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 _____________________________