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BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: PRESIDENT SPEAKS OUT REGARDING MISSING, CIVIL SOCIETY: ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga has said that efforts to build stability in the Balkans must have a direct impact on the lives of people affected by a decade of war.
CRISIS IN THE BALKANS: ICRC HELPS RESTORE FAMILY LINKS: Hundreds of families without news of their relatives have now been relieved of their anguish.
IRAQ: DECAYING INFRASTRUCTURE RAISES CONCERN FOR THE POPULATION: In view of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Iraq after two wars and nine years of embargo, the ICRC has decided to address the population's growing needs by stepping up its medical assistance and water and sanitation activities.
AFGHANISTAN: THE BOY WHO STEPPED ON A MINE AND KEPT ON RUNNING "I felt very sad that day, even in the morning. I don't know why", says 14-year-old Amir Jan, sitting forlornly in Kabul's ICRC-run Karte Se Hospital.
PAKISTAN: TRAINING IN HUMANITARIAN LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW FOR POLICE
On 24 and 27 July, 25 instructors and staff members of the Elite Police Training School in Lahore and the Sihala Police College near the capital, Islamabad, attended two one-day workshops, receiving basic instruction in international humanitarian law, human rights law and the principles, methods and practice of law enforcement.
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BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA PRESIDENT SPEAKS OUT REGARDING MISSING, CIVIL SOCIETY
ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga has said that efforts to build stability in the Balkans must have a direct impact on the lives of people affected by a decade of war.
Dr Sommaruga was speaking at a press conference today on his arrival in Sarajevo to attend the summit of the Stability Pact for South-Eastern Europe. He welcomed the Stability Pact initiative but cautioned that it must be based on transparency and partnership with local authorities.
President Sommaruga stressed that the area of key concern for the ICRC, which has worked in the region since 1991, was the plight of tens of thousands of families in Bosnia, Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia - including Kosovo - who remained without news of relatives who disappeared during the fighting.
"For these people," he said, "stability means not just the absence of fighting or the creation of jobs, but is linked intimately with peace of mind and heart."
The Red Cross remained committed to acting on behalf of the families for as long as the problem persisted, and urged the authorities in all the countries concerned to make every effort to respond to the families' need for information.
Dr Sommaruga also emphasized the importance of strengthening civil society, and referred to the role played by the Red Cross - in war and peace - in all countries of the region. In some areas the Red Cross structure had collapsed along with the former Yugoslavia itself, and their renewal and strengthening was high on the list of ICRC priorities.
Dr Sommaruga stressed the ICRC's deep sense of responsibility. "We owe it to the people of this region," he concluded.
Further information: Urs Boegli, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 79 203 9405 Jon-Hans Coetzer, ICRC Sarajevo, tel. ++ 387 71 652 407 or ++ 387 90 132 282
CRISIS IN THE BALKANS ICRC HELPS RESTORE FAMILY LINKS
Hundreds of families without news of their relatives have now been relieved of their anguish.
In July the ICRC received information on the whereabouts of around 2,000 people arrested in Kosovo and now detained in Serbia. Since then, hundreds of families have streamed through its offices in Kosovo every day.
In Prizren, a town in southern Kosovo, 200 families have found the names of their relatives on the lists of detainees and have been able to write Red Cross messages. Hundreds of other detainees have been identified by their families at offices in Pec and Pristina, the capital.
Shaban, whose brother disappeared from his home in Djakovica, Kosovo, in April, was among those who received good news. "I didn't know whether he was alive or not until I got a telephone call from the Red Cross saying they had a message from him and asking me to come and pick it up."
But for others there is no news at all. Monique Crettol, protection coordinator in Pristina, said: "It is really heartbreaking to see mothers looking for the names of their sons -- and not finding them. It will take a long time to find out what happened to all the people who still remain unaccounted for in Kosovo."
Further information: Daloni Carlisle, ICRC Tirana, tel. ++ 871 682 286 532
IRAQ DECAYING INFRASTRUCTURE RAISES CONCERN FOR THE POPULATION
In view of the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Iraq after two wars and nine years of embargo, the ICRC has decided to address the population's growing needs by stepping up its medical assistance and water and sanitation activities. As Michel Minnig, former ICRC head of delegation in Baghdad, put it: "Humanitarian action alone cannot solve all the problems that people are facing as a result of the embargo. Since the ICRC can only relieve some of the suffering, it is focusing on fields where it has specific expertise."
Following a major survey of medical and public-health needs conducted last spring, new programmes are being set up this month to repair 10 referral hospitals and 20 primary health centres. These programmes will also provide surgical material and other supplies for the main hospitals in each of the country's 18 governorates and ensure training for local medical and surgical staff, who will receive scientific literature and be able to attend seminars. Finally, in view of the severe drought currently affecting the region, the worst recorded since 1932, the ICRC plans to extend and improve intake systems for water treatment plants so as to ensure a sufficient supply of drinking water.
Iraqi infrastructure, already damaged during the 1991 Gulf War, has suffered considerably from the subsequent imposition of sanctions. Medical facilities, in particular, can no longer respond to essential needs. Buildings have not been maintained, previously imported modern equipment and basic supplies are not being replaced, and since training is no longer provided for qualified nurses and doctors, skills are being lost. Says Michel Minnig: "UN Resolution 986 covers the population's basic needs in food and medicine but this has no effect on the country's deteriorating infrastructure. In hospitals, for example, most of the bulbs in operating theatre lamps are broken and basic tools such as sterilizers are out of order. These are the specific kinds of problems the ICRC wants to address."
The ICRC has been present in Iraq since the outbreak of the Iran-Iraq war in 1980. For the last nine years it has focused on helping local engineers maintain water-treatment plants throughout the country and on running rehabilitation programmes for the war-disabled. In the north, where various armed factions are still fighting, the ICRC has been assisting vulnerable people. When the US/British air strikes against Iraq started in December 1998, basic medical assistance was provided for hospitals in areas affected by the bombing.
In early July, to finance the new programmes, the ICRC launched an appeal for 7.7 million Swiss francs, bringing the total budget for its operations in Iraq to 21.7 million francs.
There are currently 28 expatriate delegates (16 in Baghdad and 12 in the north) and over 200 local staff working in the country.
Further information: Suzanne Berger, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++ 41 22 730 23 07
AFGHANISTAN THE BOY WHO STEPPED ON A MINE AND KEPT ON RUNNING
"I felt very sad that day, even in the morning. I don't know why", says 14-year-old Amir Jan, sitting forlornly in Kabul's ICRC-run Karte Se Hospital.
A tall, thin boy from farming stock, he was born and bred in a village near the capital, Kabul.
"We were late coming home from school. A group of us were running and I took a short cut. I don't why I took it. I wasn't thinking."
A simple decision of the kind most people in the world take hundreds of times a year without suffering any consequences. But along Amir Jan's path that day there was a landmine.
"I couldn't see what I stepped on. I was running and suddenly I heard an explosion. I don't know what else happened... I stood up and ran about 100 yards -- I could manage that -- but when I looked at my hand and feet and saw they were bleeding I fell down. I didn't know I was wounded, I was just running."
Two hours later he was taken to the local hospital and from there to Kabul.
Mohammed Khan, the doctor who treated Amir Jan, takes up the story. "When he came here he was in a state of shock. His foot had not been completely blown off, there was still some bone and flesh that could help him run for some distance."
"Medically speaking, the patient may feel the first blow. But as the pain sets in he is not able to deal with it and he loses control. He thinks he doesn't feel any pain, which is why he may still be able to run."
"When something like that happens, the body is not physically in a condition to run but the mind tells it to stand up and carry on. It's extraordinary."
Mohammed Khan had to amputate Amir Jan's leg. Below the knee, so the boy was quite lucky. And now, of course, he will get an artificial limb.
Outside the ward Mohammed Khan leans back against the wall in the drone of the nearby generator, dark glasses hiding his eyes. "When I perform an amputation on a boy like him, I feel as if I'm cutting off my own foot", he says.
Further information: Chris Bowers, ICRC Geneva, tel. ++ 41 22 730 2061
PAKISTAN TRAINING IN HUMANITARIAN LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS LAW FOR POLICE
On 24 and 27 July, 25 instructors and staff members of the Elite Police Training School in Lahore and the Sihala Police College near the capital, Islamabad, attended two one-day workshops, receiving basic instruction in international humanitarian law, human rights law and the principles, methods and practice of law enforcement. The leaders of the workshops, a Dutch ICRC consultant specialized in dissemination among police forces and an ICRC delegate based in Pakistan, also gave a general presentation on the ICRC, the fundamental principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the development of international humanitarian law.
The workshops, which were followed by discussions with the commanders and deputy commanders of the two institutions, was the first stage of a new programme recently approved by the authorities of Punjab. Under Pakistan's federal system, law enforcement and police training are the responsibility of the provinces, Punjab being the largest with a population of around 75 million.
Besides improving understanding of universally accepted principles and standards in law enforcement and policing, the aim of the workshops was to acquaint the participants with the contents of an in-depth instructors course to be held in October and November for two groups of around a dozen people and to adapt the ICRC's approach to the specific needs of Pakistani police training institutions.
Further information: Peter Iseli, ICRC Islamabad, tel. ++9251 920 30 09
To mark the 50th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions on 12 August 1999, the ICRC, the Swiss Confederation and the city of Geneva plan to host a ceremony in which a solemn appeal will be launched to all peoples, nations and governments of the world, urging them to reaffirm the commitments made to war victims in these treaties.
For details on the events scheduled for 12 August, for press accreditation to the official ceremony (requests must be received by 5 August) and for information on the Geneva Conventions, please contact:
Kim Gordon-Bates, ICRC Geneva, tel.: ++4122 730 2302, fax: ++4122 730 22 50, e-mail: kgordonbates.gva@icrc.org
During the weekend of 31 July - 1 August 1999, for all information please call the press officer on duty Corinne Adam, on (mobile) 41 79 202 36 80