This Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up is courtesy of Scott Waggoner, from Cross Blog: Award-winning Red Cross news and views from Oregon and beyond
Welcome to the Weekly Worldwide Wrap-Up, in which we consolidate the international Red Cross and Red Crescent news into one list of bite-sized links for you. It’s a non-comprehensive sampling of the larger and/or more intriguing aspects of our global work…
UGANDA: The Uganda Red Cross Society has been assisting in the search and rescue operations following a landslide in the Bududa district of the country which left an estimate 18 people dead and hundreds displaced. Thousands more are said to be at risk of further landslides caused by floods in the region. Rapid assessments by local Red Cross staff indicate that 3,368 people are at high risk and need to be relocated immediately.
SYRIA: Last weekend Bashar al-Youssef, a 23 year old volunteer for the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, was shot while on first-aid duty. This is the fourth killing of this kind in Syria over the past year. The IFRC and ICRC have condemned these acts, that highlight the difficulties faced by the Syrian Red Crescent Society, the only Syrian humanitarian organization operating in areas affected by violence.
BRAZIL: Last week was the Rio +20 UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil. In conjunction with Rio +20 was the People’s Summit for Social and Environmental Justice, in which the IFRC hosted a 90-minute discussion on the role of youth and women in advancing the food security agenda. To demonstrate the importance of both youth and volunteering, the Brazilian Red Cross had a 100-strong team working 12 hours a day at three first aid posts throughout the People’s Summit.
LIBYA: The Libyan Armed Forces and the ICRC signed a memorandum of understanding earlier this week, under which the ICRC will provide support for the integration of the rules of international humanitarian law in the army’s training and operations. The ICRC has considerable expertise in promoting respect for the basic rules of international humanitarian law, having carried out humanitarian operations in armed conflicts for almost one and a half centuries.
GLOSSARY:
ICRC = International Committee of the Red Cross
IFRC = International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
PHOTO:
Staff and volunteers from the Uganda Red Cross Society undertaking search and rescue operations in the village of Bunakasala. (Uganda Red Cross)