-
Dailybulletin
Issue 10 | Geneva / Friday 30 November 2007 //
The third plenary session of the 30th International Confer-ence
began with the election of five members of the StandingCommission.
Vice chairmen of the Conference, Ms An-nemarie Huber-Hotz (Swiss
Red Cross) presided over the startof the election process, which is
by secret ballot. There werenine candidates, two from Africa, two
from the Americas,three from Asia and two from Europe (seeDaily
Bulletin no 9).Each National Society and State casts up to five
votes on theballot paper.
Ms Huber-Hotz stressed the importance of respect for
theFundamental Principles and of geographical balance whenvoting.
The roll call, first of National Societies and then ofStates,
established that there were 324 delegations present,172 National
Societies, 152 States, the International Federa-tion and the ICRC.
The absolute majority needed for electionwas therefore established
as 163.
Only one ballot proved necessary and the result was as
follows:
ELECTEDDr Massimo Barra,Italian Red Cross . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .213
Dr Mohammed Al-Hadid,Jordan National Red Crescent Society . . .
. . . . . . . . .211
Mr Adama Diarra,Mali Red Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .187
Mr Steven E. Carr,American Red Cross . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . .182
Mr Eamon Courtenay,Belize Red Cross Society . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . .165
NOT ELECTEDLady Jocelyn Keith,New Zealand Red Cross . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
Dr Freddy Karup Pedersen,Danish Red Cross . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Mr William A. Eteki Mboumoua,Cameroon Red Cross Society . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .110
Mr Tissa Manilal Abeywickrama,Sri Lanka Red Cross Society . . .
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Election of five members of the Standing Commission
30th International Conference ofthe Red Cross and Red
Crescent
Geneva, 2007
XXXe Conférence internationale dela Croix-Rouge et du
Croissant-Rouge
Genève, 2007
XXX Conferencia Internacional dela Cruz Roja y de la Media Luna
Roja
Ginebra, 2007
Conference vice-chair Ms Annemarie Huber-Hotz of the Swiss
RedCross with chair Ms Mandisa Kalako-Williams of the South
AfricanRed Cross Society.
Taking part in the roll call.
-
2FRIDAY 30
Daily bulletin – issue 10 // Geneva / November 2007 //
Pär Stenbäck was invited to report to theInternational
Conference on the imple-mentation of the Memorandum of
Un-derstanding (MoU), which he hasmonitored. Both societies, Magen
DavidAdom (MDA) and the Palestine RedCrescent Society (PRCS),
should becommended for their efforts, he said.However, full
implementation remains aproblem. Mr Stenbäck then summarizedhis
report (see Daily Bulletin no 5).
Since his report to the Council of Del-egates, he said, news had
come of thedeployment of the 5 PRCS ambulancesin Jerusalem. He also
said that the issueof geographical jurisdiction betweenthe two
National Societies had beenadvanced.
Ambassador Boudewijn J.Van Eenen-naam, vice-chairman of the
Confer-ence, then reported that an agreementon a revised draft
resolution had beenreached. He said the consultation hehad
conducted over the past few dayshad been special in their
constructive-ness, which gave hope for the future.Despite well
known differences, allthose that participated in the processshowed
a positive and courageous spiritthat allowed agreement to be
reached.
The discussions were also focused onthe facts on the ground, and
politicalpositions were put to the background.
The resolution, he said, contains sub-stance and addresses the
roles of the mainparticipants as well as the strengtheningof the
monitoring and reporting process.
The chairman of the Conference, MsMandisa Kalako-Williams, then
putthe revised draft resolution to delegateswhich they adopted by
consensus.
Following approval of the revised draft,many delegations
commented favourablyon the outcome of the consultationprocess and
welcomed the resolution onthe implementation of the MoU.
Theyincluded the PRCS, theMDA, vice-pres-ident of the Conference,
AmbassadorJuan Martabit, on behalf of the LatinAmerican group, the
group of Arab RedCrescent and Red Cross Societies, theAmerican Red
Cross, the government ofPakistan on behalf of the Organization
ofthe Islamic Conference, the governmentof Portugal on behalf of
the EuropeanUnion, the Ghana Red Cross Society, thegovernment of
Israel, the government ofEgypt on behalf of the African group,
thegovernment of Switzerland, the govern-
ment of Iraq on behalf of the Arab group,the government of
Canada, the govern-ment of the United States and the presi-dents of
the ICRC and the InternationalFederation. �
Memorandum of Understanding
The great debate
The humanitarian challenges posed by climate change, migra-tion,
urban violence and emergent and recurrent diseases areclosely
interrelated, and cannot be addressed without mean-ingful
cooperation between governments, the Red Cross RedCrescent and
other actors.
“It was widely recognized that these four issues interact
witheach other,” said Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki (Japan),
rappor-teur of the Conference and the man with the difficult task
ofsummarizing and synthesising the 109 statements made byStates and
National Societies during the general debate.
“It was also stressed that these challenges require partnership
atthe local and national levels.”
Environmental degradation includingclimate change
Participants in the general debate emphasized that
“climatechange affects the poorest people in the poorest
coun-tries, those who contribute least to global warming,” saidMr
Fujisaki.
Delegations called on National Societies to play an impor-tant
role in addressing the humanitarian consequences of cli-mate
change, by raising awareness about environmental risksand by
strengthening disaster preparedness and risk reduc-tion
measures.
-
3FRIDAY 30
Daily bulletin – issue 10 // Geneva / November 2007 //
For their part, States were called on to devise
comprehensivedisaster response plans that use the capacity of
National Soci-eties and other like minded organizations.
International migration
Participants in the debate argued that tackling the
conse-quences of international migration was not sufficient.
Theyexplained that it was crucial to address the underlying
causesthat include poverty, unemployment, social exclusion andarmed
conflict.
Cross border cooperation is key in combating these problems.
Delegations pointed out that the Red Cross Red CrescentMovement
has an important role to play in alleviating thehumanitarian
consequences of migration and that NationalSocieties had a duty to
assist migrants regardless of theirstatus.
The profound vulnerability of mi-grants, women and children in
par-ticular, was also underscored.
Urban violence
A number of delegations highlightedthe important role to be
played byStates and National Societies in pre-venting and reducing
urban violence.
They referred to concrete initiativessuch as the 2006 Geneva
Declarationon armed violence and development.
Participants said the Red Cross RedCrescent Movement can play a
sig-
nificant role in several respects. Forexample, it can help
reinforce socialsolidarity by providing more oppor-tunities for
young people or developprogrammes to help re-integrate for-mer
child soldiers and street childreninto society.
In all these activities, it was said thatvolunteers,
particularly the young, canplay an important part.
Health
The central role of volunteers wasalso made clear in statements
on thechallenges posed by emergent and re-current diseases. A
number of dele-
gations expressed concern about the growing impact of
healthrisks, such as HIV, TB and malaria.
Efforts to strengthen National Societies were
important,delegations said, so that they can continue to contribute
topreventing and fighting epidemics.
“All the representatives shared the view that challenges can-not
be met by a single player,” concluded Mr Ichiro. “Theyhave to be
met together.” �
Lebanese Red Cross volunteers.
-
4
Growing xenophobia in developed countries and state ob-struction
of humanitarian assistance to migrants is causingalarm among
National Societies, the International Conferencewas told
yesterday.
“If there is one issue above all of over-riding concern to
Na-tional Society governance and management, it is the complexand
often ambiguous plight of migrants, asylum seekers, IDPsand other
marginalized groups,” Dr Muctarr Jalloh (SierraLeone Red Cross
Society) said, reporting on Commission Adiscussions about the
auxiliary role of Red Cross and Red Cres-cent societies to public
authorities in the humanitarian field.
Participants had “returned to this vexed question very
fre-quently, with National Societies commenting that too oftenthey
were in the awkward and invidious position of witnessingreal
humanitarian need, but sometimes denied access by gov-ernment and
invariably facing negative impact with the in-digenous
population.”
The British Red Cross, Dr Jalloh said, had echoed the thoughtsof
many by asking what steps the Movement should take whena
government’s political and domestic priorities threatened
tocompromise an over-riding humanitarian agenda. He cited thecase
of the Swedish Red Cross which had “tussled with its gov-ernment
over the denial of access to health care for certaingroups of
migrants”.
The International Federation had said the first priority was
al-ways to ensure that survival needs were met, and in the
eventthat even basic assistance was being withheld – and Red
CrossRed Crescent access denied – the National Society was
com-pelled to advocate vigorously.
The Italian Red Cross, which had described the Mediterraneanas a
“sea of death’, had argued that while advocacy went so far,“often
we need to do more” and when necessary be indifferentto public
opinion. It had called for the Federation to establishan
operational alliance linking National Societies in countriesfrom
where migrants originate and those receiving them.
There was general agreement, Dr Jalloh said, that the Na-tional
Society-government relationship required long-terminvestment from
both sides, and continuous dialogue shouldbe established at all
levels to build mutual trust and under-standing. A sound legal base
was an essential pre-requisite butthe law alone was not enough to
enshrine and maintain theauxiliary role.
Five auxiliary-role working areas were most frequently
men-tioned by National Societies, he reported: dissemination ofIHL
through secondary schools and higher education, and thetraining of
armed forces; disaster preparedness and relief; sup-port to those
affected by armed conflict; social welfare; andhealth and care at
the community level. �
When respected, international humanitarian law (IHL) contin-ues
to be adequate protection for the victims of today’s
armedconflicts, the International Conference was told on
Thursday.
The rapporteur of the Commission on the Reaffirmation
andImplementation of International Humanitarian Law, JeffreyChan
Wah Teck of the Singapore Red Cross, said IHL hadbeen criticized
for not being relevant to modern-day armedconflicts.
“However, studies by the ICRC have concluded that the rulesof
IHL are adequate today but that the problem is the lack ofrespect
for IHL rules in armed conflict,” he said.
During the Commission’s deliberations, several delegationsnoted
the complementary nature of IHL, human rights lawand refugee law.
Numerous delegations commented on thechallenges posed to IHL by
asymmetric warfare; it was stressedthat even if an opposing party
does not comply with IHL thereis no excuse for a party itself to
renege on its obligations toapply IHL.
FRIDAY 30Daily bulletin – issue 10 // Geneva / November 2007
//
‘Vexed question’ of migration
Preserving human life and dignity in armed conflict
-
5
A large number of delegations spoke onthe adverse humanitarian
consequencesof cluster munitions and the need toprohibit such
weapons. This type ofweapon was said to violate the princi-ple of
distinction.
During the Commission’s delibera-tions, the continued importance
of in-stilling the significance of IHL was alsounderlined. The
upcoming 60th an-niversary of the Geneva Conventionsin 2009 was
identified as a good op-portunity to conduct a range of activi-ties
to disseminate IHL. �
FRIDAY 30Daily bulletin – issue 10 // Geneva / November 2007
//
International Conference membersagreed on Wednesday that legal
pre-paredness is directly linked to reducinghuman suffering,
Ambassador AhmetÜzümcü (Turkey), rapporteur for Com-mission C told
the plenary yesterday.
Many remarked that that theIDRL guidelines have alreadyproven a
useful tool. In par-ticular, they noted that theguidelines are
non-bindingand adaptable to local cir-cumstances. They allow
theMovement to work accordingto its principles and values
indisaster management andconveniently compile existinginternational
norms and bestpractices.
Participants emphasized theguidelines can be useful toboth
governments and Na-tional Societies, acting as areference for
governments in-terested in strengthening theirlegal and policy
frameworks,and serving as a checklist of
common legal issues for National Soci-eties and other
organizations.
A number of National Societies also ex-pressed their commitment
to work withtheir governments on improving legal
frameworks. National Societies alreadyinvolved in their
countries’ disastermanagement planning were particularlyurged to
play this role.
Governments, on the other hand, prom-ised to help disseminate
the guidelinesand encourage dialogue amongst keyactors.
Ambassador Üzümcü concluded by re-peating calls by some States
for the Fed-eration to continue its efforts in thisfield. “The
Federation should be pro-ac-tive, and continue to lead
collaborativeefforts on advocacy and research aroundlegal
preparedness,” he said. “The Fed-eration should also work with and
em-power National Societies to provideadvice to their governments
on how tomake best use of the guidelines.” �
IDRL guidelines widely endorsed
-
6FRIDAY 30
Daily bulletin – issue 10 // Geneva / November 2007 //
Delegates are kindly requested to empty their pigeon holes on a
daily basis.This bulletin is for information purposes only. It does
not constitute an official record.
All photos: International Federation or ICRC
Our world, our challenges
The International Conference film shown at the opening ceremony
will be available for all conference del-egates upon request.
E-mail to: [email protected]
RFL and IHL slideshows
There have been several requests for the slide-shows shown as
part of the RFL debate in the Council ofDelegates and in the
commission discussing IHL. These slideshows will most likely be
made into officialICRC products and available upon request.
E-mail to: [email protected]
ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger and International
FederationPresident Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro sign a joint
pledge
on restoring family links.
