Geneva UN and Red Cross groups work on sanitation, health problems
Installing a water reservoir in the women's prison at Petion-Ville. (photo: ©2010 ICRC/M. Kokic/ht-e-00577)
Work for cash, UNDP programme, Haiti 2010 (photo: ©2010 UNDP on flickr)
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The arrest of 10 Americans accompanying a busload of children being illegally carried out of Haiti and into the Dominican Republic 30 January by a US religious organization has raised fears that children may be separated from members of their family who survived the 12 January earthquake in the country. Two Geneva-based groups, the ICRC (International Committee of the Red Cross) and the Geneva office of Unicef, are active in the fight to ensure that children do not become victims of a new Haitian disaster, child trafficking, whether they are orphans or not.
The arrests come as fears are reportedly rising among Haitians of the ancient loup-garou, similar to a werewolf but a predator of children’s spirits, according to the Washington Post.
ICRC’s tracing service, usually deployed in times of conflict, is working closely with the Haitian Red Cross to re-establish family links. Working with lists provided by hospitals and first aid stations, the workers collate information to get families back together. ICRC says almost 1,500 people have been able to make “safe and well” phone calls. So far, it has a list of 25,600 names on its site www.icrc.org/familylinks.
The UN Children’s Fund (Unicef) concentrates on reuniting children with their families.
Photo: Gaya Mageswaran/International Federation, © International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – The horrors of the battle of Solferino 150 years ago 24 June brought into being the international Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, based in Geneva. To mark the day, Swiss media have been focusing on numerous events taking place in the region:
Le Temps mentions the week-long celebrations organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and highlights the coming together of volunteers of the 186 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies at Solferino, in Italy. Three hundred young people will retrace Henri Dunant’s trip back to Geneva from Solferino: Dunant was the Geneva businessman who witnessed the battle and returned home determined to help change things.
TSR reports that starting 22 June at ICRC headquarters 20 runners will run a relay in 20km stages all the way to Solferino, where they will join the hundreds of volunteers from the national societies. TSR also mentions that Geneva’s jet d’eau fountain was illuminated in red Wednesday, 24 June.
The Tribune de Genève details the relay race to Solferino from Geneva, and notes that 12 of the runners are ICRC staff members. They arrive Saturday 26 June.
Swissinfo commemorates the occasion with a special section that includes photos and background articles on the Red Cross in the news.
Geneva is the headquarters of both the ICRC, which offers its services in instances of armed conflict, and of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), which coordinates the activities of the 186 individual national societies. The IFRC has its own page for the events being commemorated.
Solferino would have been just another bloody battle to be forgotten in northern Italy 150 years ago, but for the fact that it moved one man, Dunant, to start something that has helped untold victims of warfare since then. Geneva’s Dunant saw the battle of Solferino, 24 June 1859, that pitted French and Piedmontese forces against the Austrians, and then helped to organize assistance to the abandoned wounded on the battlefield.
He went away with the germ of an idea that brought into being the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and won him the first Nobel Peace prize in 1901.
[with UN TV video] Geneva, Switzerland and Bonn, Germany (GenevaLunch) – Eighteen United Nations and non-UN aid agencies 8 June issued a joint statement arguing for “humanitarian impacts” to be included in the new climate change protocol. A December meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark of ministers from around the world will seek to replace the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997. A new agreement must “set out a workable approach to help the world counter the impacts of extreme weather events and environmental degradation on vulnerable communities,” the Inter-Agency Standing Committee argues.
