Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART ONE Historical analysis
- PART TWO Policy analysis
- 5 ICRC principles and policies
- 6 ICRC structure and management: personnel, policy making, resources
- 7 The ICRC and international humanitarian law
- 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
5 - ICRC principles and policies
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 06 July 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- List of abbreviations
- Introduction
- PART ONE Historical analysis
- PART TWO Policy analysis
- 5 ICRC principles and policies
- 6 ICRC structure and management: personnel, policy making, resources
- 7 The ICRC and international humanitarian law
- 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
It is not enough to call upon great humanitarian principles. In a fluid situation it is necessary to lay down rules of behaviour which must be respected by everyone, from the [ICRC] President down to the last delegate.
Freymond, “Humanitarian Policy and Pragmatism,” Government and Opposition, 11 (Autumn, 1976), 425From the historical overview presented in the previous chapters one can extract and analyze the basic principles and policies of the ICRC. These principles and policies allow us to situate the organization more clearly in international relations by allowing us to distinguish the ICRC's role, strategy, and tactics from other relevant actors. In the “international community” one finds numerous actors dealing from time to time with humanitarian affairs – states, United Nations organs and agencies, Doctors Without Borders, Amnesty International, the European Union's Humanitarian Office, and so on. The ICRC, while not ruling out the possibility of some type of cooperation with most of these, cooperates (or not) according to a particular set of principles and policies. The ICRC has historically marched to its own drummer.
Two fundamental subjects
To set the stage, we can focus briefly on two fundamental subjects: the ICRC's core role of humanizing war, and the relevance to the organization of the official seven Red Cross principles.
Limiting versus opposing war
From the beginning, the ICRC approach to protecting war victims left itself open to the charge that it was in bed with governments and their bellicose policy makers.
- Type
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- Information
- The HumanitariansThe International Committee of the Red Cross, pp. 157 - 200Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2005