Promotion of humanitarian law

The countries covered by the Harare delegation enjoyed peace in 1996 and relative political and social stability, despite the hardships experienced by most of the population, especially in Malawi and Zambia. The regional delegation concentrated on its cooperation programmes with the region's National Societies and assisted them in their development and activities, mainly providing training and material support to increase their emergency response capacity and familiarizing them with methods of promoting humanitarian law and restoring family links. It also encouraged the National Societies' structural development, in accordance with their circumstances and to varying degrees. In general, it helped to strengthen solidarity among the region's various National Societies by facilitating contact between them. The National Societies, for their part, asked the ICRC to become more closely associated with their regional grouping, the Southern Africa Partnership. The regional delegation furthermore continued its work to foster greater understanding and respect for humanitarian law among various target groups in the countries of southern Africa - the armed forces, the police, the authorities, academic circles and the general public. In some countries, special emphasis was placed on spreading knowledge of that law among the police. Missions to assess the progress of national military training programmes in international humanitarian law took place in countries where the ICRC gradually managed to persuade the armed forces to provide such training themselves. It also continued to encourage States to adopt measures for the implementation of humanitarian law at national level; it did so either by organizing seminars in certain countries or by instituting a study - in Mozambique - on the conformity of national legislation with humanitarian law. In addition, the regional delegation's office in Harare served as a logistics base for the agricultural programme in Angola.

In Botswana, the ICRC and the Federation carried out a joint mission to the National Society to help it resume its activities.

In Malawi, the situation remained relatively calm during the year, despite some tension within the governing coalition which led to the withdrawal of one of the constituent parties, depriving the President's party of its parliamentary majority. The ICRC supervised the construction of a hospital ward at Zomba prison to provide medical care for the detainees and completed the installation of new kitchens in the country's two largest prisons. Since the completion in 1995 [12] of its programme of visits to Malawi's prisons to examine the material and psychological conditions of detention, the ICRC had sought to ensure, by drawing attention to their situation, that its work in aid of the detainees there would be continued. These efforts bore fruit and in 1996 an organization, Penal Reform International, stepped in on their behalf.

Cooperation with the National Societies

In October 1996, Mozambique celebrated the second anniversary of peace and democracy in the country. Earlier in the year, in June, the ICRC had signed a three-year cooperation agreement with the National Society to help it to work in a peacetime environment. It was the first agreement of this kind to be concluded in the region.

In Zambia, preparations for the presidential and legislative elections on 18 November gave rise to tension: feelings ran high among the opposition parties over the constitutional amendment passed by parliament on 16 May that barred former President Kaunda from standing for election. In view of the situation, the ICRC held courses for the Zambia Red Cross Society to strengthen its emergency response capacity and supplied it with the necessary material to do so, particularly blankets, first-aid kits, radio equipment and Red Cross emblems to be displayed in various ways. The regional delegation also went on mission to Zambia several times to assess the situation and the National Society's level of preparedness. On 18 November, the elections finally took place in peace and quiet, and were won by the outgoing President and his party, the MMD.*

In Zimbabwe, the presidential elections were held in April in an atmosphere of calm and the population returned the President to office. The National Society had set up first-aid posts in most districts; the ICRC had given the National Society leaders prior training in that type of activity and had provided some of the necessary material.


In 1996 the ICRC:

- handed over 1,600 books donated by the British and American National Societies to the libraries of Malawi's 4 main prisons and distributed 448 blankets to prisons in the north and east of the country;

- checked that the sanitary facilities and kitchens built by the ICRC since 1993 in Malawi's prisons were in working order.


- coordinated and stepped up the programme conducted by the region's National Societies to restore family links. The National Societies, particularly those in Zambia and Namibia, collected a total of 2,456 Red Cross messages from refugees from various African countries (mainly from the Great Lakes region) and delivered 3,955 to them.


- supported the development and activities of the region's National Societies, concentrating - as in Zambia and Zimbabwe - on strengthening their emergency response capacity, particularly during electoral periods.


- concentrated specifically on promoting knowledge of humanitarian law among the police forces in Botswana, Malawi, Mozambique and Zambia; organized 3 training courses in Mozambique for police officers from all over the country;

- took part, inter alia, in the regional course for peace-keeping troops, which was organized by the Harare military academy and attended by high-ranking officers from the various countries of the region;

- held seminars to promote the implementation of humanitarian law at national level in Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe; 20 to 25 participants representing the national authorities (executive, legislative and judicial) attended each of the seminars.

- in cooperation with the region's National Societies, continued its campaign against anti-personnel mines, particularly by approaching governments, alerting the groups concerned and encouraging mine clearance.



Notes:

12. See the ICRC's 1995 Annual Report, p. 76.

* MMD: Movement for Multiparty Democracy