In line with its mandate, the ICRC engages with all parties to an armed conflict, including non-State armed groups. The ICRC has a long history of confidential dialogue with armed groups that has achieved tangible results. However, engagement has become increasingly complex. Accordingly, the ICRC undertakes an annual exercise to assess its current relationships with armed groups in order to both improve its engagement strategies and to determine trends that can impact future engagement.

In this post, ICRC Adviser Matthew Bamber-Zryd discusses some of the findings from this year’s exercise, during which time the ICRC had contact with two-thirds of the 524 armed groups that are of humanitarian concern. The ICRC’s success in engaging an armed group is influenced by a group’s structure, the region in which it operates and the extent of its territorial control. However, the ICRC continues to face significant obstacles to such dialogue, emanating from both armed groups and States.

Read the full blog post here: https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2023/01/12/icrc-engagement-armed-groups-2022/

ICRC engagement with armed groups in 2022

How can humanitarian actors better respond to the devastating impact of urban warfare and urban violence? The higher humanitarian stakes in cities – the cumulative impact on large numbers of people and the interconnected systems on which they depend – heighten both the challenges and the importance of putting into practice key hallmarks of effective humanitarian action. 

In this post, ICRC Policy Advisers Charles Deutscher and Chandni Dhingra overview a new policy paper which takes stock of the ICRC’s experience responding to the impact of war and violence in cities.

Rea the full blog post here: https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2023/01/19/present-and-engaged-icrc-armed-conflict-violence-cities/

Present and engaged: how the ICRC responds to armed conflict and violence in cities

Sons d'Histoire vous invite à découvrir son troisième numéro consacré à l'histoire des Conventions de Genève et leurs Protocoles additionnels.

Les Conventions de Genève contiennent les règles essentielles du droit international humanitaire, qui fixe des limites à la barbarie de la guerre. Ces traités protègent les personnes qui ne participent pas ou plus aux hostilités.

L'historienne Véronique Stenger et le journaliste David Glaser vous expliquent avec l'aide de lectures du livre de Henry Dunant "Un souvenir de Solferino" et d'archives de plusieurs institutions partenaires de geneveMonde.ch l'évolution de ces Conventions et leur utilité dans le cadre de conflits armés.

Recherche et récit : Véronique Stenger et David Glaser

Lectures : Claude Zurcher

Réalisation : David Glaser et Christophe Legrain

Merci à la Bibliothèque de Genève, les Archives de la RTS, Memoriav et les archives du CICR représentées par l'historien Daniel Palmieri.

https://genevemonde.ch/galleries/sons-d-histoire

Sons d'Histoire (Episode 3) Les Conventions de Genève

HCiD Health Care in Danger: the podcast - #1 - 2023 featuring Dr. Mirwais Khan from Pakistan

Hii leo jaridani tunakuletea habari kuto kuhusu magonjwa ya kuambukiza baada ya majanga na makaburi ya wafalme wa Uganda. Makala tunakupeleka nchini Tanzania kusikia matarajio wa wananchi tukielekea mkutano wa UNGA78 na mashinani tutasalia hapa hapa Makao Makuu  kusikia ujumbe kuhusu kikao cha ngazi ya juu cha Baraza Kuu la Umoja wa Mataifa kitakachofanyika juma lijalo.
  
1.	Kunapotokea majanga au vita na kusababisha watu wengi kupoteza maisha kunakuwa na hofu kuhusu miili ya marehemu kuwa inaweza kusababisha mlipuko wa magonjwa hivyo baadhi ya jamii kwakutokuwa na taarifa sahihi hujikuta wakizika miili hiyo katika makaburi ya halaiki ili kuepuka mlipuko wa magonjwa lakini shirika la Umoja wa Mataifa la Afya ulimwenguni WHO linasema hiyo si sahihi.
2.	Baada ya kunusurika kwa moto na hatimaye kuwekwa kwenye orodha ya maeneo ya urithi wa dunia yaliyo hatarini kuharibika, makaburi ya wafalme wa Buganda huko Kasubi nchini Uganda sasa yako salama na yameondolewa kwenye orodha hiyo baada ya ukarabati uliofanywa na Uganda kwa usaidizi wa Umoja wa Mataifa na wadau.    
3.	Katika makala na wakati macho na masikio ya Dunia yakielekezwa New York Marekani kwenye mkutano wa Baraza Kuu la Umoja wa Mataifa utakaoanza Jumatatu ijayo kujadili mada mbalimbali ikiwemo hatua dhidi ya mabadiliko ya tabianchi na tunaelekea Tanzania.
4.	Mashinani tutasalia hapa makao Makuu  kusikia ujumbe wa Mwakilishi wa kudumu wa Marekani kwenye Umoja wa Mataifa Balozi Linda Thomas-Greenfield kuhusu kikao cha ngazi ya juu cha Baraza Kuu la Umoja wa Mataifa kitakachofanyika juma lijalo.  

Mwenyeji wako ni Anold Kayanda, karibu!

JARIDA LA HABARI ZA UN 15 SEPTEMBA 2023 NA ANOLD KAYANDA

In line with its mandate, the ICRC engages with all parties to an armed conflict, including non-state armed groups. The ICRC has a long history of confidential humanitarian engagement with armed groups to alleviate and prevent the suffering of persons living in areas controlled by these groups. However, this engagement has become increasingly complex. Accordingly, the ICRC undertakes an annual internal exercise to evaluate the status of its relationships with armed groups and to identify developments to strengthen its future engagement worldwide. In this post, ICRC Adviser Matthew Bamber-Zryd discusses some of the key findings from this exercise.

In 2023, the ICRC estimates that 195 million persons live in areas under the full or fluid control of armed groups. There are more than 450 armed groups of humanitarian concern worldwide and the ICRC’s engagement with these groups remains stable. Despite the ICRC’s successful contact with nearly two-thirds of armed groups worldwide, engagement with some groups remains challenging. These obstacles stem from a combination of state-imposed barriers, notably counter-terrorism legislation, and the precarious security environment prevailing in certain countries.

Read the full blog here: https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy

ICRC engagement with armed groups in 2023

In situations of armed conflict, access to digital technology can save lives. But the use of cyber, information, and other digital operations by belligerents during armed conflict also brings new threats and risks for civilians. Think about cyber operations disrupting civilian infrastructure and services, information operations inciting violence against civilian populations, and digital operations undermining humanitarian relief efforts. In ever-more interdependent digital and physical environments, civilians and civilian infrastructure are increasingly drawn upon to support military operations and, as a result, face real risks of being targeted. As digital technologies permeate our lives and societies, cyber and information operations are no longer abstract or “only online”. They can, directly or indirectly, have serious online and ‘offline’ consequences and harm people.

Between 2021 and 2023, the International Committee of the Red Cross’ (ICRC) President convened a Global Advisory Board of high-level experts from the legal, military, policy, technological, and security fields to advise the organization on digital threats and to develop concrete recommendations to protect civilians against such threats. Today, this Board released its report entitled ‘Protecting Civilians against Digital Threats During Armed Conflict’. In this post, Cordula Droege (chief legal officer and head of the legal division of the ICRC), Laurent Gisel (Head of the Arms and Conduct of Hostilities Unit of the ICRC), Tilman Rodenhäuser (Legal Adviser at the ICRC) and Joelle Rizk (Digital Risks Adviser at the ICRC) present four worrying trends the Board identified, and examples of the Board’s recommendations to address one of them, namely the growing civilian involvement in digital military operations.

Read the full blog post here: https://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/

Protecting civilians against digital threats: 4 worrying trends and recommendations to address them

How are shifts in the digital landscape shaping modern conflict? What role do private tech companies have to play? And how should humanitarians respond? BBC News presenter Geeta Guru-Murthy put these questions to Robert Mardini, Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), at the opening of CDAC Network’s 2023 Public Forum. Listen to their conversation.

Robert Mardini on the information landscape in conflict

Recent conflicts have brought to light the jarring personal dilemmas humanitarian workers confront and provoked legitimate questions about the validity of the principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence as a framework to navigate them. 

In this post, Olivier Ray, the ICRC’s Director of Mobilization, Movement, and Partnerships, reaffirms the principles’ enduring relevance precisely because of the sometimes-excruciating trade-offs and dilemmas humanitarian workers must face.

Principles under pressure: have humanitarian principles stood the test of time?

The 34th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent will take place 28-31 October 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland. At this meeting, states party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement will meet to discuss humanitarian issues under this International Conference’s theme “Navigate uncertainty, strengthen humanity”.

In the lead-up to this meeting, ICRC Legal Adviser Ellen Policinski looks back at the role of the International Conference in drafting the 1949 Geneva Conventions, in particular the Fourth Geneva Convention, which protects civilians.

The Geneva Conventions at 75: the role of the Int'l Conference in securing protection for civilians

In line with its mandate, the ICRC engages with all parties to an armed conflict, including non-state armed groups. The ICRC has a long history of confidential humanitarian engagement with armed groups to alleviate and prevent the suffering of persons living in areas controlled by these groups. However, this engagement has become increasingly complex. Accordingly, the ICRC undertakes an annual internal exercise to evaluate the status of its relationships with armed groups and to identify developments to strengthen its future engagement worldwide. 

In this post, ICRC Adviser Matthew Bamber-Zryd discusses some of the key findings from this exercise. In 2024, the ICRC estimates that 210 million persons live in areas under the full or contested control of armed groups. There are more than 450 armed groups of humanitarian concern worldwide and the ICRC’s engagement with these groups remains stable. Despite the ICRC’s successful contact with 60% of armed groups worldwide, engagement with some groups remains challenging. These obstacles stem from a combination of state-imposed barriers, notably counter-terrorism legislation, and the precarious security environment prevailing in certain countries.

ICRC engagement with armed groups in 2024

Le podcast de geneveMonde.ch vous permet, à travers une sélection d'archives sonores puisées dans les archives de nos partenaires institutionnels (ONU, CICR, UIT, CERN, Archives de la Radio Télévision Suisse, Cinéjournal...), de découvrir l'histoire de la Genève internationale. Il est produit par l'historienne Véronique Stenger et le journaliste David Glaser.

CDAC Network is the global alliance of many of the world’s biggest organisations, prioritising communication with and the engagement of communities to reverse the focus of humanitarian and development decision-making – moving from global to local.

Our members include media development, UN agencies, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement, NGOs and specialist communications entities. Together, we are committed to putting the power in humanitarian and development action back in the hands of communities.

Idhaa ya Kiswahili ya Umoja wa Mataifa inatangaza habari kila siku kwa lugha ya Kiswahili, Kiarabu, Kichina, Kiingereza, Kifaransa, Kireno, Kirusi na Kihispania. Na mara moja kwa wiki inakuwa na vipindi vya lugha ya French Creole, Kibengal, Kihindi, Urdu na kiindonesia.
Radio ya UM inabadilisha taarifa zake kutokan na habari mpya zinavyokuja kila mara kwa siku. Pia inaandaa makala na kufanya uchambuzi wa mada mbalimbali za kijamii, kisiasa, kiuchumi, maendeleo na masuala yanayohusu tamaduni yanyohusisha Umoja wa Mataifa na kazi zake. Vipindi vya Idhaa ya Kiswahili ya Umoja wa Mataifa au UNNews  viko vingi na ni kuanzia habari,  makala, vipindi maalumu na taarifa za habari za kila siku na zile za kila wiki.
Na vipindi vyote hivyo vinaweza kutumiwa na vyombo vingine vya habari au watangazaji, na vinaweza kutumiwa kama chanzo cha habari kwa waandishi.  binafsi.Na kwa kuongezea tuu ni kwamba vipindi vyote hivyo na sauti zingine kwenye tovuti yetu vinatolewa bure bila malipo yoyote. Unaweza pia kujisajli kwenye ukurasa wetu ili upokee taarifa kila wakati zinapochapishwa.
Kwa uchaguzi zaidi wa ushirikiano usisite kuwasilina nasi.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Humanitarian Law & Policy blog is a unique space for timely analysis and debate on international humanitarian law (IHL) issues and the policies that shape humanitarian action.

New tracks tagged #ICRC