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The ICRC, the League and the Report on the re-appraisal of the Role of the Red Cross (III): Protection and assistance in the event of armed conflict

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

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Extract

The concepts of assistance and protection are of fundamental significance for the Red Cross and it was therefore appropriate for the Tansley Report to devote nearly two-thirds of its pages to them.

It also seems proper that both questions should be discussed simultaneously, as they are linked in a number of ways, especially in armed conflicts and similar situations. In such situations, assistance activities often assume the character of protection operations and vice versa, to such an extent that they become inseparable. That is one reason why the International Red Cross, in article 6 of its Statutes, entrusted the ICRC with the final responsibility for carrying out the humanitarian work of the Red Cross in the event of armed conflict.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of the Red Cross (1961 - 1997) , Volume 18 , Issue 205 , August 1978 , pp. 205 - 209
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1978

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References

page 206 note 1 In a broader context, one might say that “protection” also includes developing, publicising and ensuring application and respect for international humanitarian law.

page 206 note 2 Conv. I: art. 3, 9, 10,11,23;

Conv. II: art. 3, 9, 10, 11;

Conv. III: art. 3, 9, 10, 11, 56, 70, 72, 73, 74, 75, 77, 79, 81, 122, 123, 124, 125, 126, Annex II and III;

Conv. IV: art. 3, 10, 11, 12, 14, 25, 30, 59, 61, 76, 96, 102, 104, 106, 108, 109, 111, 113, 129, 137, 140, 141, 142, 143, Annex II.

page 208 note 1 The ICRC/League Agreement states in Article 2 that:

In countries where there is an international war, civil war, blockade or military occupation, the ICRC, in virtue of the functions of a neutral intermediary devolving on it under the Geneva Conventions and the Statutes of the International Red Cross, shall assume the general direction of the Red Cross international action.

If, in these countries, as a result of special circumstances or in the event of a natural disaster, the League is, at the request of a National Society, called upon to give assistance to the civilian population of its country, the ways and means of the intervention of the League as well as its cooperation with the ICRC and the National Societies concerned shall be defined from case to case in accordance with Articles 5 and 6 of the present Agreement.

When the intervention of a neutral intermediary is not or is no longer necessary, the ICRC shall reach agreement with the League with a view to associating it with the relief action or even handing over to it the entire responsibility.