DAILY BULLETIN No 2 November 2006 ICRC Restoring Family Links Conference, Kyiv 2006 On the second day of the RFL regional conference in Kyiv, delegates convened in three different working groups led by a chair and a rapporteur. Each of the working groups was assigned one strategic objective to examine. The three groups actively engaged in debating the overarching RFL vision and one of the strategic objectives meant to implement it. Strategic Objectives: 1-Improving capacity and performance in restoring family links of the national society 2-Enhancing coordination mechanisms and the effectiveness of Movement cooperation 3-Strengthening responsibility of the Movement in Restoring Family Links At the end of each session, each working group spelled out recommendations in view of feeding the draft ten-year RFL strategy (2008-2018). “Let the vision be delegates voiced the need to nuance Therefore, the trick would be to it, especially in Working Group 1. work on a vision that is operationally ambitious’’ achievable but that strongly Whenever people need to restore Among the suggestions made, resonates with people at the same family links, the Red Cross Red Neville Jefferies, Head of Refugee and time. It would be therefore necessary Crescent Movement responds International Tracing and Message to inject in it some feeling, ‘’passion’’ quickly and efficiently Service from the British Red Cross; and humanity. and resource person in Working All conference delegates agreed with Group 1 said that Sir Nicholas Young, chief executive the rationale behind the vision and ‘’On’On thethe oneone hand,hand, thethe visionvision isis quitequite of the British Red Cross and Chair said it was in accordance with their challenging operationally but on the of Working Group 1 forcefully mandate. The vision was adopted other, it comes across as rather poor in underlined the importance of by consensus. However, several terms of communication’’. expressing the scale of the issue at hand. According to him, the vision does not strongly portray to someone outside the Movement what we are really talking about. ‘’It does not give any feeling of how serious the problem is, there is no sense of scale and of how many persons are in need of RFL services, and how many have been separated from their loved ones…are we talking of tens of thousands or millions?’’. He proposed the following illustrative statement to back the Movement’s vision: ‘’Across the world, millions of families suffer the pain and anguish of separation because of conflict, migrations and natural disasters… ‘’ Indeed, such statements would undeniably give a sense as to the scale of RFL needs Sir Nicholas Young, ChiefChief ExecutiveExecutive of the BritishBritish RedRed CrossCross. and the importance of the issue An unofficial bulletin for delegates to the second regional RFL conference; not an official record. 1 within the Movement and outside it. Isabelle Van Bunnen from the Belgian Red Cross argued that apart from the word ‘’whenever’’, we should include in the vision statement the words ‘’wherever’’ and ‘’whomever’’. Clearly, this would broaden the scope of our RFL activities and mandate as impartial and universal. Many amongst the conference delegates emphasized the impor- tance of keeping the vision ‘’short and simple’’, accessible and understandable by all. Need for RFL rapid Rafaello Muller, ICRC Tashkent and Madame RozaRoza Shayahmetova,Shayahmetova, response mechanisms Secretary General, Red Crescent Society of Kyrgyzstanyrgyzstan. The Italian Red Cross representative, Ms Anna Rita Roccaldo, stressed the the National Society to trace missing RFL regional challenges: fact that one of the weaknesses of persons and re-establish family our RFL humanitarian response is links. Europe and the often slow. To respond quickly to Caucasus RFL needs would be an important Others argued that the question at From the discussions in the three achievement, ‘’let us focus on quick hand really is whether the Movement working groups, it appeared that a response mechanisms,’’ she added. is trying to bring back together every very important RFL caseload is linked family that was separated from its to the Second World War, especially The Bulgarian representative, Ms loved ones or if the Movement should for Russia and Ukraine. Several RFL Sofia Stoimenova argued that even limit itself to the most vulnerable activities are essentially related to the media have started reconnecting people, whether in conflict or natural migration issues. For the German separated families and have invested disaster situations. and Moldovan National Societies, in this respect. the main RFL caseload is linked to Often the argument of the media is Bernard Betrancourt, ICRC Georgia, migrants. Bringing back together that the Movement traces people in pointed his finger to the problem families separated by migration is times of conflict and natural disasters of implementation of the vision. a very important part of their task. but that the media should take upon His experience has demonstrated itself the task of tracing people in that technology advances would times of peace. This is problematic, definitely help in our implementation Additional resources as in times of peace, it is the role of processes. needed Valdis Nagobads from the Latvian Red Cross mentioned the scarcity of volunteers on the ground. His national society is in dire need of more volunteers, it currently operates with only one staff. ‘’The Latvian Red Cross needs more capacity to do the RFL job’’... The RFL Network is not only a fire brigade… As Asa Molde board member of the Swedish Red Cross and rapporteur in one of the working groups put Bernard Betrancourt, ICRC Georgia; SofiaSofia Stoimenova,Stoimenova, BulgarianBulgarian RReded CCross;ross; it: the RFL network is not only a fire and Elkhan Rachimov, Azerbaidjan Red Crescent. brigade operating in emergencies An unofficial bulletin for delegates to the second regional RFL conference; not an official record. 2 We at the Red Cross/Red Crescent, want to see a world where families are reunited as quickly as possible. By also encouraging others to help us in this task, we can achieve our vision in the long term, Sir Nicholas Young, British Red Cross. The question of engagement with the Movement as well as external actors and key stakeholders was discussed at length in the three working groups. What is our role in relation to TV programs, UNHCR and Save the Children Fund for instance? Do we Neville Jefferies, BritishBritish RedRed CCrossross and EEmmanuelmmanuel RRousseau,ousseau, have some kind of supervisory role? French Red Cross. Does the ICRC maintain its RFL lead role in conflict and natural disaster situations? If we want to be more but also a long term commitment Jefferies reinforces this argument ambitious on RFL activities, the and an ongoing task. Our role is not stating: ‘’We would not let go, Movement could mobilize others only the ‘’here and now’’; we should we would persist and persist and and provide leadership and not forget that our strength lies in persist… this is an important element guidance. It needs to mobilize those our sustainability. Sustainability is of the Red Cross/Red Crescent RFL who are not in the club to support what differentiates the Movement response… ten, twenty, sixty years us so that we can work efficiently from all others actors. later we would still be working on a and rapidly. case, determined to resolve it’’. Some leading global corporation Representatives from the Russian started an online website to trace Coordination, Red Cross and Uzbekistan Red people during the Tsunami & Katrina Crescent reminded that the ICRC natural disasters. They do it only when cooperation & Central Tracing Agency, in its function cameras are on, i.e., the first days of fundraising as coordinator and technical adviser the tragedy. As soon as cameras are on RFL, should provide training and off, everyone loses interest but the A vision is an attempt to describe support materials on RFL to National Movement pursues its tedious work what we want the world to look Societies. Iolanta Mikhailova from to re-establish family links…. like. the Russian Red Cross insisted on this point: ‘’ we consider that the ICRC should organize more systematic and interactive training to the RFL staff of National Societies’’. Working Group 3 also raised the issue of increasing sources of funding and diversification. Approaching corporate organizations could be one additional venue to explore. Increasing political will Increasing political will within the Movement remains a key issue It is important that the Federation, in particular its senior level, endorse the RFL strategy and its political will Shygryriyri Subashi,Subashi, AAlbanianlbanian RReded CCross;ross; EEduardduard AAbegg,begg, ICRICRCC GGeneva;eneva; to support it. There would be a need and Victor Kolbanov, Belarus Red Cross. for senior level Federation support to An unofficial bulletin for delegates to the second regional RFL conference; not an official record. 3 this endeavour, an official declaration It was unanimously agreed that: is a very important document… of support. • RFL should remain results- however, implementation of the oriented. draft strategy remains the main Anna Rita Roccaldo, Italian Red Cross • RFL is not only about unifying challenge. deplored the fact that ‘’tracing was families but also about making always done in silence’’ and not sure that families are not The Movement needs to make sure considered a priority. We should separated in the first place. that the political will of National probably work on ‘’in-reach’’ within • RFL should be considered as Societies improves and integrates our own national society and not a priority service by the top the importance of this service. This only on ‘’outreach’’ to external management of ICRC, National conference should be a wake- stakeholders. Societies and the Federation up call for all components of • RFL should be included in NS the Movement. The RFL network Integration of RFL in disaster organizational development should get the attention it preparedness programs plans and become an integral deserves.