Rapporteur : Mrs Zoy Katevas de Sclabos, President of the Chilean Red Cross, Vice-Chairman of the Conference

This is the first time that workshops have been organized during the International Conference, and many of us followed this new initiative with interest. Although it was the Conference organizers who created these platforms for discussion, the National Societies, governments, the International Federation or the ICRC were entirely responsible for choosing the themes and running the 14 workshops. We extend our warmest thanks to them for all their preparatory work.

As you know, the purpose of the workshops was to complement the official proceedings of the Conference by giving participants the opportunity to explore and discuss topics related to the Conference themes more thoroughly. The aim was to provide an informal setting for sharing experiences, comparing ideas and finding new strategies for carrying the debate forward, and not to reach a consensus or to formulate resolutions on the topics of discussion. Hence it is solely for your information that I am now going to outline some of the results.

Half the workshops dealt with subjects relating to armed conflict and the implementation of international humanitarian law. The other half considered subjects internal to the Movement, such as volunteer service, health matters and the response to natural disasters, as well as more general topics such as relations with the private sector.

The first workshop presented the results of the worldwide "People on War" survey. This was well received by the participants, who nevertheless raised the question as to whether a new consultation focusing specifically on those bearing weapons might not yield further elements crucial to the debate.

The workshop on widowhood and armed conflict described the difficulties faced by widows on all five continents during and after armed conflicts, and the strategies that should be adopted to provide them with support, especially in the form of legal assistance, training, information concerning the fate of missing persons, and help in achieving self-reliance.

The workshop on small arms proliferation pointed out that the uncontrolled availability of such weapons jeopardized the implementation of international humanitarian law, and emphasized the success of the West African moratorium on the import, export and manufacture of small arms. Some participants expressed the wish to see similar moratoria in other regions of the world.

The next workshop, which examined the mechanisms for implementing international humanitarian law, felt it would be useful to explore the possibility of having greater recourse to the Fact-Finding Commission. It was proposed that the Protecting Powers system be re-examined in order to adapt it to the internal conflicts that were currently the most widespread form of warfare. The establishment of a mechanism for the exchange of information on national implementation of humanitarian law was also discussed; some participants expressed the hope that a group of States would offer to test the idea.

In the workshop on the SIrUS project, the organizers submitted a series of proposals that could be used to review the legality of new weapons. It was mentioned that the Australian army intended to implement those proposals in the near future. Some participants agreed that better mechanisms for reviewing the legality of weapons were necessary and that these could be based on the SIrUS project. Another proposal was to create a permanent institution to review the legality of weapons, together with a central information body that would focus on technical aspects.

The workshop on strategies for assisting children affected by armed conflict addressed many issues relating to children affected by war. Most participants were of the opinion that priority should be given to combating the underlying causes of child conscription, especially poverty and lack of educational opportunity. They also felt that the Movement had a role to play in offering young people alternatives to violence.

In the last workshop having to do with international humanitarian law, the organizers reported on recent developments at national and international levels concerning the implementation of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, and on practical difficulties that had been encountered. The participants stressed the importance of mobilizing the Movement to promote implementation of the Statute and proposed concrete measures for making it better known by the National Societies and by the public.

The workshop on volunteering reviewed the conclusions of a study on the non-profit sector in Europe and analysed problems related to the decline in volunteering in Europe and Africa. The participants also stressed the need to take advantage of the abundance and diversity of approaches to volunteering on the five continents and proposed specific measures for strengthening civil society.

The aim of the workshop on partnership between governments and the various components of the Movement was to review strategic partnerships that would lead to an improvement in the dialogue with donors and to the acquisition of the resources necessary to finance long-term programmes. Although the partnership formula still needed some fine tuning, the participants found it interesting and useful for providing better help to vulnerable populations.

Participants in the workshop devoted to the fight against AIDS in developing countries reviewed initiatives in this field, mainly in Africa. They emphasized the complementarity of targeted prevention programmes and medical treatment of infected persons, discussed efforts undertaken by the National Societies with regard to both prevention and care, and urged that the Movement step up its activities in this regard.

In the workshop on humanitarian action and business it was observed that, at a time of intensification of internal conflicts and globalization of the economy, business and humanitarian organizations often found themselves side by side in crisis areas. Besides the question of the financing of humanitarian action by large companies, the workshop debated the issue of the moral responsibility of all the entities present in crisis zones, including economic players.

The workshop on health education and first-aid training highlighted the global crisis in health care that the world is going through despite the progress made in curative medicine. Disparities in levels of health among different communities remained alarming. Initiatives relating to the environment and life style, which by themselves could reduce the death rate by over 60%, offered ideal ways for the Movement to assist vulnerable communities.

The workshop on the use and development of the standards set by the SPHERE project gave participants the opportunity to share their experiences in using these standards in humanitarian aid activities. They emphasized that even though SPHERE standards did not claim to provide a comprehensive solution to all problems in the field, they did offer guidelines and indicators for improved planning and coordination of aid operations and for raising the quality of humanitarian aid, in development programmes especially.

The workshop on the effects of climate change highlighted the fact that the variations in climate of the past few decades were much greater and had occurred much more rapidly than those of the preceding five centuries—and this had resulted in more natural disasters. Action on the local level, the more systematic use of meteorological forecasts, and closer cooperation with governments were all proposed in order to respond to disasters and finance relief operations.

I should now like to conclude by commenting briefly on the way these workshops were received. The themes presented attracted much interest, drawing between 250 and 350 participants daily, often at the end of a very full Conference day. Many of you welcomed this initiative as a way to address issues more thoroughly and to make contact with specialists in the various areas covered.

As the themes were very diverse, it was only natural that the workshop organizers would choose to approach the subjects in different ways. Some concentrated on giving information by means of detailed presentations on various aspects of the problems under consideration, while others chose to leave more scope for discussion between speakers and the audience. There were some debates among experts—sometimes of quite a technical nature—but also some much more general discussions that were accessible to everyone. Some speakers used sophisticated multimedia tools, while others used transparencies prepared by hand. It seems to me that to some extent the very diversity of the methods chosen by the organizers reflects the diversity of our Movement, within which a multitude of means are employed to pursue our common goals.

It is certain that most of the subjects needed much more time than the allotted two hours to be discussed thoroughly. Some participants mentioned that they would sometimes have wished that the presentations had been less detailed and that there had been more time for discussion, or that concrete measures had been proposed for solving the problems at issue.

But even our frustration concerning these matters is a clear indication that the idea of holding workshops did not leave us indifferent. If workshops are to be organized at the next Conference, it will probably be necessary to make certain changes. One could imagine a more interactive or provocative approach, or presentations or short talks organized alongside the workshops. It would also be possible to set up public debates between experts, or other informal events that would better reflect the nature of some of the discussions. It would also be necessary to find a way of providing interpretation services for the workshops in the working languages of the Conference.

As for having workshops organized in parallel with plenary sessions, this is an attractive idea but would put the smaller delegations at a disadvantage.

In any event, and whatever the formula chosen, we must absolutely preserve the free exchange of ideas among all components of the Movement and government representatives that we saw during the workshops. We feel that such exchanges are essential to moving forward and devising new strategies for serving victims and the most vulnerable members of society.