Extract from ICRC special report: assistance

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.

The Assistance Division provides field operations with strategic support and professional expertise in three areas of activity – health services, economic security and water and habitat. These activities encompass forensic science and weapon contamination.

2009-Various places

As Orthodox Christmas approaches in Central and Eastern Europe, many displaced and isolated families affected by the armed conflict between Russia and Georgia five months ago remain in need of help. For elderly people, like 60-year-old Nunu Doliashvili, the holiday season would have been very bleak indeed, were it not for some much-needed assistance from ICRC.

Fighting between government forces and the armed opposition continues in the region bordering Afghanistan. Civilians are paying a heavy price. The ICRC’s Sitara Jabeen reports on the cultural and social challenges facing displaced people on the Pakistani/Afghan border.

Clashes between the Mamprusi and Kusasi tribes in the northern Ghanaian town of Bawku have left many people in fear of their lives and separated from their livelihoods. The Red Cross has stepped in to help them through these trying times.

How do humanitarian workers in a country emerging from war, and doctors practising medicine in Geneva, experience the transition from an acute to a chronic problem – from saving lives to supporting patients suffering from a long-term illness? This was the subject debated by doctors, patients and ICRC managers in Zinal, Switzerland, in March 2008. The author of this text is a political adviser to the International Committee of the Red Cross, responsible for the analysis of future trends. The text reflects the author's opinions only and does not necessarily correspond to the views of the ICRC.

About 1,500 people remain at the police station camp for the displaced in Kakamega. Many of them own small businesses in the town and are reluctant to abandon their property. Red Cross counsellors are providing much-needed support to those who are at a loss as to where to go from here. Bernard Barrett reports.

With the political situation in Kenya still tense, the humanitarian consequences of the post-election violence persist and the people affected remain in need of ongoing support. The Kenya Red Cross and the ICRC are preparing to help for the long term.

The violence in Kenya has killed hundreds of people and forced an estimated quarter of a million from their homes in the Rift Valley region. Many have gathered at public sites where they are surviving on hand-outs. The ICRC's Anne Mucheke reports.

When people are wounded or fall sick during armed conflict and internal violence, health workers are there to help, but they don't take sides.

ICRC micro-economic initiatives are tailored to individual beneficiaries and designed in close consultation with them. This handbook features lessons that have been learned from previous micro-economic initiatives, describes best practices and proposes ways to meet inherent challenges. Since 2001, the ICRC has launched micro-economic initiatives in over a dozen countries worldwide, from the Balkans to Afghanistan to DR Congo.

This publication looks at key water and sanitation issues in conflict-affected countries where the ICRC works. It analyses challenges from the point of view of operational practice, which has developed and become more professional as the years have gone by.

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.

The ICRC's work to promote economic security is intended to ensure that households and communities can cover their unavoidable expenditures and maintain or restore sustainable livelihoods.

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.

Recent catastrophes, and predictions of an increasing potential for more, have stimulated thinking about the best policy responses to these threats. This article explores how security concepts influence catastrophe governance. It considers how globalization affects thinking about catastrophes, describes ways in which catastrophes have been conceptualized as governance challenges and explains how health and humanitarian assistance experienced “securitization” in the post-Cold War period.

Conference of the Luxemburg Group - 24-25 May 2004
Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva

Adopted by the Assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross on 29 April 2004 - Public version

In many conflicts, disease kills more civilians than bullets. Reason enough for the ICRC to call on governments to ensure safe water and decent sanitation for civilians in conflict zones. An interview with Robert Mardini, head of the ICRC’s water and habitat unit, on the occasion of the Fifth World Water Forum in Istanbul, Turkey.

Drought, floods and the effects of 18 years of armed violence and lawlessness have driven much of the Somali population into destitution. Mathias Frese has been working in Somalia for many years as the ICRC's coordinator for relief activities and livelihood support.

As the worldwide food crisis deepens, the ICRC's Alain Mourey underlines the need to analyse the root causes, which can vary depending on the region. The author of the ICRC’s nutrition manual explains why it is not enough merely to supply the needy with food rations.

As the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement prepares to take action in the face of the unprecedented food crisis. the head of the ICRC's Economic Security Unit, Barbara Boyle Saidi, looks at the underlying causes of the problem and the strategies needed to address it.

The situation in Somalia is growing steadily worse, with increasing violence having caused a mass exodus from Mogadishu. Daniel Gagnon, the ICRC's economic security delegate in Somalia, describes the plight of the beleaguered Somali people, and what the ICRC is doing to help.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is deeply concerned about the worsening humanitarian situation in Afghanistan. As armed hostilities spread and insecurity grows, more and more people are being forced to flee their homes. It is also becoming increasingly difficult for the ICRC to access displaced people throughout the country. In addition, freezing temperatures and blizzards have affected several areas, killing hundreds. Interview with Franz Rauchenstein, ICRC deputy head of delegation in Afghanistan.

United Nations, General Assembly, 62nd session, Plenary, item 71 of the agenda, Statement by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), New York, 19 Novembre 2007

Photos illustrating ICRC activities around the world in 2008. The media is welcome to use these images, which can be downloaded at high resolution.

It is estimated that the decade-long conflict in Uganda has forced over 1.7 million people from their homes into camps for the displaced. In February-March 2007, the ICRC distributed substantial aid to some 560,000 displaced people currently living in camps, returning to their homes or resettling after years of displacement.

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.