LOCATION AND DATE: Geneva, Switzerland, May 2008, Chad, Goz Beida camp and Ade village, Central African Republic northern villages of Katagombe and Boymandia, Somalia – Mogadishu, Iraq Girdasen camp near Mosul and Afghanistan – Kabul, 2007/2008.
PRODUCTION: Jan Powell, Claire Doole
LENGTH: 09:35"
SOURCE: ICRC – ACCESS ALL – please credit ICRC footage where possible

Preview Extract : News-footage-ICRC-Annual-report
For broadcast tapes and information on footage: Jan Powell, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva,

A major ICRC priority throughout 2007 was help for people fleeing armed conflict. Last year, the ICRC was able to help more than 4 million internally displaced people (IDPs), half a million more than in 2006, especially in areas not covered by other organizations because of security difficulties.

People forced to flee their homes are particularly vulnerable to the unprecedented rise in fuel and food prices seen in recent months. Many have lost everything they own, have little money to buy food, and are no longer able to cultivate their land. Although price increases have also affected the ICRC's operations, the organisation has maintained planned levels of assistance to vulnerable and displaced people, including in Chad, Central African Republic, Somalia, Irak and Afghanistan:

CHAD

Chad is one of many poor countries around the world which has been hit by the double blow of war and the rise in fuel and food prices. As 2007 drew to a close, clashes between armed opposition groups and the Chadian armed forces became increasingly frequent. Though the situation has since become calmer, the future for civilians displaced by conflict remains uncertain.

In 2007 the ICRC distributed aid to people in camps such as Goz Beida, near the border with Sudan, as well as to villagers around the town of Ade, which are regularly hit by local inter-communal fighting. The suffering of the civilian population has been made worse by the low presence of government authorities to prevent fighting and banditry, a factor that also poses dangers to humanitarian staff.

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

Larger than France, with a population of just 4 million, the Central African Republic is the world's sixth poorest country. Increased insecurity and a series of uprisings in the north have plunged the country into deep crisis.

Since fighting broke out in 2005 between various rebel groups and the state army and security forces, some 280,000 people have been uprooted from their homes, with more than 65,000 seeking refuge in Chad and Cameroon.

Many of those remaining in CAR have fled deep into the forest where they live in makeshift shelters. With little food, medicine and clean drinking water, conditions are dire and sickness is rife. The ICRC is managing to reach those living in remote areas of the bush, as well as those lodging with relatives or host families, providing kitchen utensils, sleeping mats, soap and mosquito nets.

To increase access to affordable food in CAR, the ICRC works with local craftsmen to make tools which are given out to displaced families so they can work the land.

IRAQ

After Sudan, Iraq was the second biggest operation in terms of expenditure in 2007, accounting for 76.5 million CHF.

Although levels of violence dropped in the last four months of the year, the impact on civilians remained devastating. Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis were displaced or forced to flee the country. The ICRC provided more than 3 million displaced people and vulnerable residents with improved access to water and sanitation.

Faced with growing sectarian violence and threats, several thousand Kurds fled to camps in northern Iraq. The ICRC has restored the camp's water supply and, with the Iraqi Red Crescent Society (IRCS), hands out emergency supplies.

SOMALIA

The situation in Somalia is a major cause of concern. Throughout the past 12 months, a range of armed opposition groups have clashed with the Transitional Federal Government and Ethiopian forces. In close partnership with the Somali Red Crescent Society, the ICRC gave out food and essential household items to those forced to flee their homes due to intense fighting in Mogadishu and elsewhere

The ICRC funds two hospitals in north and south Mogadishu that specialise in treating the war wounded and those needing emergency surgery. In 2007, surgeons at Medina and Keysaney hospitals treated more than 4000 wounded people – twice as many as in 2006.

In 2008, surgeons have continued to work around the clock to treat dozens of war wounded each week.

Throughout 2007, the ICRC provided support for health structures worldwide, treating nearly 2.9 million patients.

AFGHANISTAN

Afghanistan is one of the ICRC's largest operations, accounting for nearly 50 million Swiss francs a year. Operating in the country since 1987, the ICRC provides a number of services from prison visits to restoring water supplies and offering emergency assistance to those displaced by armed conflict.

Afghanistan is one of the world's most heavily mined countries, and help and rehabilitation for the victims of landmine, cluster bombs and other war related injuries is a major part of the ICRC's work. Ali Abad Orthopaedic Centre in Kabul is the biggest ICRC rehabilitation facility in the world. One of six centres in Afghanistan, it has helped almost 80,000 disabled Afghans over the past two decades – with limb amputees accounting for half that number.

SHOTLIST CHAD

00:00 ICRC plane takes off Goz Beida airstrip (3 shots)
00:18 Truck convoy leaving Goz Beida for village of Ade (3 shots)
00:34 Trucks on the move
00:47 Unloading ICRC aid in the village of Ade (3 shots)
01:02 SOUNDBITE Christa Uttiger, ICRC delegate in French

"Effectivement, le problème de la sécurité, c'est un grand problème aussi pour nous. On essaye toujours… on dialogue avec tous les différents acteurs dans la région pour assurer notre sécurité. Ça veut dire qu'on essaye d'avoir un appui de tout le monde qui sont d'accord qu'on travaille ici."

English translation:
"In fact, the problem of security is a big problem for us too. We try always to talk to all of the different actors in the region to ensure our safety. That is to say we try and get the support of everyone so they're in agreement with us working here."

01:26 Distribution of aid (2 shots)

CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC

01:36 ICRC aid lorries on the move near Bangui (2 shots)
01.48 Trucks on mud road and clearing path for trucks on road to Kotagombe (2 shots)
01:56 Unloading trick for aid distribution in Boymandja
02:05 Villagers leave carrying aid items (3 shots)
02:18 ICRC delegates distributing farm tools (2 shots)
02:25 Growing vegetables (2 shots)
02:39 Weeding vegetable patch (3 shots)

IRAQ

03:01 Girdasen camp 50 km from Mosul northern Iraq (2 shots)
03:07 ICRC vehicle arriving
03:12 Distribution of aid from ICRC and Iraqi Red Crescent Society (8 shots)
03:49 Young woman making bread in outdoor oven (4 shots)
04:07 SOUNDBITE Khalid Faqi Katto (Kurdish) displaced person from Mosul.

"I had to leave Mosul because they told me that we were Kurdish and they accused me of working for the Americans as a spy. They told us we were not permitted to live in Mosul so that's why we came here".

04:15 children in the camp (2 shots)

SOMALIA

04:24 Mogadishu in ruins (I shot)
04:26 Medina hospital intensive care unit, Mogadishu (1 shot)
04:32 Injured receiving treatment (1shot)
04:35 Injured man on stretcher (1shot)
04 44 Operating theatre (several shots man injured by firearm)
05:09 SOUNDBITE Dr Mohamed Yussuf Hassan, senior surgeon.

"When the patients can not come in time, and they get wounded far away from the hospital and because of clashes on the streets, they can not take the patients in time so they have to wait many hours and the patient's case becomes complicated and most of the time infected."

05:30 C-section on a pregnant woman and delivery of baby (7 shots) (the Mogadishu clinic she first went to was bombed, so she was transferred to Medina Hospital for this emergency operation)

AFGHANISTAN

05:50 ICRC Orthopedic Centre Kabul, physiotherapist helping patient walk (3 shots)
06:19 Making a false limb (2 shots)
06:30 exam room (1 shot)
06:38 Examining patient's leg (2 shots)
06:55 Helping double amputee walk.

SOUNDBITES Pierre Krähenbühl, ICRC Director of Operations

(in English)

07:09
1 What makes the ICRC's role special in this regard is that we talk to all sides. We talk to all parties in a situation of armed conflict - that builds up relations of confidence which are particularly important in resolving difficult situations in humanitarian terms that often concern people that would otherwise be abandoned to their fate and not taken care of in any way. (DUR 20")

07:29
2 The ICRC's experiences that armed conflicts in situations of violence have an increasingly big impact in terms of displacement of populations. And for us that is a phenomenon that we have seen in a number of contexts from Iraq, Chad, Colombia and a number of other places. And the plight of displaced people is something we think should be considered with the utmost sense of priority, and that is certainly the perspective that the ICRC has. (DUR 26")

07:54
3 The recent increase in food prices is a matter of real concern to the ICRC. We have started to see the impact for people already very vulnerable in conflict situations in Africa, for instance in the Central African Republic and in Chad. So it is a matter that we are reviewing carefully and defining responses for it. We are very committed to respond to and address those additional needs, notably together with other partners within the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. (DUR 24")

08:1 9
4 The conflict zones that we work in today are different from years ago. The frontlines are less fixed. Things are much more fluid in the different contexts we work in. That has required of us an adaptation, a transformation of our practice in terms of surgical response, field surgical teams, mobile surgical teams that are much more adaptable in the context. That is one of the main changes we have seen. (DUR 24")

(en français)
08:43
L'expérience du CICR dans les situations de conflit et de violences internes, c'est que le phénomène de déplacement de population est quelque chose qui est un problème grandissant et préoccupe le CICR et sur laquelle nous allons porter une attention de plus en plus active. L'année dernière, ça c'est traduit très concrètement dans plusieurs contextes de l'Iraq à la Somalie en passant par le Darfour, le Tchad et la Colombie dans une assistance à plus de 4 millions de personnes, ce qui montre un peu l'ampleur que ce phénomène a pris. (24")

5 (en français) 09:08
La crise alimentaire récente est un sujet qui préoccupe grandement le CICR. On a vu les impacts déjà sur les populations affectées par les conflits armés dans une partie de l'Afrique. On l'a vu en République Centre Africaine, on l'a vu au Tchad. Ça exige de notre part des mesures additionnelles d'assistance à ces populations puis aussi à travailler étroitement avec nos partenaires au sein du mouvement Croix Rouge et Croissante Rouge pour être à la hauteur de ce nouveau besoin. (26")

END 09:35