Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART ONE Historical analysis
- 1 The ICRC during its early years
- 2 The ICRC during the Cold War
- 3 The ICRC after the Cold War
- 4 The ICRC and the US “war” against terrorism
- PART TWO Policy analysis
- PART THREE Conclusion
- Annexe A The ICRC and the Red Cross movement
- Annexe B The ICRC and selected private relief agencies
- Annexe C The ICRC: one of the Big Four relief agencies
- Annexe D The ICRC and selected advocacy groups
- Annexe E The ICRC organizational chart
- Bibliography
- Index
3 - The ICRC after the Cold War
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART ONE Historical analysis
- 1 The ICRC during its early years
- 2 The ICRC during the Cold War
- 3 The ICRC after the Cold War
- 4 The ICRC and the US “war” against terrorism
- PART TWO Policy analysis
- PART THREE Conclusion
- Annexe A The ICRC and the Red Cross movement
- Annexe B The ICRC and selected private relief agencies
- Annexe C The ICRC: one of the Big Four relief agencies
- Annexe D The ICRC and selected advocacy groups
- Annexe E The ICRC organizational chart
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
The humanitarian organizations have not emerged unscathed from the [Balkan] conflict in which so many men, women and children have perished. Is there still any point in trying to mitigate man-made chaos by humanitarian aid? No idle question, for former Yugoslavia provides an especially edifying and indeed exemplary instance of the juxtaposition of barbarous conduct on the one hand, bravery and useless heroism on the other. In these conditions humanitarian aid has to contend with the most abject political conduct and the inexhaustible indifference of governments.
Mercier, Crimes sans Chatîment, 1It hardly seemed possible that the end of the Cold War would usher in such humanitarian catastrophes. Optimism, however, was to meet a cruel fate in the wake of the collapse of European communism and the implosion of the Soviet Union. President George H. W. Bush went to the United Nations General Assembly in the fall of 1991 and proclaimed that a New World Order had arrived. The trigger was not just the collapse of Soviet-led communism. There was also the liberation of Kuwait from Iraqi control earlier that year, and then shortly thereafter the UN Security Council characterized the ramifications of domestic repression by Saddam Hussein as a threat to international peace and security. All of this made western triumphalism, centered on human dignity, seem credible.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The HumanitariansThe International Committee of the Red Cross, pp. 96 - 128Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005