Extract from ICRC special report: assistance

The Emergency items catalogue lists all the items used in Red Cross Red Crescent relief work, and details the exact product specification for each item. It is aimed at logistics personnel and suppliers.

The Assistance Division provides strategic support and professional expertise in three areas of activity – health services, economic security and water and habitat – to operations in the field. It also devotes considerable effort to the vital area of staff development and management.

Following the earthquake in Baluchistan women in the damaged villages have been secluded as required by local customs. Now, as the ICRC’s Jessica Barry explains, their voices are rarely heard except by aid workers and medical personnel.

ICRC assistance teams, working together with the Pakistan Red Crescent, have delivered nearly 1,200 winterized tents to victims of the 29 October earthquake in Balochistan. They are now in a race against time to deliver more durable shelter kits before winter arrives up in the mountains.

Hundreds of thousands of Afghans in the north of the country may have to leave their homes this winter because of drought, insecurity and rising food prices. The ICRC and the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) have launched a major food distribution operation for 280,000 people in the provinces of Kunduz, Balkh, Faryab and Badghis, in northern and north-western Afghanistan. A report from Wahab Sifil and Zalmai of the ICRC’s Kabul delegation and Mazar sub-delegation.

Fighting between government forces and the armed opposition continues in the region bordering Afghanistan. Civilians are paying a heavy price. The ICRC’s Sitara Jabeen reports on the cultural and social challenges facing displaced people on the Pakistani/Afghan border.

Clashes between the Mamprusi and Kusasi tribes in the northern Ghanaian town of Bawku have left many people in fear of their lives and separated from their livelihoods. The Red Cross has stepped in to help them through these trying times.

How do humanitarian workers in a country emerging from war, and doctors practising medicine in Geneva, experience the transition from an acute to a chronic problem – from saving lives to supporting patients suffering from a long-term illness? This was the subject debated by doctors, patients and ICRC managers in Zinal, Switzerland, in March 2008. The author of this text is a political adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross, responsible for the analysis of future trends. The text reflects the author's opinions only and does not necessarily correspond to the views of the ICRC.

About 1,500 people remain at the police station camp for the displaced in Kakamega. Many of them own small businesses in the town and are reluctant to abandon their property. Red Cross counsellors are providing much-needed support to those who are at a loss as to where to go from here. Bernard Barrett reports.

With the political situation in Kenya still tense, the humanitarian consequences of the post-election violence persist and the people affected remain in need of ongoing support. The Kenya Red Cross and the ICRC are preparing to help for the long term.

The violence in Kenya has killed hundreds of people and forced an estimated quarter of a million from their homes in the Rift Valley region. Many have gathered at public sites where they are surviving on hand-outs. The ICRC's Anne Mucheke reports.

Three consecutive seasons of flooding have left farming villages in the Middle Shebelle region of Somalia with no crops. The ICRC continues to step in with emergency aid to bolster coping mechanisms as the next round of floods looms.

The ICRC is continuing to deliver seeds and essential assistance items to hundreds of thousands of people uprooted by conflict in northern Uganda. Ugandan journalist Denis Ocwich reports on a delivery of supplies to a remote camp for displaced persons.

Following numerous attacks in north western C.A.R., whole villages were emptied as families fled to the forest. In an effort to assist the most vulnerable, the ICRC has distributed a number of key household items to over 13,000 families, not least of which hoes to work their fields.

Access to water is an ongoing concern for the people of Darfur, particularly during the dry season. Alleviating water shortages is an urgent matter for the ICRC. The overall aim of the organization is to help residents in remote rural areas become self-sufficient, so that they will not have to move to overcrowded camps in search of aid.

Through the words of those who have borne the brunt of Afghanistan's devastating conflicts, this film looks back on 20 years of uninterrupted ICRC presence in the country. Both beneficiaries and local staff describe the profound impact the ICRC's dedicated work has had on their lives and on those of their fellow countrymen from all ethnic and religious backgrounds.

The Cité-Soleil shantytown in Port-au-Prince has been the scene of deadly clashes between armed groups and UN forces. Local people live in abject poverty against a backdrop of violence, without even basic services to make their lives more bearable. Together, the ICRC and the Haitian Red Cross are providing an ambulance service for the sick and wounded, repairing water points and seeking to give some hope again to the people of Cité-Soleil.

The month-long conflict that raged between Hezbollah and Israel brought the Lebanese summer to a violent end. Once again, civilians paid the highest price. Under the falling bombs, ICRC and Lebanese Red Cross aid workers struggled to evacuate the wounded and get food and water to the survivors. Amid the devastation and the unexploded bombs left behind by the conflict, can life ever return to normal?

This manual is an important tool for all humanitarian workers involved in the field of nutrition. In addition to presenting an in-depth explanation of human nutrition, nutrition crisis and nutritional programmes within humanitarian intervention, the manual highlights the importance of maintaining a better understanding of the broader impact of war on all aspects of daily life. It argues that food is not just a means for survival but that it is a basic right for those caught up in the conflict, as defined in international humanitarian law.

The ICRC's work to promote economic security is intended to ensure that households and communities can cover their unavoidable expenditures and maintain or restore sustainable livelihoods.

A practical manual presenting the specific knowledge, skills and practices that First Aiders should have to act safely and effectively when caring for people caught up in armed conflicts and other situations of violence, such as internal disturbances and tensions.

The kit describes those activities carried out by the ICRC to restore family links, provide care and protect unaccompanied children and child soldiers, among others. As both a work tool and a source of information, it covers the legal protection of children in situations of armed conflict and contains a summary of those provisions of international humanitarian law that apply specifically to children.
(All documents in pdf format)

Recent catastrophes, and predictions of an increasing potential for more, have stimulated thinking about the best policy responses to these threats. This article explores how security concepts influence catastrophe governance. It considers how globalization affects thinking about catastrophes, describes ways in which catastrophes have been conceptualized as governance challenges and explains how health and humanitarian assistance experienced “securitization” in the post-Cold War period.

It is uncertain who will assist the victims of use of nuclear, radiological, biological or chemical weapons if an international response is required and how this assistance can be provided without undue risk to those providing it. The use of such weapons presents a variety of risks and the political and security implications are serious and complex. This article shows the difficulties inherent in assisting the victims of use of nuclear, radiological, biological and chemical weapons.

Conference of the Luxemburg Group - 24-25 May 2004
Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva

Adopted by the Assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross on 29 April 2004 - Public version

As the worldwide food crisis deepens, the ICRC's Alain Mourey underlines the need to analyse the root causes, which can vary depending on the region. The author of the ICRC’s nutrition manual explains why it is not enough merely to supply the needy with food rations.

The humanitarian situation of thousands of civilians affected by the conflict in Georgia remains extremely serious. As far as the security situation allows, the ICRC is responding to the crisis by providing medical supplies and emergency assistance items, as well as providing water and improving living conditions in shelters for the displaced. The head of the ICRC's Eastern Europe department, Pascale Meige Wagner, explains.

As Georgia continues to reel from the violence of the past week, the ICRC's emergency response is in full swing. So far, almost 100 tonnes of relief supplies have been flown to the affected region. The organization has also sent over 40 additional staff to Georgia and the Russian Federation to support efforts in helping people who were forced to flee their homes. The ICRC's rapid deployment adviser, Samuel Bon, describes the role of the Rapid Deployment Unit, and how it is helping to bring assistance to thousands of people in Georgia and North Ossetia.

The ICRC is flying 15 tonnes of medicine and medical supplies to Georgia on Tuesday to help treat those injured in the armed conflict involving Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian troops. Large numbers of civilians have been hurt in the conflict and thousands have been forced to flee their homes. Sangeeta Koenig, the ICRC's deputy head of operations for Eastern Europe, talks about the organization's response to the crisis.

Somalia is facing its worst crisis in a decade, with drought, fighting and spiralling food prices having a devastating effect on the population. Pascal Hundt, the ICRC's outgoing head of delegation in Somalia, describes the complexities of the enduring conflict, and the ICRC's role in helping the Somali people cope with a multitude of hardships.

As the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement prepares to take action in the face of the unprecedented food crisis. the head of the ICRC's Economic Security Unit, Barbara Boyle Saidi, looks at the underlying causes of the problem and the strategies needed to address it.

The situation in Somalia is growing steadily worse, with increasing violence having caused a mass exodus from Mogadishu. Daniel Gagnon, the ICRC's economic security delegate in Somalia, describes the plight of the beleaguered Somali people, and what the ICRC is doing to help.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. As armed hostilities spread and insecurity grows, more and more people are being forced to flee their homes. It is also becoming increasingly difficult for the ICRC to access displaced people throughout the country. In addition, freezing temperatures and blizzards have affected several areas, killing hundreds. Interview with Franz Rauchenstein, ICRC deputy head of delegation in Afghanistan.

More than one billion people worldwide lack access to safe water. For around 300 million, the problem is exacerbated by armed conflict or internal violence. On the occasion of World Water Day 2007, Robert Mardini, head of the ICRC's water and habitat unit, describes the organization's distinct approach to its work in situations of armed conflict.

United Nations, General Assembly, 63rd session, Plenary meeting, item 65a of the agenda,tatement by Ms Christine Beerli, Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, New York, 11 Novembre 2008

United Nations, General Assembly, 62nd session, Plenary, item 71 of the agenda, Statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), New York, 19 Novembre 2007

United Nations, General Assembly 50th session (1995), Plenary Meeting, Agenda item 20. Statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Tuesday, 28 November 1995

It is estimated that the decade-long conflict in Uganda has forced over 1.7 million people from their homes into camps for the displaced. In February-March 2007, the ICRC distributed substantial aid to some 560,000 displaced people currently living in camps, returning to their homes or resettling after years of displacement.

Somalis living along the Shabele and Juba rivers, who have already suffered from a dreadful drought and whose very existence is jeopardized by the ongoing armed violence, now have to contend with the worst floods the country has experienced in recent years.

Built in the 1960s to house a few thousand workers, Cité-Soleil is now one of the largest shantytowns in the northern hemisphere and a microcosm of all the ills that beset Haitian society: endemic unemployment, illiteracy, the collapse of public services, insalubrity, crime and violence.

The ICRC helps the people most severely affected by the conflict in Casamance to return to a normal life. Access to health care and safe drinking water are priorities.

A fragile peace is emerging in Casamance, after more than 20 years of conflict. Tens of thousands of people, driven from their villages by the fighting have now returned. The ICRC, with the support of the Senegalese Red Cross, is assisting in the recovery by improving water supply and sanitation in the devastated province – Article published in the Red Cross Red Crescent Magazine, No 2, 2005

The ICRC has begun an emergency operation to assist hundreds of thousands of people affected by heavy flooding in southern Somalia. The flooding, following the drought of early 2006, is exacerbating an already dire humanitarian situation.

In this document the ICRC describes its projected activities for 2007, including its plans to meet the humanitarian needs of those affected by the violence in Chechnya.

A gradual improvement in the security situation has recently allowed some 45,000 people to return to their homes in the Kibirizi area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The ICRC is providing the necessary materials that will help people resume the lives they had before they were forced to flee their villages at the beginning of the year.

The ICRC is supplying food, tools and seeds to those affected by the conflict in Darfur. The assistance is intended to tide people over until the next harvest and prevent them having to leave their homes to join those already languishing in camps for the displaced.