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
2 - The ICRC during 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
While there are some signs of change in the right direction, there is still a great need for the ICRC to “open the windows” … On the whole, the ICRC seems to have blurred the differences between the discretion which their work requires and an obsession with needless secrecy.
Tansley, Final Report: An Agenda for Red Cross, July 1975, 114The Cold War years presented various challenges to the ICRC. Under concerted criticism not only from communist but also from certain western democratic circles, the ICRC staved off unwanted changes in its composition and mandate mainly through its performance in various conflicts – in Palestine and Hungary, for example. It also played its traditional role in helping to further develop international humanitarian law. By the middle of the Cold War, the organization was engaged broadly in complex ways not only in the Global South but also in Europe – not only in “developing areas” but also in Greece and Northern Ireland. There was clearly a need for its traditional roles during the Cold War, even if the ICRC was slow to anticipate some needed changes at headquarters as well as in the field.
Its controversial performance in the conflict in Nigeria during 1967–70 led to important changes in Geneva. There were other opportunities for striking change, as in response to the 1975 Tansley Report on the Re-appraisal of the Red Cross, or at the 1974–77 diplomatic conference that produced two protocols additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The HumanitariansThe International Committee of the Red Cross, pp. 51 - 95Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005