Reference :
V-P-CER-E-00764
Date :
23/11/2007
Caption :
Geneva, International Conference Center (CICG). Awarding of the Henry Dunant medal to Alexander Dumba Ika.
Confidentiality level :
public
Publication restrictions :
publication without restrictions
Description :
ICRC website, News:
23-11-2007 Press Release 71/07
Henry Dunant medals for outstanding humanitarian service awarded at Red Cross Red Crescent Council of Delegates
Joint press release - Four Henry Dunant medals for outstanding humanitarian service were awarded at a ceremony in Geneva today. The medal is the highest distinction of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The recipients are:
Hon. James Joseph Carlton, former secretary general of the Australian Red Cross and Australian Minister of Health from 1982 to 1983;
Christophe Hensch, former ICRC delegate and survivor of the tragic attack on the Red Cross hospital in the Chechen town of Novye Atagi, in 1996;
Alexander Dumba Ika, former head of the Congolese Red Cross tracing service in Ituri and head of the ICRC delegation in Bunia;
Josiane Gabel, former French Red Cross delegate in Congo and in Chad and National First Aid Director of the Chad Red Cross.
The medals were awarded on the opening day of the Council of Delegates, composed of representatives from the 186 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Medal, named after the founder of the Movement, is awarded every two years to individuals to acknowledge and reward exceptional service and acts of great devotion to the Red Cross and Red Crescent cause.
The Henry Dunant medal is a red cross embossed with the profile of the Movement’s founder, attached to a green ribbon. It was created by the Council of Delegates in 1963, on the 100th anniversary of the birth of the Movement, and the first medals were awarded in 1969 at the Istanbul International Conference.
Alexander Dumba Ika
From the age of 16, when he joined the Red Cross Society of the Democratic Republic of Congo, and throughout his Red Cross career, Alexander Dumba Ika displayed extraordinary dedication to the humanitarian cause. As head of the Congolese Red Cross tracing service in the district of Ituri, and working in difficult circumstances, he successfully reunited hundreds of unaccompanied children with their families. He later joined the ICRC in Bunia, where he often walked or cycled long distances in a high risk environment to deliver family messages to remote communities. In 1998, he risked his life to protect the delegation, so that conflict victims could continue to receive humanitarian aid. In 1999, when conflict broke out in Ituri, he persuaded the ICRC to launch a large-scale operation which benefited tens of thousands of people. Two years later, after the Fataki tragedy in which six of his colleagues were killed, he carried on with his work at great personal risk, until the delegation was evacuated and closed. He is awarded the medal for his “commitment to humanitarian ideals, his courage and his dedication”.
Original material :
digital
Resolution :
3950x2634
Orientation :
landscape
Colour/B&W :
colour
