symbol for medical personnel in
the field, namely a white armlet bearing a red cross.
In
1864, the Swiss Government invited the government of all European countries
including the US, Brazil and Mexico to attend an official diplomatic
conference. On August 22, 1864,the first Geneva convention for the Amebioration
of the condition o f the wounded in Armies in the field” was convened.
Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention which contained
10 articles, establishing for the first time, legally binding rules
guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field personnel
and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict.
Furthermore,
the convention defined two specific requirements for recognition of a national
relief society by the international committee. There are
1. The
national society must be recognized by its own national government as a relief
society according to convention and
2. The
national government of the respective countries must be a state party to the
Geneva conventions.
In
1881, the American red cross was formed through the efforts, of Clara Barton,
and as more and more countries signed the Geneva convention and began to
respect its provisions and put them in practice during armed conflict, the
global influence of the Red cross continued to expand.
In a
rather short period of time, the red cross gained huge momentum as an
internationally respected movement and the national societies become
increasingly popular as venue for volunteer work.
The ICRC and the world war I:
The first world war
provided the first major test for the international committee of the red cross.
With the outbreak of hostilities the ICRC formed itself confronted with
enormous challenges which it could only handle with close co-operation with the
national red cross societies. Red cross nurses and personnel from round the
world came together to support the medical services of the armed forces of the
Europe countries involved in the war.
The
ICRC also set up an international prisoners of war agency to cater for the
welfare of rows. By the end of the war, the agency had transferred about 20
million letters and meltages, parcels and monetary donations to Pows of all
affected countries, the agency also supervised the exchange of about 200,000
prisoners of war between the warning parties.
During
the war, the ICRC also monitored the compliance of the warning parties and all
combatants with the Geneva conventions of 1970 and for warded complaints of
violations to the respective countries. When chemical weapons were used for the
first time in history the ICRC protested vigorously against this type of weapon
became of the indiscriminate and whole some devastations it wreaked on the
victims. The ICRC also tried to anchorate the suffering of the civilian
populations in areas officially designated as occupied territories. The ICRC
received a nobal prize in 1917 in recognition of its outstanding work to humanity
during the World War I.
The
ICRC and the World War II the activities of the society during World War II was
similar to what it did during the first war. In addition to taking care of the
wounded and sick it engaged in other activities like visiting and monitoring
POW camps, organizing relief assistance for the civilian population, and
administrating the exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing
persons.
During
the war, the activities of the Nazi-controlled Geneva Red cross became an obstruction
to the collective work of the organization. The soviet and Japanese government
who were not signatories to the convention also carried out serious violations.
During the war, the ICRC failed to obtain an agreement with the German
government about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps. The ICRC
also failed to develop a response to reliable information about the
extermination camps and mass killing of European jens by the Nazi regime. This
inability is still considered the greatest failure of the ICRC in its history
in 1944 the ICRC received its 2nd nobel prize. This once again was the only
peace prize awarded during the period of the war.
The ICRC after the 2nd world war: In 1963, the ICRC
received its third nobel prize in recognition of its centenary celebration.
Since 1993, non swiss citizens have been allowed to serve as committee
delegates abroad, a task which was previously restricted to swiss citizens
only. in October 1990, the united nations general assembly voted to grant the
ICRC an observer status for its assembly sessions and sub-committee meetings.
It runs the first observer status grant a private or non governmental
organization in 1994, the ICRC broke its traditional media silence for the
first time when it denounced the genocide taking place in Rwanda. It worked
hand to prevent the tragedy in Srebrenia in 1995 but failed. In 2007, the ICRC
nent public again with the denomination of major human rights abuses” by
Burma’s military government including forced labour, starvations and the murder
of men, women and children.
Criticisms of
the ICRC: The international committee of the red cross have been criticized the
following guards
1. It
relies solely on how key and confidential negotiation this approach is seen as
unnecessarily secretive which also may not always produce the best results.
2. ICRC
research finding and information are not made available to the general public
unlike related organizations like DWD and Amnesty international who share
information and are more willing to expose abuses and apply public pressure on
recalcitrants. ICRC however argues that this approach allows it greater access
to and co-operations from government on the long run.
3. The
ICRC has been accused of allowing itself to be used as tools by some governments
to promote their own policies and subjective interests.
4. Though a powerful organization with a world wide accepted
presence and influence, the inability of the ICRCS to speak out especially in
the face of abuses makes it structurally weak and unresponsive.