International Committee of the Red Cross

Regional Delegation for the United States and Canada

News and Notes

October 2011
Dear Impunity Watch, In This Issue: Dispatch: Urgent Deliveries in Afghanistan Reasserting the Neutrality of Humanitarian Action The ICRC Radio Archive News from Around the Globe Afghanistan Colombia Iraq Libya Madagascar Nepal Pakistan Sudan Thailand First month online for Intercross, the new blog of the ICRC in North America, and already thirty posts on humanitarian operations, law and policy and ICRC history. This month, we share with you a selection of posts and articles published since we started the blog. We include links to two "Dispatches" on health care in southern Afghanistan written by Monica Campbell, an independent reporter, as well as links to "From the Field" interviews on current ICRC operations, including Libya. For those interested in the history of humanitarian action, we provide a link to our first foray into the ICRC's archives. In the last weeks, the Assembly of the ICRC appointed Peter Maurer as our next president. Mr. Maurer will succeed Jakob Kellenberger, who has been president since 2000. Mr. maurer will take up his new responsibilities next July. Earlier this month, we also welcomed the release of Gilad Shalit and Palestinian detainees. For more details on our involvement in the release operation, we invite you to listen to an interview with ICRC Jerusalem Head of Mission Nicolas Von Arx. Make sure to add Intercross to your Favorites list and do leave us a comment whenever you visit. As always, we welcome your feedback. Kind regards, The ICRC Washington Delegation

Dispatch: Urgent Deliveries in Afghanistan

Upcoming Events HPCR Live Webinar: Challenges to the Application of IHL to Afghanistan 4 November 2011 9:30 - 11:00am EST The Harvard University Program on Humanitarian Policy and Conflict Research and the ICRC will be co-hosting a live web seminar to explore various issues related to protection efforts under international humanitarian law in Afghanistan. The Paul Reuter Prize on International Humanitarian Law Deadline: 30 November 2011 Geneva The Paul Reuter Fund was created in 1983 thanks to a donation made to the ICRC by the late Paul Reuter, Honorary Professor at the University of Paris and member of the Institut de droit international. The Fund's purposes are to contribute financially to an undertaking in the field of international humanitarian law, and to finance the Paul Reuter Prize. The Prize (5,000 Swiss francs) is generally awarded every three years for a major work in the sphere of international humanitarian law and will be awarded for the tenth time in spring 2012. 5th Annual International Humanitarian Law Workshop January 3-6, 2012 Santa Clara, California Co-sponsored by the ICRC and the Center for Global Law and Policy and the Santa Clara University School of Law, this workshop combines lectures and hands-on exercises that

Monica Campbell, a San Francisco-based journalist, reports for Intercross from Kandahar, Afghanistan. In her second dispatch, she writes about an ICRC program that trains and equips local taxi drivers to fill the need for ambulances by delivering war wounded to Kandahar hospital."While the pilot project, which launched in 2010, is still small, its network of 35 drivers spread throughout Afghanistan's four southern provinces is singular" says Ms. Campbell. Continue to Intercross for the full article as well as a multimedia feature with photographs by Kate Holt.

Reasserting the Neutrality of Humanitarian Action

While it remains a cornerstone of our modus operandi worldwide, the neutrality principle was in recent years roundly rejected by most aid actors operating in Afghanistan. Author Fiona Terry wrote about neutrality and how strict adherence to it has enabled the ICRC to expand its operational surface in the latest issue of the International Review of the Red Cross. While in town last week, Fiona spoke with Intercross about the need for aid organizations to embrace neutrality as a guiding principle if they are to assist victims of conflict across front lines and political divides.

We invite you to listen to our interview with Fiona Terry.

The ICRC Radio Archive

Few people know that the ICRC owns a unique collection of radio broadcasts that tell the story of half a century of humanitarian action, from the immediate aftermath of WW II era up to the 1990s.

guide U.S. law students through an intensive workshop on international humanitarian law (IHL). The workshop will be led by legal professionals from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), lawyers for the U.S. Armed Forces, and law professors who specialize in IHL.

ICRC Mission The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance.
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In the upcoming months, Intercross will feature rarely heard recordings from that collection that bring to life the rich history of the ICRC and its work during the Cold War. Click here to listen to Jean Pictet, former senior member and VicePresident of the ICRC, explaining how the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross developed over time and "on the basis of facts and real life" to become the charter of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

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