150 years after Solferino, conflict still traps civilians
150 years after Solferino, conflict still traps civilians
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Tuesday, 23, Jun 2009 08:25
Telling research from the Red Cross has underlined the plight of civilians caught up in armed conflicts.
On the 150th anniversary of the battle of Solferino, an event that directly led to the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the humanitarian organisation has presented research conducted in eight countries recently struck by or involved in armed conflict.
Forty-four per cent of people surveyed said they had been caught up in the fighting, with two-thirds directly affected.
The research, published in a year that also sees the 90th anniversary of the founding of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions, shows that in Haiti, 98 per cent of the population had been affected by armed violence, and 96 per cent in Afghanistan, Lebanon and Liberia.
Displacement affected 76 per cent of people in Afghanistan; while in Liberia 69 per cent of people had lost a relative and 44 per cent of civilians were victims of sexual violence in Haiti.
"There is an enormous economic impact for people," today's report explained.
"Many have lost their means of income due to armed conflict including over half in Afghanistan and Lebanon and two fifths in Haiti."
Solferino, which today's research marks, saw Franco-Sardinian troops face the Austrian army in northern Italy.
The Austrians lost, but the battle is remember for the actions of Henry Durant, heralded as the first modern humanitarian after taking in wounded troops from both sides at a local church.
Durant would go on to be awarded the first-ever Nobel peace prize.
Pierre Kraehenbuehl, ICRC director of operations, commented: "There are striking differences between how civilians experience warfare today compared to 150 years ago at Solferino where the whole idea of the Red Cross emerged.
"At Solferino there were 40,000 dead and injured soldiers on the battlefield versus one civilian killed at that battle. Today it is a total reversal. Sixty per cent of Afghans interviewed say they have been directly affected by conflict over recent years. This is the primary change that we face."
Mr Kraehenbuehl added: "The primary difference that this report is going to make in the way in which ICRC works in zones of conflict and violence is first of all to reconfirm the importance of putting people at the very centre of our analysis and our response and not to approach them with our preconceived and standard setting ways of thinking, but actually taking their perspectives and enriching our analysis with that."