I would encourage you to take a look at the following news story from NPR on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) recent visit to POW camps in Afghanistan where captured Afghan security forces are being held by the Taliban.

 

Going back a far as WWII, the ICRC has been one of very few (and at times, the only) international organization that is granted access to POW facilities in order to ensure that POW rights are honored under the Geneva Conventions. The ICRC carries out this and other critical humanitarian functions under the auspices of the United Nations.

 

Some Red Cross and Red Crescent chapters in other parts of the world actually engage militaries and armed groups directly through IHL training. For our part, the American Red Cross is charged with the task of promoting awareness of the Geneva Conventions and other standards within international humanitarian law (IHL) through educational programs such as our very own IHL Teaching Project. The IHL Teaching Project accomplishes this task largely through visits to schools ranging from middle schools, all the way up to university level. Our aim in this program is to promote awareness and healthy discussion and debate on issues of armed conflict and thereby contribute, at least in some small way, to a more peaceful, humane world.  

 

 

 

Michael Braeuninger is the manager of international services for the St. Louis Area Chapter.