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A personal experience in Turkey, Iran and China: The need for the ICRC to adapt in a multipolar world

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2018

Pierre Ryter
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Abstract

This Opinion Note is a reflection on the challenges faced by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in emerging countries that want to be heard in the humanitarian world without being major donors. The author underlines the importance of the feeling of humiliation that can be seen in the narratives of these countries. After listing some of the specific activities that can be developed in such contexts, he refers to the concept of strategic anchoring developed by the ICRC in order to work more effectively in a world that is becoming increasingly multipolar.

Keywords

historical narrativehumiliationstrategic anchoringhumanitarian diplomacy
Type
Reconciliation and (re)writing history: What to remember
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 101 , Issue 910: Memory and war , April 2019 , pp. 217 - 227
Copyright
Copyright © icrc 2018 

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References

1 Védrine, Hubert, History Strikes Back, Brookings Institution Press, Washington, DC, 2008, pp. 1, 16Google Scholar.

2 “2003: Invasion of Iraq”, BBC News, 7 September 2011, available at: www.bbc.com/news/av/world-middle-east-14666720/2003-invasion-of-iraq (all internet references were accessed in June 2018).

3 In Iran, activities were carried out from the end of 2001 in connection with the situation in Afghanistan, marked by military invention by the United States and its allies in the aftermath of the attacks of 11 September 2001. In Turkey, the ICRC did not succeed in prolonging its presence in Ankara beyond the withdrawal of US troops from Iraq in 2011.

4 Badie, Bertrand, Humiliation in International Relations: A Pathology of Contemporary International Systems, Hart Publishing, Oxford, 2017, p. 6Google Scholar.

5 British Museum, “Extension of Cyrus Cylinder Loan”, 4 January 2011, available at: www.britishmuseum.org/about_us/news_and_press/statements/cyrus_cylinder.aspx.

6 See news report, photos and comments on the concept of the “Chinese dream” from China Daily, available at: www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/Chinese-dream.html.

7 For more information on neo-Ottomanism, see, among others, Tanasković, Darko, Neo-Ottomanism: A Doctrine and Foreign Policy Practice, Association of Non-Governmental Organizations of Southeast Europe (CIVIS), Belgrade, 2013Google Scholar.

8 Iran stopped using the red lion and sun in 1980.

9 In the 1980s, the ICRC visited Iraqi prisoners of war (PoWs) in Iran and Vietnamese PoWs in China. It also took part in operations to repatriate Iranian and Iraqi PoWs via Turkey.

10 On this subject, see Hanna B. Krebs, Responsibility, Legitimacy, Morality: Chinese Humanitarianism in Historical Perspective, Humanitarian Policy Group Working Paper, Overseas Development Institute, September 2014, available at: www.odi.org/publications/8661-responsibility-legitimacy-morality-chinese-humanitarianism-historical-perspective.

11 See ICRC, “International Conference on Islam and IHL – Statement by the ICRC”, 8 December 2016, available at: www.icrc.org/en/document/speech-icrc-president-international-conference-islam-and-ihl.

12 See ICRC, “China: Special Exhibition Highlights ‘Humanity in War’”, news release, 14 October 2016, available at: www.icrc.org/en/document/china-humanity-in-war-exhibition.

13 Fyodor Lukyanov, cited in ICRC, “Resisting the Politicization of Humanitarian Action in the Post-Cold War Era”, Humanitarian Law and Policy Blog, 14 June 2016, available at: http://blogs.icrc.org/law-and-policy/2016/06/14/resisting-politicization-humanitarian-action-post-cold-war-era-interview-fyodor-lukyanov/.

14 Visits started in Iran in 1992 under an agreement with the authorities, but were discontinued.

15 The situation is different in Turkey. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture, a body of the Council of Europe, makes regular visits to prisons and maintains a dialogue on this subject with the authorities in Ankara. See Council of Europe, “The CPT Visits Turkey”, 24 May 2017, available at: www.coe.int/fr/web/cpt/-/cpt-carries-out-periodic-visit-to-turkey.

16 HELP is a multidisciplinary training course on the principles and practice of humanitarian work in disasters, conflicts and other crises, with a focus on health and ethics. A brochure is available at: www.icrc.org/fr/publication/health-emergencies-large-populations-help-course.

17 Developed by the ICRC, in close association with the Educational Development Center and with the active participation of twenty sites from all parts of the world, EHL offers thirty hours of educational activities. Building on the experiences of a wide variety of countries, the programme is transnational in scope, cutting across political, social, religious and cultural contexts, and can easily be adapted to diverse educational settings. A project summary is available at: www.icrc.org/en/document/exploring-humanitarian-law.

18 See International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, “The Museum: History and Architecture”, available at: www.redcrossmuseum.ch/en/the-museum/history-and-architecture/.

19 Pictet, Jean, “Humanitarian Ideas Shared by Different Schools of Thought and Cultural Traditions”, in Henry Dunant Institute and UNESCO, International Dimensions of Humanitarian Law, Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1988, pp. 3–4Google Scholar.