as their emblem. The LRCS do not want a proliferation of emblems the idea is to have a single universally recognised emblem.
(b) finance of the movement (ie LRCS and ICRC) by governments and voluntary contributions. A topic of more specific interest will be transport
costs.
(c) the nature and applicability of some of the relief supplies offered eg out-of-date medical supplies, inappropriate foodstuffs/equipment
etc...
(a) the development of national socieites as a contribution to national development - this is of specific concern to developing countries where the role of the national society in public hygeine and primary health care training is indeed a major contribution to national development.
programmes.
(e) the role of the movement vis-a-vis refugees and repatriation
(f) South Africa (to which we can, presumably, add Palestine),
International Committee of the Red Cross
7. My call on Mr Conod was rather shorter but no less informative, Mr Conod explained the legal side of the ICRC's work. This he saw as follows:
(a) the promotion of international humanitarian law, development and implementation.
its
(b) the negotiation of exchanges of PoWs and the release of
hostages.
(c) the tracing of missing persons.
(d) prison inspections
especially political prisoners.
both PoW camps and civilian prisoners,
This is all admirably set out in the ICRC's own booklet attached. Mr Conod pointed out that because of the nature of the work ICRC delegates (ie those with the power to negotiate on behalf of the ICRC) had to be citizens of a neutral country. In practice this meant that they have to be Swiss nationals.
8. That said, there are some non-Swiss delegates such as Mr Adams, the Director of Appeals and Operations and a former member of the British Red Cross Society. They do not, however, get involved in negotiations, on that the rules are strictly observed. Mr Adams is an impressive man who clearly has strong views on the role of the movement. Unlike the LRCS and the UNHCR, he does not believe that the Red Cross Movement should get drawn into development programmes. He sees the movement's role purely as the provision of emergency relief, and the role of the ICRC (in relief assistance) as the provision of emergency medical supplies and teams and essential food and shelter materials in combat zones. In an ideal world this would mean operations of very limited
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