Between insurgents and government: the International Committee of the Red Cross's action in the Algerian War (1954–1962)

2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (883) ◽  
pp. 707-742 ◽  
Author(s):  
Françoise Perret ◽  
François Bugnion
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Terrorist Attacks ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
French Government ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Asymmetric Warfare ◽  
National Liberation Front ◽  
Police Action

AbstractThe French government and an armed insurrectionary movement – the National Liberation Front (FLN) – confronted each other for over seven years in the Algerian War, which would become the archetype of wars of national liberation. It brought the new conditions of struggle in revolutionary warfare to a convulsive climax characterized by terrorist attacks, underground warfare, and repression. On the humanitarian front, the challenge of ensuring respect for humanitarian rules in asymmetric warfare was posed more bluntly than in any previous conflict. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) faced the triple challenge of offering its services to a government facing an armed insurgency that it claimed to be able to bring under control through police action alone, of entering into contact with a liberation movement, and of conducting a humanitarian action in the context of an insurrectionary war.

Vietnam—Indonesia—India and Pakistan—Yemen

1966 ◽  
Vol 6 (59) ◽  
pp. 97-102
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Foreign Affairs ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
The South ◽  
The North ◽  
Male Nurse ◽  
National Liberation Front ◽  
Vietnamese Population ◽  
Medical Teams

ICRC medical teams ready to go into action. — With a view to alleviating the suffering caused by the prolongation of the war to the Vietnamese population both in the North and in the South, the International Committee of the Red Cross on December 27, 1965 offered the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Hanoi and Saigon and the National Liberation Front (NLF) to send medical teams to the spot, each consisting of two doctors and one male nurse, all of Swiss nationality. These could, in accordance with the principles of the Red Cross, care for all wounded, sick and disabled, victims of the events.

The ICRC Library goes digital

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-2
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Reference Library ◽  
Parallel Development ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
The Core ◽  
The Past

The ICRC Library is home to unique collections retracing the parallel development of humanitarian action and law during the past 150+ years. With the core of these collections now digitized, this reference library on international humanitarian law (IHL) and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a resource available to all, anytime, anywhere.

Hacking humanitarians: Defining the cyber perimeter and developing a cyber security strategy for international humanitarian organizations in digital transformation

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (913) ◽  
pp. 367-387
Author(s):  
Massimo Marelli
Keyword(s):  
Cyber Security ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
New Technologies ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Digital Transformation ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Digital Environment ◽  
Security Strategy ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Humanitarian Organizations

AbstractDigitalization and new technologies have an increasingly important role in today's humanitarian activities. As humanitarian organizations become more active in and reliant on new and digital technologies, they evolve from being simple bystanders to being fully fledged stakeholders in cyberspace, vulnerable to adverse cyber operations that could impact on their capacity to protect and assist people affected by armed conflict or other situations of violence.This shift makes it essential for humanitarian organizations to understand and properly map their resulting cyber perimeter. Humanitarian organizations can protect themselves and their activities by devising appropriate cyber strategies for the digital environment. Clearly defining the digital boundaries within which they carry out operations lays the groundwork for humanitarian organizations to develop a strategy to support and protect humanitarian action in the digital environment, channel available resources to where they are most needed, and understand the areas in which their operational dialogue and working modalities need to be adapted for cyberspace.The purpose of this article is to identify the unique problems facing international humanitarian organizations operating in cyberspace and to suggest ways to address them. More specifically, the article identifies the key elements that an international humanitarian organization should consider in developing a cyber security strategy. Throughout, the International Committee of the Red Cross and its specificities are used as an example to illustrate the problems identified and the possible ways to address them.

scholarly journals THE ROLE OF THE HUMANITARIAN ACTION INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE FOR THE RED CROSS (ICRC) IN THE 2011 LIBYA REVOLUTION

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 35-54
Author(s):  
Fitri Adi Setyorini
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Government Organizations ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Humanitarian Mission ◽  
Medical Supplies ◽  
East Region ◽  
One Step ◽  
The Arab Spring

This study discusses the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) role in protecting and assisting victims of the Libyan revolution in 2011. The purpose of this study is to explore more about the role of the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) in protecting and assisting victims of war as one step on a humanitarian mission. The author used the non-government organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian action concepts. The author's research method to analyze this study was a descriptive method through a literature review. Based on research done, the author found that the revolution in Libya in 2011 was one of the effects of the Arab Spring in the Middle East region. The author also found that the ICRC carried out its humanitarian missions by providing food, water, medical supplies, medical equipment, and clothing.

Part IV Activities of Organizations, Ch.14 Humanitarian Action

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Weiss Thomas G
Keyword(s):  
World War I ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
For Profit ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
War Zone ◽  
Local Actors ◽  
History Of ◽  
Humanitarian Space ◽  
The Cold War

This chapter begins by defining some key terms, including humanitarian action, humanitarianism, humanitarian space, and humanitarian intervention. It then examines the history of humanitarian action in wars through the lenses of three historical periods: the 19th century until World War I; the early 20th century through the end of the Cold War; and the last quarter-century. Next, it describes the entities that exert influence on the ground from outside a war zone: international NGOs, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the UN system, bilateral aid agencies, external military forces, for-profit firms, and the media. Operating alongside, and sometimes in opposition to, external agents in a particular war zone are local actors, which include NGOs and businesses as well as the armed belligerents. The chapter concludes with a discussion of the coordination of the various moving parts of the international humanitarian system.

scholarly journals Torture of terrorists? Use of torture in a “war against terrorism”: justifications, methods and effects: the case of France in Algeria, 1954–1962

2007 ◽  
Vol 89 (867) ◽  
pp. 543-560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raphaëlle Branche
Keyword(s):  
Algerian War ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Nationalist Movement ◽  
Main Form ◽  
True Target ◽  
Conflict Situations ◽  
National Liberation Front ◽  
The Way ◽  
Terrorist Violence

AbstractDuring its war against the armed nationalist movement fighting for Algerian independence (1954–62), France made extensive use of torture, for which the main justification given was the terrorism employed by the National Liberation Front, even though such terrorist violence was neither the nationalists' main form of action nor the French army's true target. Research into the methods used and the aims pursued challenges that justification, shedding light on the way in which torture really operates in a war of this kind, even though the Algerian War has been presented as a model for many subsequent conflict situations.

Appeal by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Additional Protocols of 1977

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (320) ◽  
pp. 471-472
Author(s):  
Cornelio Sommaruga
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
The Government ◽  
Preparatory Work

Twenty years ago, on 11 June 1977, the plenipotentiaries of over a hundred States and several national liberation movements signed the Final Act of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts. This Conference had been convened by the government of Switzerland, the depositary State of the Geneva Conventions. After four sessions held between 1973 and 1977, themselves preceded by several years of preparatory work, the Conference drew up two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of the victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I) and of noninternational armed conflicts (Protocol II).

Detention by armed groups: overcoming challenges to humanitarian action

2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (883) ◽  
pp. 759-782 ◽  
Author(s):  
David Tuck
Keyword(s):  
Perceived Risk ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
Unique Role ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
International Character

AbstractArmed conflict and deprivation of liberty are inexorably linked. Deprivation of liberty by non-state armed groups is a consequence of the predominantly non-international character of contemporary armed conflicts. Regardless of the nature of the detaining authority or the overarching legality of its detention operations, deprivation of liberty may nonetheless have serious humanitarian implications for the individuals detained. Despite a need for humanitarian action, effective engagement is hampered by certain threshold obstacles, such as the perceived risk of the group's legitimization. Since the formative work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)'s founder, Henry Dunant, the ICRC has sought to overcome these obstacles. In doing so it draws upon its experience of humanitarian action in state detention, adapting it to the exigencies of armed groups and the peculiarities of their detention practice. Although not without setbacks, the ICRC retains a unique role in this regard and strives to ameliorate the treatment and conditions of detention of persons deprived of liberty by armed groups.

The International Committee of the Red Cross in Afghanistan: reasserting the neutrality of humanitarian action

2011 ◽  
Vol 93 (881) ◽  
pp. 173-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fiona Terry
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Humanitarian Assistance ◽  
The Other ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Guiding Principle ◽  
Humanitarian Action ◽  
Cast Doubt

AbstractNeutrality as a guiding principle of humanitarian action was roundly rejected by most actors in Afghanistan's latest conflict. One party to the conflict commandeered assistance and aid organizations into a counter-insurgency campaign, and the other rejected Western aid organizations as agents of an imperialist West. The murder in 2003 of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) water engineer Ricardo Munguia, because of what he symbolized, cast doubt on whether the ICRC could be perceived as neutral in this highly polarized context. Rather than abandon a neutral stance, however, as so many aid organizations did, the ICRC persevered and, through some innovative and sometimes risky initiatives, managed to show both sides the benefits of having a neutral intermediary in conflict. Today, the ICRC continues to expand its reach to Afghans in dire need of humanitarian assistance.

TREASON OR CHARITY? CHRISTIAN MISSIONS ON TRIAL AND THE DECOLONIZATION OF ALGERIA

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (4) ◽  
pp. 733-753 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darcie Fontaine
Keyword(s):  
North Africa ◽  
Algerian War ◽  
Complex Relationship ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Christian Missions ◽  
War Of Independence ◽  
Military Tribunal ◽  
Algerian War Of Independence ◽  
National Liberation Front ◽  
The Military

AbstractThis article explores the role that Christianity played in the decolonization of Algeria and in particular how the complex relationship between Christianity and colonialism under French rule shaped the rhetoric and actions of Christians during the Algerian War of Independence (1954–62). Using the case of a 1957 trial in the military tribunal of Algiers in which twelve Europeans were charged with crimes ranging from distributing propaganda for the National Liberation Front to sheltering suspected communist and nationalist militants, I demonstrate how “Christian” rhetoric became one of the major means through which the conduct of the war and the defense of French Algeria were debated. While conservative defenders of French Algeria claimed that actions such as those of the Christians on trial led to the erasure of Christianity in North Africa, I argue that such actions and moral positions allowed for the continued presence of Christianity in Algeria after independence.

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