The role of ICRC in implementation of IHL in international and National level and the challenges of IHL in the world today.
A brief history of the ICRC.
The formation of the ICRC dates back to the year 1863 where there was need to provide relief and reduce the suffering of those involved in armed conflict and other disasters and development of laws and regulations to govern conducts of those who took part in this armed conflicts as International Humanitarian Law.
Henry Dunant on his way to Italy to meet Napoleon III to discuss the difficulty of doing business in Algeria then under French control witnessed the Battle of Solferino in the small town of Solferino where in one battle night, up to 40000 men died and many more were left wounded with no medical attendance or any kind of relief.
Abandoning his original plan, Dunant started to organize medical attendance and more relief to the wounded in the battle field. He later put up propositions to the major European countries where a committee was formed and it later became the ICRC 1863 , subsequently in August 1864, the committee persuaded governments to adopt the first Geneva Convention, “Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field” which was a legally binding treaty that obliged armies to care for wounded without discrimination on the basis on whose side they were on, it also introduced a unified emblem for the medical services which incidentally was a red cross on a white background .
The original role and mandate and the evolution of the role of the ICRC.
The role of the ICRC since its inception has gradually shifted from just being a body tasked with providing relief in times of humanitarian strife to one of a body of immense si...
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...C also enjoys a right of initiative, which is recognized in the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Thus, wherever international humanitarian law does not apply, the ICRC may offer its services to governments without that offer constituting interference in the internal affairs of the State concerned.
When Henry Dunant went back to his home town Switzerland in 1862, he decided to talk and write about his horrible experience. He didn’t want something similar to happen again. In February 1863, he made a commission with 5 people to help. In August 1964 it would become the International Red Cross.
Pictet, Jean. “The Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross: Commentary.” The Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross: Commentary. N.p., n.d. Web. 15 May 2014.
Wheeler, Nicholas J. Saving Strangers - Humanitarian Intervention in International Society. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002. Oxford Scholarship Online. Oxford University Press. 7 December 2009
In order for a state to be allowed intervention into a conflict on the international sphere, they must first gain approval from all the members of the United Nations Security Council. Through this it is assumed that the reasoning for intervening are assessed, and legitimate. It should be noted however that This however has been proven to be a cumbersome mechanism to adhere to the right authority aspect as permission has never been granted by the UN Security Council to intervene in the conflict of a sovereign nation. The international community is largely hesitant to label a conflict a ‘humanitarian conflict’ as this would imply the necessity of international intervention.
Doctors Without Borders, otherwise known as Medecins Sans Frontieres, their french name, is a very important non governmental organization. While originally established in France, they now have 21 independent divisions worldwide. Their mission is to offer assistance to victims of disasters, man-made or natural, and to victims of armed conflict. Their primary concerns are medical but they also “advocate for the respect of basic human rights and humanitarian law” (Tanguy, 1998) They strive to have complete neutrality and impartiality, but will speak out to bring attention to extreme cases or conditions. ("Charter | MSF USA," n.d.)
None of the four requirements that the tribunal must meet is easily achieved, and, in some cases, success seems unlikely. Many supporters of international humanitarian law are convinced, however, that, so long as the court does no harm, it must continue to pursue its original goals. This position supports the general idea of the rule of law, without reference to the circumstances. Ordinarily, of course, justice is supposed to be above the particularities of any case. Yet the nature of the circumstances in the case of the former Yugoslavia may undermine the ICTFY's credibility and render it ineffective in obtaining justice and promoting the concept of international humanitarian law. Justice must be predicated on detachment and impartiality. But the ICTFY is essentially a first attempt at administering such justice, and the peculiarities of the test case have to be kept from contaminating the process.
Today, the Red Cross offers numerous domestic and international services that are not limited to support amid tragedy. For instance, the organization saves millions of lives outside the country through health initiatives that provide clean water, vaccinations, and preventative measure for future crises (“International Services”, n.d.). In the U.S., the Red Cross offers various emergency training programs as well as health education programs (“A Brief History of the American Red Cross”, n.d.). Altogether, the American Red Cross aids millions of people around the world through its support
Founded in 1984 by Dr. Robert Simon, International Medical Corps is a global, non-secular, not for profit, humanitarian organization based out of Santa Monica, California. A signatory of the Code of Conduct of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, IMC operates according to the principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and operational independence. In accordance with the principle of humanity, IMC has pledged to address human suffering wherever it may be found, to protect the life, health and respect of humans beings; neutrality means that the organization does not take side or take part in political, racial, religious or ideological conflict. The concept of impartiality guides the International Medical Corps to distribute aid on the basis of need alone, prioritizing the most urgent cases with a disregard for nationality, race, gender, religious belief, class or political viewpoint. Their operational independence allows the IMC to work completely independently from the political, economic, military or any other object that donors may have, making the IMC a dunantist organization. The mission of the International Medical Corp “is to improve the quality of life through health interventions and related activities that build local capacity in underserved communities worldwide.” IMC operates with the intention of rehabilitating “devastated health care systems [to help] bring them back to self-reliance.”
There are seven fundamental bylaws to which all Red Cross Societies must conform: humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, voluntary service, unity and universality. (Thorne p. 72)
...nees. International Committee of the Red Cross, 29 Oct. 2010. Web. 10 Oct. 2013. .
On 29th May 2013, three gunmen and a suicide bomber attacked the ICRC office at Jalalabad in Afghanistan killing an Afghan guard on duty. Two days after the attack on the world’s most respected humanitarian organisation’s office, Taliban denied any role in the attack. Taliban spokesperson said that the group never targets those who truly serve the people (Reuters, The Express Tribune, May 31, 2013). This attack sent shockwaves across the humanitarian community, not because that ICRC was never attacked anywhere in the world but because the attack was the first of its kind on ICRC since it started working in Afghanistan in 1987.
“On November 21, 1947, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted resolution 174 (II), establishing the International Law Commission and approving its statute.”[2] The International Law Commission encourages the development of international law and its codification. The Commission deals primarily with public international law, but also hears private cases as well.[3] International law is applied within an international community, such as the United Nations, and functions to define the proper norms or standards for members to abide by in a collective manner. Examples of such standards could be a ruling on The Universal Declaration of Human Rights or on threats to peace within the International Community.
Consequences of intervention can include the loss of lives from an otherwise uninvolved country, the spread of violence, and the possibility of inciting conflict over new problems, just to name a few (Lecture, 11/15/16). For example, John Mueller considers the potential negative consequences of intervention prove that they are insignificant to the cause of humanitarian intervention as a whole. Moreover, with intervention into ethnic conflicts, the outcome, no matter how positive, is overshadowed by a gross exaggeration of negative consequences (Mueller). In both Yugoslavia and Rwanda the solution, to Mueller appeared simple, a well ordered and structured militarized presence was all that was required to end the conflict (Mueller). If this is the case, when discussing whether or not intervention is necessary the political elite must not over-exaggerate the difficulty.
On October 24, 1945 the United Nations was established as a means of preserving global peace after the Second World War. Launching with 51 member states the organizations began on a healthy platform with the United States having an active role in its promotion of international co-operation. However, during the cold war the organization began to experience a plethora of new challenges which primarily involved armed conflicts throughout the world. It soon became apparent that to maintain the peace and effectively deal with dangerous conflicts, the member states would be required to go beyond the Security Council. In 1956 the UN implemented the Peace Process Initiative as a means to ambitiously combat the Suez Crisis, thus creating the world’s first peacekeeping force. With this being the first peacekeeping mission ever deployed by the United Nations, it was met with a significant learning curve as many of the soldiers were given dated equipment, and did not have the means to maintain stability due to lack of funds from each of their respective member states. Though there has been a significant evolution of peacekeeping, with many new monitoring functions, the UN has yet to incorporate technologies into its operations thus far. As observers, technology allows for coverage to be made at a safe distance, providing a greater means of information and security for peacekeeping forces and civilian personnel. Technology can also aid in the progression of peacekeeping operations, as monitoring technologies allow for greater observation, while helping to diminish a feeling of intrusiveness. To advance peacekeeping, operations must be provided with the appropriate technological assets in order to effectively maintain peace throughout the world...
Although, within the U.N. Charter of 1945, Article 2(4) prohibits the use of force against ‘the territorial integrity or political independence of any state’ (U.N. Charter, art.2 para.4), it has been suggested by counter-restrictionist international lawyers, that humanitarian intervention does not fall under these criteria, making it legally justifiable under the U.N. Charter (e.g. Damrosch 1991:219 in Baylis and Smith 2001: 481). However, this viewpoint lacks credibility, as it is far from the general international consensus, and unlikely the initial intentions of the draftsmen of the charter. In more recent times, one can examine the emerging doctrine of the ‘Responsibility to Protect’(RtoP), which was adopted unanimously by the UN in 2005, as a far more persuasive example of modern legitimacy of humanitarian intervention. While not consolidated within international law, RtoP, which promotes humanitarian intervention where sovereign states fail in their own responsibility to protect their citizens, does use legal language and functions as a comprehensive international framework to prevent human rights