The first timid signs of economic growth witnessed in some of the countries covered by the Kyiv regional delegation at the beginning of 1998 suffered a severe setback with the effects of the Russian financial crisis in August. Living conditions for much of the population became even more difficult than before. In addition, minority issues were a constant source of tension throughout the region. Six years after fighting had broken out in Moldova, the situation remained deadlocked, despite the 1997 Normalization Memorandum which provided for a return to normal relations between the parties on the basis of a common State and autonomous status for the self-proclaimed Moldovan Republic of Dniestr. The document was further endorsed by a meeting of the Presidents of Russia, Ukraine and Moldova in Odessa, Ukraine, in March 1998. These developments did not, however, yield any tangible results on the ground. For its part, the ICRC kept up its efforts to regain access to the four members of the "Ilascu group" held since 1992 in Tiraspol, in the self-proclaimed Moldovan Republic of Dniestr. The detainees were last visited in 1993/4. Throughout the year, the ICRC was unable to meet with the Minister of State Security of the self-proclaimed Moldovan Republic of Dniestr.

Supporting the implementation of humanitarian law

The delegation continued to provide advice and technical support for the incorporation of international humanitarian law in national legislation and the adoption of measures to protect the red cross emblem. To this end, the delegation met regularly with the national committees for the implementation of humanitarian law in Belarus and Moldova and, in countries where such committees had not yet been set up, with State officials and working groups on implementation, to chart their progress and make recommendations. In addition, the ICRC produced commentaries on the new or amended penal codes of the Baltic States, Moldova and Ukraine in the light of international law, and submitted them to the authorities. These five countries also received financial support from the ICRC Advisory Service to conduct their own studies on the state of national legislation in relation to humanitarian law. Seminars were held and presentations given in all countries as a means of promoting implementation. Of particular note was a first high-level seminar on the implementation of humanitarian law held in Estonia in co-operation with the authorities. Those countries that had not yet done so (the Baltic States and Ukraine) were encouraged to create national committees to coordinate government activities in the field of implementation.

Promoting the law of armed conflict

The Kyiv regional delegation pursued its efforts to see the law of armed conflict included in teaching and training programmes at all levels of the armed forces. Under cooperation agreements signed at the beginning of the year between the ICRC and the Defence Ministries of Belarus, Moldova and Ukraine, a number of seminars and presentations were organized to help the armed forces incorporate the subject into daily instruction and combat training. In Belarus, the ICRC gave presentations on the law of armed conflict to border guards, Interior Ministry troops and officers of the security services. A training course was organized for field instructors at the Military Academy. In Ukraine, the ICRC established contact with the Ukrainian Army in the Crimea, the Ukrainian Naval Forces and the Russian Black Sea Fleet in Sevastopol to offer its assistance in promoting and teaching the law of armed conflict. Two high-ranking Ministry of Defence officers from Moldova and Ukraine respectively took part in the second Russian-language course on the law of armed conflict held at the International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo, Italy. In the Baltic States, the ICRC presented programmes for incorporating the law of armed conflict into regular military training to the Ministries of Defence.

Cooperation with the region's National Societies

Cooperation agreements covering a range of activities were renewed with the National Societies of the region. Training as well as material and financial support were provided to help strengthen their operational capacity, notably in the areas of tracing and dissemination. The ICRC also assisted in the preparation and publication of the National Societies' internal bulletins, so as to enhance contact between local branches and headquarters, and to spread basic knowledge of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and humanitarian law. In all the countries covered, dissemination seminars on the Red Cross and humanitarian law also served to make the local authorities aware of the role the Red Cross can play in providing useful community services.

Dissemination at universities

Throughout the region, the ICRC pursued its efforts to have humanitarian law included in all academic courses on international law, and, as a second step, to set up specialized courses in humanitarian law at selected universities. To that end, the ICRC provided training and support for several professors of international law.

Joint relief work with the Ukrainian Red Cross in the Crimea

The ICRC continued to provide material and technical support for Ukrainian Red Cross relief activities in Crimea, where the social and economic situation remained very precarious. The Crimean branch distributed food parcels, clothes and shoes to the most vulnerable and handed medical supplies over to the 80 Red Cross nurses who regularly visited elderly and disabled persons in their homes and provided them with basic medical care and food parcels. In April the Ukrainian Red Cross, with ICRC support, initiated a new programme to set up first-aid centres in settlements for "formerly deported people". [3] By the end of the year, seven such centres were in operation with 12 more planned, and 18 medical kits had been distributed to their staff. The ICRC provided some of the material for distribution, and assisted the Crimean branch of the Ukrainian Red Cross in assessing the needs of the population and in organizing surveys, reporting and logistics.

IN 1998, THE ICRC:

	– continued to request access to the 4 members of the "Ilascu group" detained since 1992 in Tiraspol, in the self-proclaimed Moldovan Republic of Dniestr;
	– provided 20 tonnes of clothes, a computer and a minibus to the Crimean branch of the Ukrainian Red Cross, which supports some 17,000 vulnerable individuals; – provided equipment and basic medicines for the 80 Red Cross visiting nurses, who visited 10,000 people at home and dispensed medical and social services to a further 15,000 persons on Crimean Red Cross premises; – provided assistance and held workshops on humanitarian law at the newly established first-aid centres in settlements for former deportees in the Crimea;
	–  provided extensive training for Latvian and Lithuanian dissemination officers at the Kyiv delegation; – supported Latvia's first country-wide dissemination seminar for Red Cross workers, organized by the National Society; – held 5 dissemination seminars for Red Cross staff and volunteers at regional branches in Belarus, 4 in Ukraine, and 3 in Moldova (in Chisinau, Komrat and Tiraspol); – worked with the Ukrainian Red Cross tracing service to harmon-ize its activities with the Belarusian and Moldovan tracing services; – funded National Society publications: the Ukrainian Red Cross bulletin (3,000 copies), the Belarus Red Cross quarterly newsletter (5,000 copies), and dissemination material produced by the Latvian and Estonian National Societies; – financed the production of 10,000 pocket calendars to promote the Crimean branch of the Ukrainian Red Cross;
	– arranged for two government representatives from Belarus and Ukraine respectively to take part in the first seminar on the implementation of humanitari-an law organized for CIS countries by the ICRC in Moscow; – gave presentations on the incorporation of humanitarian law in national law at seminars for members of the national committees for implementation in Moldova and Belarus, and at a conference on implementation in Ukraine; – drew up commentaries on draft laws on the National Societies of the Baltic States and Ukraine regarding the use and protection of the red cross emblem; – supported the first issues of "Justice of Belarus", the first comprehensive legal journal to be published in Belarus, which also discusses humanitarian law questions; – in Moldova, gave a presentation on the law of armed conflict for 30 officers from Ministry of Defence troops and from units deployed in Chisinau; supported 4 seminars organized by the Ministry of Defence for over 90 military officers from 2 infantry brigades, Chisinau Military College, the Moldovan Peace-Keeping Forces, and the Russian and Transnistrian Peace-Keeping Forces; – in Ukraine, gave a presentation on the law of armed conflict for 300 officers at Kyiv Army Institute, and held standard 2-day seminars reaching 80 military officers jointly with the Ministry of Defence; – in Belarus, held 5 training sessions on the law of armed conflict for 249 military officers, and produced working documents on the law of armed conflict for military instructors; – arranged for several high-ranking Ukrainian officers to participate in the fourth international course on the law of armed conflict or-ganized by the ICRC Moscow delegation, and in the third ICRC Conference for Heads of Military Training in Geneva; – in Belarus, worked with national experts in preparing the first humanitarian law textbook for university students; – arranged for teams of university students from Belarus and Moldova to participate in the ICRC-organized De Martens moot court competition in St Petersburg; – jointly with the Red Cross Society of Belarus, organized the first seminar on humanitarian law and Red Cross topics for media representatives in Minsk; – jointly with the Ukrainian and Belarusian National Societies, brought the photo exhibition People and War to Kyiv (2,500 visitors) and Minsk (7,000 visitors);
	– provided financial support for one representative of the Ministry of Defence and one of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from every country covered to take part in the anti-personnel landmines conference held in Budapest for countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Note

3. Mainly Tatar communities who had been deported to Central Asia at the end of the Second World War.