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ICRC communication: Generating support

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2005

Yves Daccord
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Abstract

The environment in which the ICRC works and communicates is constantly changing. The ICRC is also constantly seeking support that will allow it to gain access to victims, carry out its work, generate the diplomatic and financial backing needed for that work and ensure the safety of its delegates. The primary aim of communication is not merely to pass on messages from the organization effectively. It is just as necessary to understand the issues concerning the various audiences and how they perceive those issues as it is to inform them. The ICRC draws on a wide array of communication strategies and resources, depending on their complementarity and their potential impact, ranging from meetings with local armed groups to the use of mass communication tools. Communication is thus an integral part of the ICRC's decision-making process, both at headquarters and in each context in the field.

Type
Communication
Information
International Review of the Red Cross , Volume 87 , Issue 860: Communication , December 2005 , pp. 693 - 705
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 2005

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References

1 A number of authors have described this phenomenon. They include Hasner, Pierre in Hard Choices: Moral Dilemma in Humanitarian Intervention, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc., Oxford 1998Google Scholar; Minear, Larry in The Humanitarian Enterprise: Dilemmas and Discoveries, Kumarian Press, Bloomfield, Conn., 2002Google Scholar; Rieff, David in A Bed for the Night: Humanitarians in Crisis, Simon & Shuster, New York, 2002Google Scholar; or Forsythe, David P. in The Humanitarians, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

2 At the end of 2005 the ICRC had a total staff of 11,375.

3 The ICRC is working in more than 80 countries. See Emergency Appeals 2006, ICRC, December 2005.

4 ICRC communication is made up of two complementary parts: public communication and the promotion of international humanitarian law. Public communication is aimed primarily at informing and raising awareness among the ICRC's priority audiences. It seeks to strengthen support for international humanitarian law, the work of the ICRC and the positions it adopts, and to present a consistent image of it. The main purpose of promoting international humanitarian law is to ensure that law's incorporation in particular in the doctrine, education and training of the armed and security forces and in university and school syllabuses.

5 The work of the ICRC and the various components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is based on the Movement's Fundamental Principles, the main ones being humanity, impartiality, independence and neutrality.

6 The scale of a humanitarian crisis is usually “measured” by the number of victims. It can also be determined by its geographic location, the nationality of the victims or by the type or scale of the violations.

7 See Aeschlimann, Alain, “Protection of detainees: ICRC action behind bars,” International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 87, No. 857, March 2005, pp. 83–122CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

8 See Kellenberger, Jakob, “Speaking out or remaining silent in humanitarian work,” International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 86, No. 855, September 2004, pp. 593–608CrossRefGoogle Scholar.

9 See Press Release 04/65, 12 November 2004 and interview with Pierre Krähenbühl, ICRC Director of Operations, 18 November 2004, available at: <http://www.gva.icrc.priv/Web/Eng/siteengO.nsf/iwpList74/BC9F68471D89883941256F56004C228A> (last visited on 2 February 2006); Emergency Appeals 2006, ICRC, December 2005, p. 215.

10 Peripheral with regard to the western “centre,” which appears to regulate (economic, financial, political and media) globalization.

11 Ibid.

12 Dominique Wolton, Il faut sauver la communication, Editions Flammarion, 2005, pp. 39–46 and pp. 124–135.

13 65% of the respondents selected this activity from a list of 11 activities connected with the ICRC to a greater or lesser extent (multiple choices). The margin of error in this survey was +/- 4%.

14 65% of the respondents selected this term from a list of 10 terms defining the ICRC (multiple choices).

15 World Food Programme (WFP), Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and Amnesty International.

16 The programme “Exploring humanitarian law,” to raise awareness of international humanitarian law among young people aged between 13 and 18 has been implemented in 34 countries and is being tested in 65 others throughout the world.

17 In 2005, this work was carried out in more than 100 countries by 22 ICRC delegates specialized in relations with the armed, police and security forces. Its main purpose is to help the armed forces, the police or other armed groups in setting up means and mechanisms conducive to respect for the law and for specially protected persons.

18 The ICRC website, <www.icrc.org>, exists in English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese and Chinese.

19 There are 151 National Red Cross Societies and 32 National Red Crescent Societies in the world. Together with the ICRC and their International Federation, they are members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. In the recent “Voice of the People” survey conducted by Gallup International (see above), 42% of the 50,000 persons interviewed replied that the ICRC was carrying out the same activities as the Red Cross or Red Crescent of their country. This percentage differed perceptibly from one country to another.

20 Complementary to its promotion of international humanitarian law (see above).

21 “ICRC public communication: Policy, guiding principles and priority audiences” (internal document), policy adopted by the ICRC Assembly in 2004.