Thursday, June 15, 2006 10:00-11:00
Speaker: Andres Kruesi (ICRC Delegate to the Armed Forces)
Due to delays, I was only able to attend the question and answer session of the presentation. During this time, Mr. Kruesi addressed a question regarding Russia and his experiences while visiting prisons there. He stated that Russia and Somalia are the only two countries where the International Committee of the Red Cross uses armed security. Part of the reason why armed security is used in Russia is because an individual working for the ICRC was assassinated. Kruesi expressed his prediction that armed security will not be used much longer in Russia.
Mr. Kruesi also stressed the importance of abiding by the Geneva Convention and what kind of complications that implies when taking actions abroad. Particularly, he addressed the difficulty and complication in defining the category certain people fall into and explained that it by no means is or was black and white. He stated that the ICRC does not use military logistics and explained that he does not believe that worry about militarized humanitarianism, which he claimed is beginning to increase, is justified.
by Megan Shaw
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