UNA-NI marked UN Day 2013 by promoting the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is currently celebrating 150 years of providing humanitarian aid. The ICRC validates, coordinates and supports the efforts of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent organisations in Geneva with a staff of 900 in that city and 1500 in the field. It is funded by governments, by members of its network of 188 national voluntary bodies and together they provide the specialist support, local manpower and information essential for adequately responding to conflicts, natural disasters and individual emergencies.
Mr Walter Jeanty of the ICRC described the current humanitarian efforts to alleviate the terrible suffering in Syria. The ICRC has budgeted £70 million for Syria this year and has some 150 of its staff working there. Moreover, from January to September this year, the ICRC, working with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, has delivered food to almost 2.5 million people and household necessities for more than 700,000 people and also ensured that over 20 million people have access to drinking water. Although the help being given can only meet a fraction of the need, ICRC’s international status has enabled it to enter into dialogue at the highest levels of government in Syria. Some of the difficulties facing aid workers in Syria include the multiplicity of armed groups operating there e.g. during a journey from Damascus to Aleppo, a distance of about 200 miles, an aid worker had to negotiate some 65 roadblocks. Kidnapping is a constant danger too and 3 ICRC staff members are currently being held.
Mr Neil McKitterick from the British Red Cross also attended the UN Day meeting and emphasised the diversity of the work of the different national Red Cross organisations, citing as an example the fact that in Belgium the society has responsibility for the national blood bank. Within NI, there are 50 Red Cross staff and 900 volunteers who meet a range of needs which, apart from First Aid, includes the provision of wheelchairs, the delivery of food and water to isolated communities in severe weather, a family tracing service and a pilot project assisting destitute migrants. In NI, the largest group of refugees comes from Somalia; there is also a group of 20 refugees from Syria. The work of the Red Cross in NI is funded by the income from their charity shops, First Aid services and voluntary subscriptions.
It was noted that UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon grew up in the war-torn Republic of Korea and benefitted from the life-saving international aid brought into the country by those wearing ‘UN blue’ and by the men and women bearing the iconic red symbol of the Red Cross movement. His first travel abroad was sponsored by the Red Cross and this opportunity transformed his views of the world and his place in it so that he eventually chose to pursue a career in international public service. Ban Ki-Moon has spoken of his admiration for the ability of the ICRC to rapidly deploy and maintain a presence in situations of armed conflict and violence, where the UN and other humanitarian agencies may be unable to be present and where the ICRC may offer the only hope of survival for people in need of protection and assistance.
Vincent Burke, UNA-NI Committee Member