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Our world: views from the field – in images
10-08-2009 Photo gallery
To mark the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC conducted an opinion survey in eight countries affected by armed conflict. The newest findings indicate that an overwhelming majority of people agree that even wars should have limits, but far fewer are aware that rules on warfare already exist. The research results are illustrated here by award-winning photographers from the VII photo agency.
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Zugdidi. The fighting between Georgian and Russian Federation forces in August 2008 is a recent example of an international armed conflict where all four of the Geneva Conventions were applicable. The Conventions place limits on how war is waged and form the cornerstone of international humanitarian law. Here, a woman sits by the window in a displacement centre in Zugdidi.
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Mindanao island, Maguindanao province, Libutan. Just 19% of people in the Philippines have heard of the Geneva Conventions, according to a new ICRC survey of people in eight conflict-affected countries. Raising awareness of IHL is a challenge for the ICRC around the world. Here, a woman waits to receive rice and cooking oil at an ICRC food distribution point for people displaced by fighting between the government and the Moro Islamic Liberation Front.
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Kabul. The vast majority (93%) of people surveyed in war-affected countries say it's "not okay" to plant landmines, which continue to maim and kill civilians long after conflicts end. Here, a young man takes a rest at the ICRC's limb-fitting centre in Kabul. The ICRC's orthopaedic programme in Afghanistan has helped 90,000 people over the past 20 years, including many landmine victims.
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Goma. This baby was found lying on the body of her mother, who died giving birth in a field of sweet potatoes. She is being taken care of by a volunteer for the Red Cross, who says "each time there is a war in Congo, women get raped and children are left on their own". Around half of people surveyed (43%) in the Democratic Republic of Congo specifically highlight sexual violence as a behaviour that is unacceptable in warfare.
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Bellavista village. In Colombia, almost all (99.5%) of the people, who took part in an ICRC-commissioned poll on armed conflict support the principle that civilians should not be targeted – they should either be left alone entirely (88%) or at least avoided as much as possible (12%). Here, a soldier walks past a woman and her child in the municipality of Barbacoas.
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Port-au-Prince. Jean, a volunteer for the Haitian Red Cross, was shot in the face in 2006. After six major operations, he remains paralysed down one side of his face and speaks with great difficulty. Despite this, he still helps to evacuate the sick from Cité Soleil. The vast majority of people surveyed in Haiti say that health workers (89%) and ambulances (86%) are never acceptable targets. Jean says his work today is much less dangerous than when he was shot, but he fears violence could flare up again. "People are angry and discontented. They have little to eat and nothing to do," he says.
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Tripoli, Nahr el Bared Palestinian camp. Almost everyone (95%) surveyed in Lebanon supports the principle that civilians should not be targeted during armed conflict. Here, a woman walks through a Palestinian camp in northern Lebanon, where the Lebanese army battled an armed group called Fatah al Islam for almost four months between May and September 2007. Much of the camp was reduced to rubble and the vast majority of its 40,000 inhabitants had to flee.
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Monrovia. A mural depicting some of the essential rules of international humanitarian law is painted on the wall outside the ICRC's delegation in Monrovia. Some 65% of people surveyed in Liberia say they've heard of the Geneva Conventions, which form the cornerstone of IHL. Around 85% of them believe the Conventions have "a great deal or a fair amount" of impact in limiting the suffering of civilians during wartime.
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