Helping People in Afghanistan: The Red Cross and Neutral First Aid
By Bruce McRae, ICRC
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The source of the support is indigenous, channeled through an existing network of 17,000 community based volunteers trained in first aid who are members of the Afghanistan Red Crescent Society, an extremely valuable resource to have here and a credit to the long term vision of partners who work together in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. From its very inception in the 1850s, the Red Cross has protected and assisted people injured in battle dating from that era, from before Canada was a country. Today, the work of the Red Cross is a lot more far reaching but in Afghanistan today, it’s about getting back to basics. In close collaboration with the Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is working to ensure that these Red Crescent volunteers are well trained in emergency response and equipped to respond to people's needs, especially in the South of Afghanistan.
The Red Cross and the Red Crescent are symbols of neutral and independent humanitarians, protected in the conduct of their duties by the Geneva Conventions, notably the oldest and only international treaties to be ratified by all member states of the United Nations. These Red Crescent volunteers have not chosen to have a war in their country; but they have chosen to do something about it. They are playing a part in a well worn tradition of concerned citizens who give of themselves to help others around them – and at great peril. It’s a pattern of behavior that spans the globe and the 185 Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies, though few places present quite the context that a Red Crescent volunteer would find in the Kandahar region.
Faced with an insufferable variety of daily threats, these Red Crescent volunteers take their lives into their hands with an unspoken trust in the respect for their neutrally motivated work. They have been trained in the ways of stopping heavy bleeding and how they have to behave to be a Red Crescent volunteer. Knowledge of the Geneva Conventions and their protective force does not always find its way to the many remote areas of southern Afghanistan, but encouragingly, recognition of the Red Cross and Red Crescent more often does. The Afghan Red Crescent was created in Afghanistan over 70 years ago. The International Committee of the Red Cross will watch the harsh milestone of 20 years in Afghanistan pass this spring, heavy with the knowledge that the work of the Red Cross in Afghanistan has been required for so long. As a result of this long presence, though, Red Crescent first aid volunteers are known in their communities by all who need medical assistance, even some who may be visitors to the community.
The concept of hospitality in Afghanistan is deeply ingrained in the culture. Someone who requests shelter is to be sheltered. This means that the conflict in Afghanistan presents a different kind of battlefield for the Red Cross and Red Crescent to be used upon; homes are no longer safe havens. Anyone who is no longer actively fighting, whether civilian, government, foreigner or opposition fighter, who finds themselves in need of medical attention can expect to be treated by the Red Cross or Red Crescent with no regard to their cause. There is a lowest common denominator, even in Afghanistan that human life bears respecting and the network of Red Crescent first aid volunteers are there to put their efforts to this cause.
These volunteers come from the very communities caught in the middle of an intensifying conflict. They are woken up from their sleep by the sound of gunfire in their neighborhoods, an uncomfortable call to duty. With no idea of what they will encounter, they are forced to decide whether to leave the safety of their homes to venture out with only some modest first aid materials to relieve whatever suffering they might find. No amount of training can prepare for that moment; it has to be a conscious choice.
As the spring of 2007 breaks in Afghanistan, we are going to continue to do whatever we can to make sure that neutral humanitarian assistance reaches people who are in most need. The Red Cross and the Red Crescent are mandated to be absolutely impartial humanitarian actors, something trusted to these 17,000 first aid volunteers. For them to be seen as safe and trustworthy there can be no mistaking their motives. Hence, there are no motives beyond the most basic: saving lives.
