From Saigon to Ho Chi Minh City the Icrc’S Work and Transformation from 1966 to 1975
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FROM SAIGON TO HO CHI MINH CITY THE ICRC’S WORK AND TRANSFORMATION FROM 1966 TO 1975 Jean-Luc Blondel International Committee of the Red Cross 19, avenue de la Paix 1202 Geneva, Switzerland T +41 22 734 60 01 F +41 22 733 20 57 E-mail: [email protected] www.icrc.org © ICRC, September 2016 Cover photo: ICRC archives (DR) FROM SAIGON TO HO CHI MINH CITY THE ICRC’S WORK AND TRANSFORMATION FROM 1966 TO 1975 Jean-Luc Blondell FROM SAIGON TO HO CHI MINH CITY - THE ICRC’S WORK AND TRANSFORMATION FROM 1966 TO 1975 3 “Without denying its Geneva origins or the Western and Christian ‘environment’ in which it arose, the ICRC must constantly set these aside and examine every problem, whether general or practical in nature, from a universal standpoint and by seeking to understand local circumstances.” Report of the committee on policy and activities, minutes of the ICRC Assembly’s plenary meeting, 2 May 1968. “The Geneva Conventions, under the current circumstances, are like a small island in the middle of a swamp and will continue to sink, slowly but surely, if the Committee does not react.” ICRC Presidential Council, minutes of the 22 February 1968 session. “The ICRC is constantly reorganizing.” Jacques Freymond, Guerres. Révolutions. Croix-Rouge. Réflexions sur le rôle du CICR, Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva 1976, p. 15. FROM SAIGON TO HO CHI MINH CITY - THE ICRC’S WORK AND TRANSFORMATION FROM 1966 TO 1975 5 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ___________________________________________ 7 STRUCTURE AND ORGANIZATION _____________________________ 9 IMPORTANT FIGURES _____________________________________________________ 9 CHANGES TO THE GOVERNING BODIES ________________________________________ 12 GENERAL ACTIVITIES: HUMAN RESOURCES, FUNDING AND COMMUNICATIONS ____________ 15 HUMAN RESOURCES _____________________________________________________ 15 FUNDING AND FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ______________________________________ 17 PROMOTING HUMANITARIAN LAW AND PRINCIPLES ______________________________ 20 THE ICRC’S WORK IN AFRICA ________________________________ 22 THE CONGO ____________________________________________________________ 22 SETTING UP REGIONAL DELEGATIONS ________________________________________ 23 SECURITY DETAINEES IN SOUTHERN AFRICA ___________________________________ 23 RELATIONS WITH NATIONAL LIBERATION MOVEMENTS ____________________________ 25 NIGERIA-BIAFRA WAR ____________________________________________________ 26 ANGOLA ______________________________________________________________ 30 BURUNDI ______________________________________________________________ 30 ETHIOPIA AND ERITREA ___________________________________________________ 31 WESTERN SAHARA ______________________________________________________ 31 THE ICRC’S WORK IN LATIN AMERICA _________________________ 32 REGIONAL DELEGATION IN CARACAS, VISITS TO SECURITY DETAINEES ________________ 32 WAR BETWEEN EL SALVADOR AND HONDURAS _________________________________ 33 CUBA ________________________________________________________________ 34 BRAZIL _______________________________________________________________ 34 BOLIVIA _______________________________________________________________ 35 CHILE ________________________________________________________________ 35 ARGENTINA ____________________________________________________________ 36 THE ICRC’S WORK IN ASIA __________________________________ 37 REPATRIATION OF NORTH KOREANS LIVING IN JAPAN ________________________________________________________ 37 VIET NAM _____________________________________________________________ 38 CAMBODIA ____________________________________________________________ 43 LAOS _________________________________________________________________ 43 THAILAND _____________________________________________________________ 44 BANGLADESH, PAKISTAN AND INDIA _________________________________________ 44 INDONESIA ____________________________________________________________ 46 TIMOR-LESTE __________________________________________________________ 47 6 FROM SAIGON TO HO CHI MINH CITY - THE ICRC’S WORK AND TRANSFORMATION FROM 1966 TO 1975 THE ICRC’S WORK IN EUROPE _______________________________ 48 AFTERMATH OF THE SECOND WORLD WAR AND ACTIVITIES IN GERMANY ______________ 48 CZECHOSLOVAKIA _______________________________________________________ 49 RELATIONS WITH SOCIALIST GOVERNMENTS ___________________________________ 49 GREECE _______________________________________________________________ 50 CYPRUS ______________________________________________________________ 51 NORTHERN IRELAND, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL ___________________________________ 52 THE ICRC’S WORK IN THE MIDDLE EAST _______________________ 54 YEMEN _______________________________________________________________ 54 ISRAEL AND THE ARAB STATES _____________________________________________ 54 DEVELOPING A HOSTAGE POLICY ____________________________________________ 58 JORDAN ______________________________________________________________ 59 IRAN AND IRAQ _________________________________________________________ 60 IRAQI KURDISTAN _______________________________________________________ 60 LEBANON _____________________________________________________________ 60 DEVELOPING INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW _______________ 62 MORE COUNTRIES RATIFY THE GENEVA CONVENTIONS ________________________________________________ 62 REAFFIRMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW _________ 63 HUMANITARIAN POLICY AND RELATIONSHIPS WITH OTHER ORGANIZATIONS _______________ 70 SECURITY DETAINEES ____________________________________________________ 70 TORTURE ______________________________________________________________ 71 HOSTAGE SITUATIONS ____________________________________________________ 72 RELATIONS WITH SOCIALIST COUNTRIES ______________________________________ 72 RELATIONS WITH SWITZERLAND ____________________________________________ 73 RELATIONS WITH THE UNITED NATIONS _______________________________________ 73 CONTACTS WITH HUMAN RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS ________________________________________________________ 74 THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS AND RED CRESCENT MOVEMENT ___ 76 THE MOVEMENT: STRUCTURAL CHANGES AND STATUTORY MEETINGS ________________ 76 REASSESSING THE ROLE OF THE RED CROSS ___________________________________ 78 ICRC/LEAGUE AGREEMENT_________________________________________________ 80 THE RED CROSS’S CONTRIBUTION TO PEACE ___________________________________ 81 HENRY DUNANT INSTITUTE ________________________________________________ 83 CONCLUSIONS ___________________________________________ 84 FROM SAIGON TO HO CHI MINH CITY - THE ICRC’S WORK AND TRANSFORMATION FROM 1966 TO 1975 7 INTRODUCTION This study presents the work carried out by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 1966 to 1975. It picks up where the previous study commissioned by the ICRC left off, in Viet Nam.1 The ICRC had already been active in the French war in Viet Nam and was again present in the American episode of the conflict, which had begun in 1964. It ended, at least in terms of active hostilities, on 29 April 1975 with the fall of Saigon, which was renamed Ho Chi Minh City. The Viet Nam War cuts across the entire period examined here, during which the ICRC engaged in challenging and – by its own admission – unsatisfactory work, in part because it could not visit prisoners of war held by the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam. Throughout the conflict, the ICRC repeatedly approached socialist regimes and Third-World countries hoping they would influence Hanoi in its favour. The organization nevertheless learned many important lessons from the obstacles it encountered during this conflict. Indeed, it underwent significant changes between 1966 and 1975, all while responding to other major conflicts around the world. In 1966, the effects of the Second World War were still being felt, and the ICRC continued to carry out the duties it had agreed to as a neutral intermediary. These included determining the compensation due to the victims of Nazi pseudo-medical experiments, locating missing persons and identifying civilian victims of National-Socialism (two tasks carried out by the International Tracing Service), working on behalf of families separated by the Berlin Wall and repatriating North Koreans living in Japan. A number of ICRC members* and employees experienced the war, and the ICRC’s involvement, first-hand. This was true of Jean Pictet, the main architect behind the revision and rewriting of the Geneva Conventions. A jurist at the ICRC since 1937 and later director-general, he became an ICRC member in 1967 at the same time as Roger Gallopin, who was in charge of operations and had also begun working for the ICRC just before the Second World War broke out. The Second World War was still in people’s minds, but with the Cold War in full swing and new countries appearing on the international scene, unprecedented situations arose. In addition to the Viet Nam War and its repercussions for neighbouring countries, the ICRC also had to deal with major conflicts in the Middle East (the Six-Day War in June 1967 and then the Yom Kippur War in October 1973), Nigeria (attempted secession by Biafra, 1967–1970), the Indian subcontinent (Bangladeshi independence, and the conflict between India and Pakistan, 1971–1974)** and Cyprus (following the Turkish military inter- vention in July 1974). The ICRC was also active during the military coups in Greece (April 1967) and Chile (September 1973), the fallout from attempted coups in Indonesia (October 1965) and Burundi (April 1972) and