Budapest, regional delegation (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia)

Over the course of the year, as events unfolded dramatically in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, some of the countries covered by the regional delegation found themselves unwillingly drawn into the conflict. The Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary became full members of NATO in March, and two weeks later the air campaign against Yugoslavia forced the Hungarian government to perform a delicate balancing act. As the only member of the Alliance to share a border with Yugoslavia, the authorities in Budapest provided limited logistical support to NATO forces, fearing possible retaliation on the ethnic Hungarian minority in Vojvodina in northern Serbia. In view of the situation in Yugoslavia and the subsequent influx of refugees into Hungary, the ICRC worked directly with the Hungarian Department of Refugees to facilitate the issuing of travel documents for persons wishing to join their families in third countries.
After a lengthy period of friction, the arrival of a new government in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia brought a change for the better in relations between Skopje and Sofia. The Bulgarian government continued to steer a course towards integration in the European Union and NATO, and gave its approval for the newly-established Balkan peacekeeping force to be based in Plovdiv for the coming four years.
As attacks on members of Roma communities increased over the year, the regional delegation continued to keep a close watch on this vulnerable ethnic minority, present in all the countries covered, bar Poland. Otherwise, the delegation focused on implementation of its dissemination programme. To this end, delegates fostered contacts with National Societies, government and media circles so as to promote knowledge of international humanitarian law and its incorporation into national legislation. By year’s end, a working group set up in tandem with the Bulgarian Ministry of Foreign Affairs had completed a study of national legislation with a view to the incorporation therein of humanitarian law, while in all the other countries covered, substantial progress was achieved on implementation of the law. The ICRC President paid an official visit to Bratislava in February, at the invitation of the Slovak Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the visit, a cooperation agreement was signed on the dissemination of humanitarian law to the Slovak armed forces. During another presidential mission to Prague in May, a similar agreement was signed on the dissemination of humanitarian law to the Czech armed forces. At the end of May, the President visited Warsaw, where he discussed humanitarian issues with the President of the Republic, the Speaker of Parliament, the Prime Minister and the Ministers for Foreign Affairs and Defence.

Delegates continue existing dissemination programme
In the drive to spread knowledge of humanitarian law, numerous seminars were held for the region's armed and police forces. The delegation organized a two-week training session for senior officers at the Bulgarian police academy, held discussions with officials of the Czech Ministry of Defence and the armed forces with a view to organizing seminars and courses on the law of armed conflict, and in Hungary, at the third international course for military observers organized by the Hungarian Operational Centre, gave a presentation on compliance with humanitarian law during peacekeeping operations. A one-day seminar was held in March for generals and other senior officers of the Polish armed forces and for legal experts. Topics dealt with included the law of armed conflict and its incorporation in the training of armed forces. In November, a regional seminar on the same subjects was organized in Warsaw with the support of the Polish military authorities. The seminar was attended by deputy chiefs of staff and heads of the training departments of the armed forces of Belarus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Slovakia and Ukraine.
Delegates met regularly with officials of the Slovak Ministry of Defence and with representatives of the Slovak armed forces. Their discussions culminated in a course being held in September for senior lecturers at the Liptovsky Mikulas Academy. Training sessions for instructors were held for senior officers of military academies in Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia and Slovakia.

Contacts with academic circles
Over the year, delegates visited universities in the capitals of the seven countries covered. In February, the delegation was invited to give a presentation on humanitarian law for representatives of journalism schools in central and eastern Europe, while in March the regional legal adviser was a member of the jury of an international moot court competition held at the Faculty of European Studies, Cluj-Napoca University, Romania. In cooperation with the Romanian Association of Humanitarian Law, the legal adviser gave a talk on humanitarian law for State employees, and in July delivered the opening lecture at the Warsaw summer course on international humanitarian law, organized by the Polish Red Cross and the ICRC.

Cooperation with National Societies
Close contacts were maintained with the National Societies of all the countries covered, with the aim of developing their dissemination programmes. The ICRC provided computer equipment and assistance for the tracing department of the Bulgarian Red Cross, financial and technical support to the Slovak Red Cross, and helped the Czech Red Cross to finalize a dissemination programme for secondary schools, based on the “People on War” project [12]. It backed the initiative of the Hungarian Red Cross to publish a brochure on humanitarian law in the country's official language.
In partnership with the German Red Cross, the Romanian Red Cross organized a series of leadership seminars, for which the ICRC financed the translation into the official language of training information on dissemination. In October, a round table on tracing activities was held in Prague for National Societies from the region.
Discussions at the round table enabled officials from National Societies of the former Soviet republics and Eastern European countries to forge closer ties with each other, so as to build up a broad network for tracing activities. Note

12. See pp. 348-350.