Is neutral humanitarianism dead? Red cross neutrality: Walking the tightrope of neutral humanitarianism

Human Rights Quarterly

Volumn 31, Issue 4, 2009, Pages 888-915

  Rieffer Flanagan, Barbara Ann ^a  

^a CENTRAL WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

COMPLEXITY; ETHICS; HUMAN RIGHTS; HUMANITARIAN AID; INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATION; PERCEPTION; TERRORISM; WAR;

EID: 74349128797     PISSN: 02750392     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1353/hrq.0.0112     Document Type: Article

References (109)

1. MICHAEL ICNATIEFF, THE WARRIOR'S HONOR: ETHNIC WAR AND THEMODERN CONSCIENCE 91 (1998).
2. See also DAVID RIEFF, A BED FOR THE NIGHT: HUMANITARIANISM IN CRISIS (2002). Although Rieff is initially critical of neutral humanitarianism, by the end of his book he suggests neutral humanitarianism is possible.
3. You Are Either with Us or Against Us, CNN.COM, 6 Nov. 2001, available at http://archives.cnn.com/2001/US/11/06/gen.attack.on.terror/.
4. Kurt Mills, Neo-Humanitarianism: The Role of International Humanitarian Norms and Organizations in Contemporary Conflict, 11 GLOBAL GOVERNANCE 161, 161 (2005).
5. Id. at 162; see also David Chandler, The Road to Military Humanitarianism: How the Human Rights NGOs Shaped a New Humanitarian Agenda, 23 HUM. RTS. Q. 678 (2001) (arguing that classical humanitarianism is a thing of the past).
6. Mills, supra note 3, at 164-65.
7. Gil Loescher, An Idea Lost in the Rubble, N.Y. TIMES, 20 Aug. 2004, at A23. Pierre Krähenbuhl, the Director of Operations at the ICRC echoes this concern: "The ensuing blurring of lines between the role and objectives of political and military players on the one hand and humanitarian players on the other creates serious problems for an organization such as the ICRC, with regard to perception, acceptability and security at the operational level." Pierre Krähenbühl, The ICRC's Approach to Contemporary Security Challenges: A Future for Independent and Neutral Humanitarian Action, 86 INT'L REV. RED CROSS 505, 508 (2004).
8. Colin L. Powell, U.S. Sec'y of State, September 11, 2001: Attack on America, Remarks to the National Foreign Policy Conference for Leaders of Nongovernmental Organizations (26 Oct. 2001), available at http://avalon.law.yale.edu/sept11/powell-brief31.asp.
9. Michael Barnett, Humanitarianism with a Sovereign Face: UNHCR in the Global Undertow, 35 INT'L MIGRATION REV. 244, 270 (2001). 9.PETER J. HOFFMAN & THOMAS G. WEISS, SWORD ANDSALVE: CONFRONTING NEW WARS AND HUMANITARIAN CRISES 82 (2006).
10. International treaties such as the Hague Convention of 1907 govern the rights and duties of neutral states.
11. Alexander R. McLin, The ICRC: An Alibi for Swiss Neutrality?, 9 DUKE J. COMP. & INT'L L. 495, 497 (1999).
12. HANS HAUG, HUMANITY FOR ALL: THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT MOVEMENT 461 (1993).
13. The Chinese accused the ICRC of trying to spy for the U.S. in the Korean War. To be discussed below.
14. Geneva Convention (III) Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, adopted 12 Aug. 1949, art. 125, 6 U.S.T. 3316, 75 U.N.T.S. 135 (entered into force 21 Oct. 1950).
15. See generally DAVID P. FORSYTHE & BARBARA ANN J. RIEFFER-FLANACAN, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS: A NEUTRAL HUMANITARIAN ACTOR (2007).
16. The words "neutral" and "impartial" are often used interchangeably both in international humanitarian law and by ICRC staff. Neutrality as will be discussed below is often used to denote a nonpartisan attitude and relationship to the belligerents involved in a conflict. Impartiality deals with the ICRC's relationship with victims of IHL. The ICRC provides impartial assistance to victims based solely on need.
17. Françios Bugnion, Dir. for Int'l Law & Cooperation, ICRC, Swiss Neutrality as Viewed by the International Committee of the Red Cross (26 May 2004), available at http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/ 629CJX.
18. ICRC, Mission, available at http://www.icrc.org/HOME.NSF/ 060a34982cae624ec12566fe00326312/125ffe2d4c7f68acc1256ae300394f6e?OpenDocument.
19. FRANÇOIS BUGNION, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS AND THE PROTECTION OF WAR VICTIMS 18 (Patricia Colberg et al. trans., 2003).
20. JEAN PICTET, DEVELOPMENT AND PRINCIPLES OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW 29 (1985).
21. Id. at 68.
22. Statutes of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, adopted Oct. 1986, available at http://www.icrc.org/Web/eng/ siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/statutes-movement-220506/$File/Statutes-EN-A5.pdf.
23. Id. pmbl. In 1956 Pictet argued for seven basic principles including neutrality. In 1965 the twentieth International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent adopted the fundamental principles. Reprinted in HANDBOOK OF THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT MOVEMENT 615 (13th ed. 1994). In truth the principles, "neutral," "impartial," and "independent" are not as clear in practice and can lead to some conceptual confusion if not practical confusion. The 1949 Geneva Conventions refer to the ICRC as an impartial humanitarian organization.
24. Max Huber, Preface to MARCEL JUNOD, WARRIOR WITHOUT WEAPONS, at xiii (Edward Fitzgerald trans., 1951).
25. Marion Harroff-Tavel, Principles Under Fire: Does It Still Make Sense To Be Neutral?, HUMANITARIAN EXCHANGE, Dec. 2003, at 2, 2.
26. Larry Minear has for example been critical of the ICRC's lack of clarity on the principle of neutrality. Larry Minear, The Theory and Practice of Neutrality: Some Thoughts on the Tensions, 81 INT'L REV. RED CROSS 63 (1999).
27. Interview with ICRC official, in Geneva, Switzerland (6 June 2006).
28. Denise Plattner, ICRC Neutrality and Neutrality in Humanitarian Assistance, 1996 INT'L REV. RED CROSS 161, 169.
29. CAROLINE MOOREHEAD, DUNANT'S DREAM: WAR, SWITZERLAND AND THE HISTORY OF THE RED CROSS 561 (1998).
30. Massimo Lorenzi, LE CICR, LE COEUR ET LA RAISON: ENTRETIENS AVEC CORNELIO SOMMARUCA 21 (1998), cited in David Forsythe, UNHCR's Mandate: The Politics of Being Non-political 3 (New Issues in Refugee Research, Working Paper No. 33, 2001), available at http://www.unhcr.org/research/RESEARCH/3ae6a0d08.pdf.
31. In this I disagree with Haug as he claims that "the Movement does not depend on any ideology, that means to say that it is not tied to any philosophical or ideological system but to its own ideals of willingness to help within the scope of unselfish humanity." Haug, supra note 12, at 464. But this is in fact an ideological/philosophical commitment.
32. DAVID P. FORSYTHE, THE HUMANITARIANS: THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS 173-74 (2005).
33. Id. at 174.
34. Krahenbuhl, supra note 6, at 511.
35. Michael Barnett & Jack Snyder, The Grand Strategies of Humanitarianism, in HUMANITARIANISM IN QUESTION: POLITICS, POWER, ETHICS 143, 147 (Michael Barnett & Thomas G. Weiss eds., 2008).
36. See Barbara Ann Rieffer-Flanagan & David P. Forsythe, Religion, Ethics, and Reality: A Study of Javier Perez de Cuellar, in THE UN SECRETARY-GENERAL AND MORAL AUTHORITY: ETHICS & RELIGION IN INTERNATIONAL LEADERSHIP 229 (Kent J. Kille ed., 2007).
37. TOM COIPURAM JR., IRAQ: UNITED NATIONS AND HUMANITARIAN AID ORGANIZATIONS, REPORT FOR CONGRESS (16 Apr. 2003), available at http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/19953.pdf
38. CARE Suspends Operations in Iraq, ABC NEWS ONLINE, 20 Oct 2004, available at http://www.abc.net.au/news/ newsitems/200410/s1223686.htm.
39. David Rieff, The Lives They Lived; Collateral Damage, N.Y. TIMES, 28 Dec. 2003, § 6 (Magazine), at 24.
40. Baghdad Terror Blasts Kill Dozens, BBC NEWS, 27 Oct 2003, available at http://news. bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle-east/3216539.stm.
41. FORSYTHE,THE HUMANITARIANS, supra note 31, at 60.
42. See FORSYTHE & RIEFFER-FLANACAN, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS, supra note 14, at 13-17.
43. RAINER BAUDENDISTEL, BETWEEN BOMBS AND GOOD INTENTIONS: THE RED CROSS AND THE ITALO-ETHIOPIAN WAR, 1 935-1 936, at 37 (2006).
44. Id. at 21.
45. RODERICK OCLEY, THE THEORY AND PRACTICE OF NEUTRALITY IN THE TWENTIETHC ENTURY 18 (1970); Ogley states that Switzerland's "ideological sympathies ⋯ [were] with the West against communism."; see also BAUDENDISTEL, supra note 42, at 22. Baudendistel refers to Motta's anti-Soviet remarks at the League of Nations in 1934. The Swiss Minister in Rome was Paul Ruegger.
46. BAUDENDISTEL, supra note 42, at 23.
47. Id. at 22.
48. One former staff member at the ICRC indicated that he did not think that the Italian Fascists were any worse than some of the governments and actors that the ICRC deals with today. Interview with ICRC Staff Member, in Geneva, Switzerland (6 June 2006).
49. BAUDENDISTEL, supra note 42, at 198.
50. Paul Ruegger, who will enter our discussion on the Korean War, was a student of Max Huber's, was the Swiss Minister to Italy during the war, and stayed in the same hotel as Huber when the ICRC went to Rome in 1 936 to talk to the Italians about violations of IHL. Id. at 186.
51. Id. at 65.
52. Id. at 66.
53. For a history of the Korean War, see CALLUM A MACDONALD, KOREA: THE WAR BEFORE VVIETNAM (1986);
54. HARRY J. MIDDLETON, THE COMPACT HISTORY OF THE KOREAN WAR (1965);
55. DEAN ACHESON, PRESENT AT THE CREATION: MY YEARS IN THE STATE DEPARTMENT (1969).
56. "More than two million combatant and noncombatant Chinese were engaged in battlefield operations." SHU GUANC ZHANG, MAO'S MILITARY ROMANTICISM 247 (1995). By July of 1 953, North Korea signed a truce with the UN, which restored a division between the North and the South. However no peace treaty has ever been formalized.
57. Protestations albanaises (5 June 1951-30 Jan. 1 952), Archives of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, Switzerland (Archives) B AG 202 056-003.01 (author's translation).
58. See Protestations bulgare et roumaine transmises aux Sociétés de la Croix-Rouge ayant des forces armées en Corée (29 Aug. 1950-6 Mar. 1 952) (Archives B AG 202 056-003.02);
59. Protestation hongroise (31 July 1950-27 Feb. 1952) (Archives B AG 202 056-003.04);
60. Protestations polonaises (29 Aug. 1950-31 May 1 952) (Archives B AG 202 056-003.05). Thus humanitarianism did not begin to be manipulated in the 1990s or after 9/11 as Mills and Chandler suggest.
61. Letter from Vice President, American Red Cross, to Paul Reugger, President, ICRC (6 July 1951) (Archives B AG 202 056-003.03).
62. II INT'L COMM. OF THE RED CROSS, LE COMITÉ INTERNATIONAL DE LA CROIX-ROUGE ET LA CONFLIT DE CORÉE;, R;ECUEIL DE; DOCUMENTS 87 (1952).
63. Letter from Paul Reugger, President, ICRC, to Vice President, American Red Cross (7 Feb. 1952) (Archives B AG 202 056-003.03).
64. Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge et la Conflict de Corée, supra note 57, at 89.11 March 1 952. This was a follow up to a statement Secretary Acheson made on 4 March 1 952. Dean Acheson, U.S. Sec'y of State, "Germ Warfare" Charges Called Fabrication (4 Mar. 1952), in 26 D;EP'T; ST. BULL. 427-28 (1952).
65. II INT'L COMM. OF THE RED CROSS, supra note 57, at 90-91.
66. Milton Leitenberg, New Russian Evidence on the Korean War Biological Warfare Allegations: Background and Analysis, 11 COLD WAR INT'L HIST. PROJECT BULL. 185, 190 (1998), available at http://www.wilsoncenter.org/topics/pubs/New-Ev-KoreanWar. pdf.
67. Some have suggested that the entire accusation was false. Documents from Soviet archives indicate that as early as 1953 the Soviets believed the allegation to be false. "The Soviet Government and the Central Committee of the CPSU were misled. The spread in the press of information about the use by the Americans of bacteriological weapons in Korea was based on false information. The accusations against the Americans were fictitious." Resolution of the Presidium of the USSR Council of Ministers About Letters to the Ambassador of the USSR in the PRC, V.V. Kuznetsov, and to the Charge d'Affaires of the USSR in the DPRK, S.P. Suzdalev (2 May 1 953), available at http://www.wilsoncenter. org/index.cfm?topic-id=1409&fuseaction=va2. document&identifier=DCFF9355-A3EE-6658-497AA9BB08987B0D&sort= Collection&item=The%20Korean%20War.
68. THE CHINESE PEOPLE'S COMM. FOR WORLD PEACE & AGAINST AM. AGGRESSION, STOP US GERM WARFARE! (1952), quoted in John Ellis Van Courtland Moon, Biological Warfare Allegations: The Korean War Case, 666 ANNALS N.Y. ACAD. SCI. 53, 61 (1992).
69. II INT'L COMM. OF THE RED CROSS, supra note 57, at 102.
70. MIDDLETON, supra note 52, at 210.
71. II INT'L COMM. OF THE RED CROSS, supra note 57, at 4.
72. Between 1 950 and 1 953 the Department of Defense recorded 4,71 4 American POWs. The National Archives, Records of American Prisoners of War During the Korean War, available at http://aad.archives.gov/aad/series- description.jsp?s=488&cat=WR27&bc=,sl.
73. DAVID FORSYTHE, HUMANITARIAN POLITICS: THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS 135 (1977).
74. WILLIAM LINDSAY WHITE, THE CAPTIVES OF KOREA: AN UNOFFICIAL WHITE PAPER ON THE TREATMENT OF WAR PRISONERS 121 (Greenwood Press 1979) (1957).
75. MOOREHEAD, supra note 28, at 574-75.
76. Letter from Paul Reugger, President, ICRC, to Kim Il-Sung, Prime Minister and Commander-in-Chief, People's Democratic Republic of Korea, Gen. Matthew Ridgway, Commander-in Chief, UN Forces, and Peng Te Huaih, Commander-in-Chief, Chinese Volunteer Army (Archives B AG 202 056-004).
77. MOOREHEAD, supra note 28, at 570.
78. WHITE, supra note 68, at 158.
79. Memorandum from British Consulate General to ICRC (20 June 1952) (Archives A CL 30.01-23).
80. Id.
81. Letter from Roger Gallopin, Exectutive Director, ICRC, to E.T. Lambert, British Consulate General (4 July 1952) (Archives A CL 30.01-23).
82. OCLEY, supra note 44, at 18.
83. This would suggest that the link between Switzerland and the ICRC was detrimental to ICRC neutrality. Others have suggested that Swiss neutrality helped the ICRC since the Assembly was constituted by Swiss nationals. See, e.g., McLin, supra note 11, at 51 0-1 4. It is an interesting question as to whether the ICRC benefited from Swiss neutrality.
84. François Bugnion, From the End of the Second World War to the Dawn of the Third Millennium-The Activities of the ICRC During the Cold War and Its Aftermath: 1945-1995, 1995 INT'L REV. RED CROSS 207, 214.
85. FORSYTHE, THE HUMANITARIANS, supra note 31, at 58.
86. William Lindsay White suggests that Ruegger began communicating with the various communist governments in a friendly and diplomatic manner, with frustration expressed only after being rebuffed repeatedly. However, given that there are no footnotes or references in his work, it is difficult to find his analysis conclusive. WHITE, supra note 68, at 23-29, 60-61.
87. Letter from Eleanor Roosevelt, to Gen. George Marshall, U.S. Sec'y of Def. (27 April 1951), available at www.trumanlibrary.org/eleanor/1951. html.
88. Id.
89. Internal Memorandum 13 (15 Oct. 1 953) (on file with author).
90. Id. at 19-20.
91. Id. at 2.
92. It is also true that one finds in the archives memos encouraging the ICRC to abstain from becoming involved in this issue. "[T]he ICRC should avoid taking part in public feuds between the communists and their enemies." (Archives B AG 202 056-016).
93. George Willemin and Roger Heacock suggest that the ICRC took some time to adjust to the reality of the Cold War: "The analysis of the ICRC's presence reveals that it was more or less stationary for twenty years (1949-1968). ⋯ The Committee probably needed time to translate into acts its perception of changes in the world system." GEORGES WILLEMIN & ROGER HEACOCK, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS 42 (1984).
94. Interview with Andreas Wigger, Deputy Director of Operations, ICRC (26 Nov. 2006), available at http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/ htmlall/islam-ihl-interview-281106?opendocument.
95. News Release 06/134, ICRC, Iran: Conference on Islam and Humanitarian Law in Qom (30 Nov. 2006), available at http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/ siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/iran-news-30112006?opendocument.
96. Interview with Andreas Wigger, supra note 88.
97. Id.
98. LARRY MINEAR, THE HUMANITARIAN ENTERPRISE: DILEMMAS AND DISCOVERIES 102 (2002).
99. In December 2005 the International Red Cross Movement added a new symbol-the Red Crystal-to its internationally recognized symbols. The Red Crystal (a red diamond on a white background) will be used by Israel.
100. Gaza-West Bank, ICRC Bulletin No. 15/2006, 14 Dec. 2006, available at http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/palestine-israel-news- 141206?opendocument.
101. News Release 06/77, ICRC, ICRC Gravely Concerned About Humanitarian Situation in Gaza (13 July 2006), available at http://www.icrc.org/web/ eng/siteeng0.nsf/htmlall/palestine-news-130706?opendocument.
102. The ICRC was also critical of the Israeli policy in the occupied territories, especially concerning the interrogation of Palestinian detainees and confiscation of Palestinian property. See ICRC, ANNUAL REPORT 1998, at 266 (1999).
103. Steven Erlanger, Red Cross Report Says Israel Disregards Humanitarian Law, N.Y. TIMES, 15 May 2007, at A8.
104. Interview with ICRC official, supra note 26.
105. Id.
106. Id.
107. HOFFMAN & WEISS, supra note 9, at 162.
108. Krähenbühl, supra note 6, at 507.
109. Throughout the history of the Cold War there are only a few examples where a communist country worked with the ICRC. In 1979 both China and North Vietnam allowed the ICRC to conduct detention visits in the border war, and in the early 1980s the Polish government allowed the ICRC to visit political prisoners. See FORSYTHE& RIEFFER-FLANAGAN, THE INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS, supra note 14, at 20.