ICRC chief in a ME tour
Regional, Local, 11/6/2001

The Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross ICRC Paul Grossrieder on Monday began a tour of Middle Eastern countries during which he will visit ICRC field operations and meet senior government authorities to discuss issues of humanitarian concern in the region.

Grossrieder will also review such situation in other parts of the world, notably in Afghanistan and neighboring countries, and discuss the approach adopted by the ICRC and the rest of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in that context. In this sense his tour is part of a broader series of visits by senior ICRC officials to various capitals around the world.

Grossrieder was in Israel and the occupied and the autonomous territories on 4 and 6 November; in Jordan on 5 November, in Lebanon on 9 and 10 November and in Syria on 11 November. A visit to Egypt is also being prepared.

At the center of discussion will be the implications in humanitarian terms of the escalating violence in the occupied Palestinian territories. Over a year since the violence erupted in September 2000, Mr. Grossrider will repeat the ICRC's appeal to all those involved in the violence to observe the restraints imposed by international humanitarian law and its underlying principles and, in particular, to ensure respect for civilians, the wounded, medical personnel and those who are no longer taking part in the hostilities. In the context of the Palestinian uprising against Israel as the Occupying Power, the ICRC stresses the fact that the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War remains fully applicable and relevant.

Worthy mentioning that the ICRC is working throughout the Middle East and North Africa with a network of nine delegations, some 90 expatriate staff and over 500 locally hired employees. Its 2001 budget for the region amounts to over 51 million Swiss Francs.

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