Reference :
V-F-CR-F-00722-D
Date :
06/2002
Title :
Three ICRC programmes in the West Bank and Gaza, Spring 2002
Duration :
00:13:36
Editor :
unknown
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Production company :
ICRC
ICRC producer :
none
Description :
The fighting is over and what is left of the Jenin refugee camp is a very dangerous field. After the helicopters, the tanks and the bulldozers, the local population today lives under the permanent threat of concealed explosives - the left-overs of a week of bloody fighting between the Israeli Defence Force and Palestinian combatants. For international relief organisations, it is now an urgent priority to inform the local population of the dangers of unexploded ordnance. To prevent avoidable tragedies. Each day, those in charge of these organisations meet to coordinate their actions and define roles: the Sécurité Civile Française - French Civilian Safety - marks the explosive remnants and assesses the danger paused by partially damaged buildings while the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) along with the Palestine Red Crescent Society and UNICEF act to warn and inform. For Laurence Desvignes, head of the ICRC’s Mine Awareness programme, what is needed is to collect useful information on the number, the types, the whereabouts of reported explosives. The information comes from the population itself, but especially from those, in the town’s hospitals, who have already been injured in such accidents.
In the West Bank and Gaza, a new counseling service has been set up to help a group of people who put their lives in danger on a daily basis — ambulance drivers and their paramedical teams.
The ICRC is also worried about “illegal destruction of civilian property”, a violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention, Israeli authorities retort in saying that the destructions are preventive actions guided by military necessity. In such a situation, the only possible recourse is the court of justice and in some rare cases, home owners won their cases.
English title :
Three ICRC programmes in the West Bank and Gaza, Spring 2002
Colour/B&W :
colour
Original material/format :
Betacam SP
Best material/format available :
Betacam SP
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