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Cross and Red Crescent societies. About one third of its
international staff was provided by national societies.
Given its worldwide mandate under the Geneva Conventions
and Protocols to assist and protect non-combatants in
situations of internal and international armed conflict, the
ICRC found the terrain and obstacles familiar. Nevertheless,
the Yugoslav experience proved one of the most trying in its
more than 125 years. Following the killing of one of its delegates
near Sarajevo in May 1992, it temporarily suspended
work. Returning in July, it encountered recurring obstruction
from all parties. Not given as a rule to public statements or
denunciations, the ICRC’s criticism of the belligerents was
more outspoken in this conflict than in others.
For philosophical and practical reasons, the ICRC in the
former Yugoslavia, as elsewhere, kept its distance from the
U.N.’s humanitarian, political, and military activities alike.
Preferring to pursue its assistance and protection work independently,
it carried out its own negotiations with local authorities.
It was unwilling to be associated with the use of
economic or military force, and it did not request protection
from UNPROFOR troops, although it did submit its shipments
to the Sanctions Committee for approval. Unlike many
of the NGOs that served as the U.N.’s partners, the ICRC made
little use of available United Nations air and ground transport.
Related Political and Military Actors
As lead agency, UNHCR was also the focal point for a
variety of relationships between the civilian humanitarian
network and several sets of political and military actors. These
actors included the U.N. Security Council and General Assembly,
the U.N. Secretary-General, UNPROFOR, the International
Conference on Former Yugoslavia (ICFY), CSCE, NATO,
and the Western European Union (WEU). The political and
military authorities of the belligerents were also factors. Some
of these actors carried out humanitarian activities themselves,
and all adopted important humanitarian policies.
Like UNHCR, the Security Council found itself largely
consumed by the Yugoslav crisis. Between September 25,
1991, when it imposed an embargo on deliveries of weapons
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