Section on assistance for people affected by war. Access to sections on: restoring people’s ability to provide for themselves; ensuring health care and clean water; assistance programmes in specific countries.
Burundi. Preparing for a food distribution. Ref. BI-N-00065-12
"Assistance" is part of a set of activities aimed at ensuring full respect for the rights of the individual in accordance with international humanitarian law, human rights law and refugee law. Vital measures include convincing the authorities to end specific patterns of abuse and alleviating suffering by providing material or medical assistance. The aim is to preserve or restore acceptable living conditions for civilians, the sick and wounded (both military and civilian), and people deprived of their freedom.
Assistance work centres on the domains of health, economic security and water and habitat and seeks to reduce sickness and deaths among conflict victims. Precedence is given to ensuring access to food, water and other vital necessities, and to restoring satisfactory hygiene conditions. To avoid dependency, the longer-term aim is to restore self-sufficiency, thereby also protecting the dignity of people affected by conflict.
From 1987 until May 2006, the ICRC's Lopiding field hospital in northern Kenya cared for almost 40,000 victims of the conflict in southern Sudan. Now the situation in Sudan has changed, the hospital has been handed over to the Kenyan government, to serve local people.
Feature story, fact sheet, interview, photo selection. (The ICRC worldwide)
Emergency items catalogue The Emergency items catalogue lists all the items used in Red Cross Red Crescent relief work, and details the exact product specification for each item. It is aimed at logistics personnel and suppliers. (ICRC Activities\Assistance)
1-5-2005
Annual Report
Assistance : extract from ICRC Annual Report 2005 The Assistance Division provides strategic support and professional expertise in three areas of activity – health services, economic security and water and habitat – to operations in the field. It also devotes considerable effort to the vital area of staff development and management. (ICRC Activities\Assistance)
1-6-2006 Annual Report
Audio Collection
Somalia drought: ICRC launches budget extension appeal The ICRC's deputy head of Operations for the Horn of Africa, Alexandre Liebeskind, explains why the ICRC is asking donors for more funding to respond to the drought in Somalia and the wider region. (Info resources\Audio)
7-3-2006 Audio Collection Includes Audio
Somalia: aid stepped up for population affected by drought and conflict The ICRC is stepping up its operations in the Horn of Africa where the worst drought in a decade has led to acute shortages of water and food. The organization is particularly concerned about the situation in southern Somalia, a region that has also endured 15 years of armed conflict and lawlessness. (Info resources\Audio\Africa)
15-2-2006 Audio Collection Includes Audio
“People are trying to survive in this extremely fragile environment.” Jean-François Berger is the editor-in-chief of the Red Cross Red Crescent magazine and is in Pakistan-administered Kashmir. Here he talks about the humanitarian crisis after the earthquake and the Movement's response. (Info resources\Audio\Asia and the Pacific)
27-10-2005 Audio Collection Includes Audio
South Asia earthquake: A medical emergency Responding to the medical emergency following the earthquake in South Asia: a challenge for both logistics and communication. Audio interview with Chris Giannou, Head Surgeon, ICRC. (Info resources\Audio\Asia and the Pacific)
11-10-2005 Audio Collection Includes Audio
Feature
Darfur: suffering continues, solutions remain distant Over the last two years, Sudan's Darfur region has become synonymous with the violence and fear caused by conflict. For now, solutions appear to be beyond the grasp of those involved, leaving people heavily dependent on the protection and assistance of humanitarian organizations. The ICRC's Nada Doumani visited Darfur in March and has written a personal account of the region's anguish. (The ICRC worldwide\Africa\Sudan)
18-4-2005 Feature Includes Photo
ICRC Publication
First Aid in armed conflicts and other situations of violence A practical manual presenting the specific knowledge, skills and practices that First Aiders should have to act safely and effectively when caring for people caught up in armed conflicts and other situations of violence, such as internal disturbances and tensions. (Info resources\ICRC publications and films\Publications\Assistance)
26-6-2006 ICRC Publication Includes PDF
Children in war information kit The kit describes those activities carried out by the ICRC to restore family links, provide care and protect unaccompanied children and child soldiers, among others. As both a work tool and a source of information, it covers the legal protection of children in situations of armed conflict and contains a summary of those provisions of international humanitarian law that apply specifically to children. (All documents in pdf format) (Info resources\ICRC publications and films\Publications\Protection)
31-7-2004 ICRC Publication Includes PDF
Manuel de nutrition pour l'intervention humanitaire This manual is an important tool for all humanitarian workers involved in the field of nutrition. In addition to presenting an in-depth explanation of human nutrition, nutrition crisis and nutritional programmes within humanitarian intervention, the manual highlights the importance of maintaining a better understanding of the broader impact of war on all aspects of daily life. It argues that food is not just a means for survival but that it is a basic right for those caught up in the conflict, as defined in international humanitarian law. Alain Mourey(Info resources\ICRC publications and films\Publications\Assistance)
16-4-2004 ICRC Publication Includes PDF
International Review of the Red Cross
Humanitarian Assistance in Armed Conflict Conference of the Luxemburg Group - 24-25 May 2004
Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva (Info resources\International Review\2004 - No. 856)
31-12-2004 International Review of the Red Cross Includes PDF
ICRC Assistance Policy Adopted by the Assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross on 29 April 2004 - Public version (Info resources\International Review\2004 - No. 855)
30-9-2004 International Review of the Red Cross Includes PDF
Applying humanitarian principles in the aftermath of armed conflict Statement to the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations 2005 Substantive Session, Humanitarian Affairs Segment Panel session on post-conflict transition – New York. Jacques Forster, vice-president of the ICRC(ICRC Activities\Humanitarian diplomacy\United Nations)
Built in the 1960s to house a few thousand workers, Cité-Soleil is now one of the largest shantytowns in the northern hemisphere and a microcosm of all the ills that beset Haitian society: endemic unemployment, illiteracy, the collapse of public services, insalubrity, crime and violence. (Info resources\Photos\The Americas)
The ICRC has been permanently present in Israel, the Occupied and Autonomous Territories since 1967. Its aim is to ensure the application of International Humanitarian Law as well as to carry out a wide range of humanitarian activities. (Info resources\Photos\Middle East and North Africa)
The ICRC helps the people most severely affected by the conflict in Casamance to return to a normal life. Access to health care and safe drinking water are priorities. (Info resources\Photos\Africa)
Towards peace in Casamance A fragile peace is emerging in Casamance, after more than 20 years of conflict. Tens of thousands of people, driven from their villages by the fighting have now returned. The ICRC, with the support of the Senegalese Red Cross, is assisting in the recovery by improving water supply and sanitation in the devastated province – Article published in the Red Cross Red Crescent Magazine, No 2, 2005 Jean-François Berger(The ICRC worldwide\Africa\Senegal)
31-7-2005 Press article
Tsunami reconstruction update International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement activities - Article published in the Red Cross Red Crescent Magazine, No 2, 2005 (The ICRC worldwide\Asia and the Pacific)
31-7-2005 Press article
Press briefing
Aceh: reconstruction will take years Indonesia's Aceh province was devastated by last year's tsunami. Efforts to rebuild the lives of its people will be a long-term project for all those involved, says Walter Stocker who was until recently the ICRC's head of delegation in the country. In this interview he also talks about the ICRC's activities in light of the Aceh peace process. (The ICRC worldwide\Asia and the Pacific\Indonesia)
Democratic Republic of the Congo: diary from the field In May, Jan Powell spent two weeks with a cameraman producing an ICRC film for the series From the Field. She kept a diary describing the highs and lows of the trip and the challenges of working from the field. (The ICRC worldwide\Africa\Congo-Kinshasa)
22-6-2006 Stories from the field Includes Photo
South Asia earthquake: food distribution continues in mountain villages January's favourable weather conditions allowed the ICRC to increase the volume of food distribution in remote areas affected by the earthquake. Eight helicopters and more than 50 trucks operated to deliver vital supplies to the village of Seri Dara, a remote mountain village southeast of Muzaffarabad.
ICRC communication delegate Rashad Akhundov reports. (The ICRC worldwide\Asia and the Pacific\Pakistan)
27-2-2006 Stories from the field Includes Photo
Georgia: assistance for internally displaced persons (IDPs) and destitute civilians Ten years after the conflict between Georgia and the breakaway region of Abkhazia, the area still faces considerable humanitarian challenges. The ICRC provides regular essential food and non-food items to destitute persons and IDPs and runs Agro, Trade and Craft (ATC) programmes helping destitute households become self-sufficient. (The ICRC worldwide\Eastern Europe and Central Asia\Georgia)
27-2-2006 Stories from the field Includes Photo
South Asia earthquake: a few more days of grace At the best of times their lives are hard. And now, the Guja nomads of Lari village have even fewer ways than usual to withstand the onset of winter. A report by Jessica Barry. (The ICRC worldwide\Asia and the Pacific\Pakistan)
2-12-2005 Stories from the field
South Asia earthquake: solace and despair In an effort to reach remote villages soon to be cut off from the outside world by snow, the ICRC is continuing its deliveries of essential goods to the quake survivors with its fleet of helicopters. ICRC's Jessica Barry reports. (The ICRC worldwide\Asia and the Pacific\Pakistan)
18-11-2005 Stories from the field Includes Photo
Aid that rekindles hope The civilian population of Kivu is bearing the brunt of the tragic consequences of clashes in the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Ananie Kulimushi, an ICRC staff member in Goma, describes a scene where basic necessities are distributed to displaced people who had been losing all hope. (The ICRC worldwide\Africa\Congo-Kinshasa)
31-3-2005 Stories from the field
Eyewitness: A day out in Ethiopia Roland Sidler has worked for the ICRC in war zones for the past 20 years, in a variety of positions including head of delegation. Photo-journalist by profession, he covers stories that the media can’t get to – or haven’t time for. After a recent mission to film in drought- and conflict-stricken Ethiopia, he shared his thoughts on what he calls the “humanitarian back-stage”. Roland Sidler(The ICRC worldwide\Africa\Ethiopia)
9-4-2003 Stories from the field Includes Photo
Video Collection
DRC: ICRC distributes essential aid to villagers A gradual improvement in the security situation has recently allowed some 45,000 people to return to their homes in the Kibirizi area of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The ICRC is providing the necessary materials that will help people resume the lives they had before they were forced to flee their villages at the beginning of the year. (Info resources\Video\Africa)
The ICRC is supplying food, tools and seeds to those affected by the conflict in Darfur. The assistance is intended to tide people over until the next harvest and prevent them having to leave their homes to join those already languishing in camps for the displaced. (Info resources\Video\Africa)
5-7-2005 Video Collection Includes Video
More in this section
Myanmar: the head of delegation talks about ICRC activities The ICRC's head of delegation in Myanmar, Patrick Vial, talks about the ICRC's activities in the country and explains why the organization has been unable to carry out detention visits since the end of last year. (The ICRC worldwide\Asia and the Pacific\Myanmar)
Key document
