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31 May 1996 Annual report 1995 |
Council of
Delegates and the International Conference of the Red
Cross and Red Crescent
Introduction
Council of Delegates
Henry Dunant Medal
Standing Commission of the Red Cross
and Red Crescent
Policy and Planning Advisory
Commission
Commission on the Red Cross, Red
Crescent and Peace
Twenty-sixth International Conference
of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
Election of the members of the
Standing Commission
Introduction
The year under review was marked by
statutory meetings of the International Red Cross and Red
Crescent Movement --- the Council of Delegates and the
26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent, which met in Geneva from 1 to 7 December 1995.
These meetings were particularly important because the
International Conference had been unable to meet for nine
years. Both gatherings, organized jointly by the ICRC and
the International Federation of Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies, were crowned with success, since they
led to a strengthening of the unity of the Movement and
provided an opportunity to intensify the dialogue with
the States party to the Geneva Conventions concerning the
application and implementation of international
humanitarian law and other matters of common interest.
Council of
Delegates
The Council of Delegates, which is
made up of representatives of the Movement (i.e., the
National Societies, the ICRC and the Federation), was
held in Geneva on 1 and 2 December 1995, at the
invitation of the ICRC and the Federation. Following a
tradition which goes back to the origins of the Movement,
the President of the ICRC chaired the Council's
deliberations. Eight National Societies (Andorra,
Azerbaijan, Belarus, Equatorial Guinea, the Former
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Turkmenistan and
Uzbekistan), recognized by the ICRC since the previous
Council of Delegates in 1993, took part in these meetings
as full members for the first time.
In accordance with the Statutes of the
Movement, the Council of Delegates met before the 26th
International Conference in order to approve the latter's
agenda and propose the persons to fill the posts of
officers of the Conference. The Council adopted a
resolution appealing to all participants in the
Conference to ensure that its proceedings would be
conducted from a strictly humanitarian perspective, in
conformity with the Fundamental Principles, requesting
all National Societies to convey that appeal to their
respective governments and stressing the Movement's
commitment to holding the Conference irrespective of any
difficulties that might arise.
The Council's debates centred on the
future of the Movement. The participants took note of the
report and recommendations of the Policy and Planning
Advisory Commission set up by the Council of Delegates at
its meeting in Birmingham in 1993 to examine the
functioning of the Movement and help it become better
prepared for the challenges of the future. The Council
approved a series of measures designed to strengthen the
unity and cohesion of the Movement: in particular, it
decided on a reorganization of its own work, to enable it
to deal more effectively with substantive matters of
interest to the entire Movement; it renewed the mandate
of the Policy and Planning Advisory Commission for a
further two years and called upon the Commission inter
alia to study the possibility of a review of the
Agreement of 20 October 1989 between the ICRC and the
Federation, as well as the development of functional
cooperation between the two institutions; finally, it
took steps to strengthen the role of the Standing
Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent and
requested it to consult government experts on the
question of the emblem. The Council also adopted a
resolution specifically designed to enhance functional
cooperation between the ICRC and the Federation.
The Commission on the Red Cross, Red
Crescent and Peace submitted its final report and the
Council endorsed its recommendations, inviting the
Commission to continue to reflect and work on the
Movement's contribution to peace.
Three of the resolutions adopted were
devoted to conflict victims. The first relates to the
protection of children and urges the Movement to promote
the principle of non-recruitment and non-participation of
children under the age of 18 in armed conflicts. The
second resolution reiterates the principle that Red Cross
and Red Crescent institutions do not use armed
protection, except in very clearly defined and
exceptional situations. Thirdly, the Council declared
that a total ban on anti-personnel landmines was the only
way to prevent indiscriminate use of such weapons, which
had disastrous consequences for the civilian population
and humanitarian action, and urged all the components of
the Movement to make every effort to bring about such a
ban.
Another resolution invites the ICRC
and the Federation, in cooperation with the National
Societies, to adapt the Movement's information policy in
order to take full account of new technology in matters
of communication and to present the activities of the
Movement's components in a more concerted manner.
The Council of Delegates moreover
invited the co-founding bodies of the Henry Dunant
Institute to redefine the role and functions of the
Institute before the end of 1996, in order to strengthen
its contribution to the policies and strategies of the
Movement.
Finally, the Commission for the
Financing of the ICRC saw its mandate renewed for another
two years.
Henry
Dunant Medal
Six members of the Movement were
awarded the Henry Dunant Medal, three of them
posthumously, for their dedication to the ideals of the
Red Cross and Red Crescent. Their names are as follows:
Dr Hugo Ernesto Merino Grijalva,
former President of the Ecuadorean Red Cross;
Ms Jacqueline Briot, of the French Red
Cross;
Botho Prince of
Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein, Chairman of the Standing
Commission;
Tunku Tan Sri Mohammed, former
Chairman of the Malaysian Red Crescent Society
(posthumous award);
Professor Hans Haug, former President
of the Swiss Red Cross, former Vice-President of the
Federation and honorary member of the ICRC (posthumous
award):
Dr Esmildo Gutierrez Sanchez, former
Secretary General of the Cuban Red Cross (posthumous
award).
Standing
Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
The Standing Commission is made up of
National Society members elected by the International
Conference and representatives of the ICRC and the
Federation. Its principal functions are to make
arrangements for the International Conference and the
Council of Delegates. The Standing Commission met four
times in 1995, on 14 and 15 February, 1 and 2 May, 16 and
17 September and 24 November. Its work focused on
preparations for the Council of Delegates and the 26th
International Conference, which met, respectively, on 1
and 2 December and from 3 to 7 December in Geneva.
The composition of the Standing
Commission was renewed by the 26th International
Conference (see page 297).
Policy and
Planning Advisory Commission
The Policy and Planning Advisory
Commission, which comprises 12 members appointed ad
personam (six from National Societies, three from the
ICRC and three from the Federation), met four times in
the course of the year, on 18 and 19 January, from 4 to 6
April, from 20 to 22 June and on 12 and 13 September. It
has a two-year mandate, and half of its budget is
financed by the National Societies, while the other half
is covered in equal parts by the ICRC and the Federation.
The Commission has an independent secretariat at the
Henry Dunant Institute in Geneva.
The Advisory Commission's final report
was submitted to the Council of Delegates and covered the
tasks explicitly assigned to it by Resolution 1 of the
1993 Council of Delegates in Birmingham, namely to study
the functions of the Standing Commission, to identify the
procedures for establishing the Council of Delegates as
the supreme deliberative body for internal matters of the
Movement and to improve functional cooperation between
the Movement's components. The report also referred to
some questions of principle concerning the Movement as a
whole, such as issues relating to the emblem, external
factors affecting the Movement and guidelines for a
future strategy for action.
The Council of Delegates endorsed this
report and decided in its Resolution 3 to re-establish
for a further two years an independent Advisory
Commission, with members appointed ad personam by
joint decision of the Presidents of the ICRC and the
Federation and the Chairman of the Standing Commission,
in consultation with the Chairman of the outgoing
Commission.
Commission
on the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Peace
The Commission on the Red Cross, Red
Crescent and Peace, whose mandate had just come to an
end, submitted its final report to the Council of
Delegates.
The Commission, set up in 1977, was
composed of representatives of the ICRC, the Federation,
the Henry Dunant Institute and 16 National Societies
(Australia, Brazil, Colombia, the Democratic People's
Republic of Korea, Egypt, Ethiopia, France, Greece,
Hungary, Malaysia, Nigeria, Paraguay, the Republic of
Korea, Sudan, Sweden and Tunisia).
The Commission held its last meeting
on 20 October 1995 in Geneva, in order to finalize and
clarify the general and specific recommendations set out
in its report.
Bearing in mind the termination of its
mandate and also the fact that work on the prevention of
conflicts had to continue, the Commission emphasized the
importance of pursuing the Movement's activities for
peace. Among the issues it identified was that of the
transfer of weapons and its consequences in humanitarian
terms. The Commission expressed the hope that the
Movement's role and attitude in that regard would be
studied and clarified.
The Commission also made proposals on
various other subjects. Its recommendations included:
- Further study of the Movement's
contribution to respect for the rights of the child, with
special emphasis on the need to pursue efforts being made
for street children and exploited children (forced
labour, child prostitution); and an analysis of what the
Movement in general and the National Societies in
particular were doing in that area and of what practical
steps could be taken.
- Implementation of the conclusions of
the study carried out by the Henry Dunant Institute on
the role of National Societies in preventing tension and
conflicts involving minorities.
- Support for the work done by the
Federation on the question of health and AIDS in
connection with respect for human rights.
Finally, the Commission pointed out
that the Movement was also working for peace through its
activities and its spirit of tolerance, which were
conducive to preventing disregard for human rights and
tension arising from differences of culture or ethnic
background.
The Council of Delegates entrusted the
Standing Commission with the task of pursuing the study
and work on the prevention of conflicts and the
Movement's contribution to peace.
Twenty-sixth
International Conference of the Red Cross and Red
Crescent
The 26th International Conference of
the Red Cross and Red Crescent met in Geneva from 3 to 7
December, under the chairmanship of Ms Astrid Heiberg,
President of the Norwegian Red Cross. It brought together
some 1,200 delegates representing 143 States party to the
Geneva Conventions, 166 National Red Cross and Red
Crescent Societies, the International Federation of Red
Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International
Committee of the Red Cross. In addition, the
representatives of 68 international, regional and
non-governmental organizations and of several emerging
National Societies attended the proceedings as observers.
Emphasis was placed on humanitarian
action in today's troubled world, with the proliferation
of armed conflicts causing untold suffering among the
civilian population, the erosion of respect for
international humanitarian law and all the challenges
facing humanitarian organizations on the eve of the
twenty-first century. The Conference strongly condemned
the abuses being committed in various parts of the world
and made specific recommendations, urging States to take
adequate steps to put an end to such abuses. These
recommendations appear in five resolutions, which are
summarized below.
The convening of the 26th Conference
was particularly important because this major gathering
had not been held for nine years: an earlier attempt to
hold the International Conference in Budapest in 1991 had
failed since the Conference had been adjourned sine
die less than two days before the inaugural ceremony,
because governments had not succeeded in reaching
agreement as to the form that Palestinian participation
in the proceedings should take. [1]
Being anxious to avoid the stumbling
blocks previously encountered, the ICRC and the
Federation, which were joint organizers of the
Conference, set up a Support Group to help with the
diplomatic preparations. This Group, composed of the
heads of the permanent missions of 24 States, held eight
meetings, and some smaller groups created to solve
specific problems convened frequently. The ICRC and the
Federation also received effective support from a
commissioner made available by the Swiss Confederation,
Ambassador Jean-Daniel Biéler.
The most sensitive issue was that of
the representation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia,
several States having declared that they would oppose any
participation by a delegation of the Yugoslav government.
In the end, this government decided not to attend the
Conference, although the Yugoslav Red Cross did
participate in the debates.
The Chairman of the Standing
Commission, Botho Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein
(German Red Cross), opened the International Conference,
appealing to all governments to support the work of the
Movement and its efforts to make humanitarian action more
effective. The President of the ICRC, Cornelio Sommaruga,
stressed the need to contain the current surge of
violence and to make every effort to prevent and
alleviate the suffering of victims of armed conflicts and
natural disasters. The President of the Federation, Mario
Villarroel Lander, said that the Conference afforded a
unique opportunity to enhance respect for human dignity
and to give new impetus to the Movement's Fundamental
Principles. On behalf of the host country, the President
of the Swiss Confederation, Kaspar Villiger, urged
governments to mobilize all their resources to improve
the plight of victims the world over and to increase
their support for humanitarian organizations. Finally,
the President of the State Council of the Republic and
Canton of Geneva, Olivier Vodoz, thanked the delegates
for their commitment, their courage and their
determination to promote respect for the humanitarian
principles.
At the first plenary meeting, the
Presidents of the ICRC and the Federation referred to the
humanitarian challenges that were emerging on the eve of
the twenty-first century in connection with armed
conflicts and their victims, disaster situations and the
poverty engendered by disparities in economic
development.
The President of the Federation said
that the Movement could play a leading role in reflecting
on topical humanitarian issues and that the suffering of
the victims could be alleviated by sustained development
and the promotion of voluntary service. He stressed the
need to strengthen the dialogue between the Movement and
governments. Referring to the Code of Conduct for
organizations taking part in disaster relief operations,
he advanced the idea of a similar code to deal with the
humanitarian consequences of sanctions and peace-making
operations.
The President of the ICRC emphasized
that the world was weighed down by the victims of too
many tragedies. It was in the name of the victims,
particularly those of war, that he was addressing the
Conference. Solidarity with those victims was what gave
the Movement its strength, which was expressed through
the complementary activities of its components --- the
National Societies, their Federation and the ICRC. The
Movement was more than ever in need of the commitment of
governments. The Conference played a particularly
important role as the main forum for humanitarian
dialogue. Amidst all the fire and passion aroused by the
dreadful events in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia,
Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Somalia, Sudan and Sierra Leone,
not to mention the human tragedies that had ensued from
the break-up of the former USSR, it was essential to
rebuild the system of values that lay at the heart of the
Red Cross and Red Crescent ideal: the rights of victims,
the right to receive assistance, and respect for
humanitarian endeavour. To ensure that humanitarian
action was universally recognized and respected, the
President of the ICRC proposed a new contract of
humanity, whereby States and the entire international
community would undertake to give their unreserved
support to efforts aimed at applying humanitarian law.
This would imply, among other things:
- speeding up the process of
ratification of the existing instruments of humanitarian
law;
- intensifying efforts to disseminate
the law;
- reaffirming that the rules governing
the conduct of hostilities in international conflicts
must also be observed in internal conflicts;
- doing everything possible to punish
those who committed grave breaches of humanitarian law,
in accordance with the provisions of the Geneva
Conventions;
- preserving an independent space for
humanitarian action in armed conflicts.
The International Conference then
split up into two Commissions to deal with the various
items on its agenda:
- Commission I focused on war
victims and respect for international humanitarian law,
and was chaired by Ambassador Hisashi Owada (Japan).
- Commission II concentrated on humanitarian
values and response to crises, and was chaired by
Ousmane Diagne, President of the Senegalese Red Cross
Society.
The Conference also set up a Drafting
Committee, under the chairmanship of Ambassador Philippe
Kirsch of Canada, with the task of finalizing the draft
resolutions prepared by the ICRC and the Federation after
widespread consultations.
Commission I had to examine the
follow-up to the International Conference for the
Protection of War Victims, held in Geneva in 1993. It
also had on its agenda the issue of respect for and
application of humanitarian law, particularly with regard
to the protection of the civilian population in time of
war and the use of certain weapons. It submitted three
resolutions to the plenary meeting of the Conference.
Commission II focused on matters
relating to principles and response in international
humanitarian assistance and protection (including the
question of guarantees for access to the victims) and on
the steps to be taken to enhance the capacity of National
Societies to come to the aid of the most vulnerable
groups. The Commission submitted two resolutions to the
plenary meeting.
Over 200 delegates representing
governments, National Societies or observers took the
floor during the meetings of the Conference's two plenary
Commissions.
The resolutions adopted were devoted
to the following topics:
Resolution 1
The 26th International Conference
endorsed the Final Declaration of the International
Conference for the Protection of War Victims (Geneva, 30
August --- 1 September 1993), which confirms the need to
reinforce implementation of and respect for international
humanitarian law, and also the Recommendations drawn up
by the Intergovernmental Group of Experts for the
Protection of War Victims, which met in Geneva in January
1995. The Conference thus took a stand on a number of
particularly serious humanitarian issues and condemned
violations of humanitarian law being committed in various
parts of the world. The resolution urges States to
enhance the application and dissemination of humanitarian
law and invites the Swiss authorities to organize a
meeting of the States party to the Geneva Conventions
every two years, in order to examine general problems of
implementation of humanitarian law and to seek practical
means of promoting its application.
Resolution 2
In this resolution, the International
Conference, alarmed by the upsurge in serious violations
of humanitarian law in current conflicts, strongly
condemned acts committed in breach of the law,
particularly the systematic and massive killing of
civilians. It went on to express its concern at the
increasing difficulties encountered by humanitarian
organizations in performing their tasks and at the
proliferation of weapons, especially those which might
have indiscriminate effects or cause unnecessary
suffering.
The resolution reminds States of their
obligation to repress violations of humanitarian law.
Acts of sexual violence, particularly rape, committed
during armed conflicts are strongly condemned as war
crimes and, under certain circumstances, as crimes
against humanity. The resolution calls for the
establishment and strengthening of mechanisms (such as
the ad hoc tribunals recently set up for the
former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda) to investigate such
acts, and to bring to justice and punish all those
responsible.
Resolution 2 also contains several
sections relating to specific issues:
- With regard to women: the resolution
expresses outrage at practices of sexual violence in
armed conflicts, in particular the use of rape as an
instrument of terror. It urges that strong measures be
taken to provide women with the protection and assistance
to which they are entitled under humanitarian law.
- Protection of children in armed
conflict: Resolution 2 recommends in particular that
parties to conflict refrain from arming children under
the age of 18 years and do everything in their power to
prevent them from taking part in hostilities.
- Family reunification: the plight of
dispersed families is emphasized as a serious
humanitarian issue, and parties to conflict must
facilitate the reuniting of family members, the tracing
of those missing in armed conflicts and the work of the
competent organizations.
- Civilian population affected by
famine: any deliberate attempt to starve the civilian
population in armed conflicts constitutes a violation of
humanitarian law and is strongly condemned in the
resolution. Warring parties have the obligation to accept
impartial humanitarian relief operations and to maintain
conditions in which the civilian population is able to
provide for its own needs.
- Civilian population deprived of
water: parties in conflict are called upon to take all
feasible precautions to avoid damaging water supply
systems used by civilians and to ensure the protection of
personnel responsible for maintaining and repairing those
systems.
- Anti-personnel landmines and other
weapons: the resolution expresses the deep concern and
indignation of the Conference at the use of
anti-personnel mines, which kill or maim hundreds of
people (mostly civilians) every week. It urges States to
step up their efforts to adopt strong and effective
measures for the regulation or prohibition of these
weapons and also requests them to consider further
measures to ban the use of other weapons which may be
excessively injurious, such as blinding laser weapons. It
further urges States to declare themselves bound by the
new Protocol on blinding laser weapons.
Resolution 3
This deals with international
humanitarian law applicable to armed conflicts at sea. It
welcomes the completion of the San Remo Manual on
the subject and encourages States to take that text into
account when drafting manuals and other instructions for
their naval forces.
Resolution 4
This resolution relates to principles
and action in international humanitarian assistance and
protection. It calls upon States to recognize the need
for the Movement to maintain a clear separation between
its humanitarian work and action of a political, military
or economic nature taken by governments,
intergovernmental bodies and other agencies in situations
of armed conflict and other crises.
Resolution 4 also deals with the
situation of refugees and internally displaced persons,
whose numbers have increased dramatically over the past
decade, and calls upon States to respect and ensure
respect for humanitarian law by prohibiting the forced
displacement of civilians and to ensure unimpeded access
to these victims for humanitarian organizations (ICRC,
Federation, UNHCR, etc.), so that they can provide them
with assistance in accordance with their respective
mandates.
States and National Societies are also
invited to encourage non-governmental organizations to
abide by the principles and spirit of the Code of
Conduct for organizations taking part in disaster
relief operations and to declare themselves bound by this
Code by signing the register opened for this purpose at
the Federation. States are moreover requested to take
note of the guidelines on the role of National Societies
in response to technological disasters.
Resolution 5
This resolution encourages the
components of the Movement to continue their support for
the development of National Societies, so that the latter
are better prepared to react promptly in the event of
natural or man-made disaster and provide protection and
assistance to the most vulnerable. It also appeals to
governments to increase support for their National
Societies and in general to make more productive use of
the potential of humanitarian organizations.
(In its January-February 1996 issue,
the International Review of the Red Cross
published a summary of the deliberations of the Council
of Delegates and the 26th International Conference,
together with the complete texts of the resolutions
adopted at those meetings.)
Election
of the members of the Standing Commission
The 26th International Conference
elected the following five people as members of the
Standing Commission:
- HRH Princess Margriet of the
Netherlands (The Netherlands Red Cross);
- Mrs Christina Magnuson (Swedish Red
Cross);
- Dr Guillermo Rueda Montaña
(Colombian Red Cross):
- Mr Tadateru Konoe (Japanese Red
Cross Society);
- Dr Byron R. Hove (Zimbabwe Red Cross
Society).
The Standing Commission appointed
Princess Margriet to the position of Chairwoman and Dr
Hove to that of Vice-Chairman.
One of the Commission's tasks is to
prepare the provisional agenda and programme of the
International Conference. Moreover, the 26th
International Conference requested the Standing
Commission to set the place and date of the next
International Conference, which should be held in 1999.
Note :
1. See the ICRC's 1991 Annual Report,
p. 135.
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