icrc-annual-report-2013

in prisons and rehabilitation centres. An ICRC offer of serviceto conduct similar visits to inmates in Bangladesh remainedunder discussion with the authorities. The ICRC and officials ofAfghanistan and the United States of America discussed the needto safeguard the rights of detainees transferred from US to Afghancustody at the Parwan detention facility.Efforts continued to improve the living conditions of the generalprison population in the most problematic detention facilities.While boosting their technical and managerial capacities thanksto ICRC support, the detaining authorities worked with theorganization to find solutions to the causes and consequences ofovercrowding and to strengthen health care services, includingwith regard to TB, as in Cambodia and the Philippines. Chineseand Lao authorities broadened their knowledge of prisonmanagement practices during ICRC-organized tours in detentionfacilities abroad. In the Philippines, the justice system resolved thecases of some inmates in one pilot jail more quickly, contributingto a fall in the detainee population there. National seminars, asin China, India and Malaysia, enabled stakeholders to discussways to enhance detainee health care, while a regional seminarin Cambodia focused on environmental engineering and designstandards. Infrastructure improvement projects, notably for waterand sanitation facilities, reduced the health risks faced by over117,000 detainees, including those in a centre in the Lao PDR andwomen and juveniles in Afghanistan.The ICRC also strove to address the needs of vulnerable migrants.It provided hygiene kits to deported migrants, including children,in western Mindanao, Philippines, easing their living conditionswhile in transit. It discussed the plight of migrants held inoffshore processing centres in Nauru and Papua New Guineawith government bodies in those countries and in Australia.ICRC delegates regularly visited detained migrants in Malaysiaand Thailand.In line with the Movement’s Restoring Family Links Strategy,National Societies and ICRC delegations continued to developand offer services to family members separated by armedconflicts, other situations of violence, migration or naturaldisasters. They organized RCM, tracing and sometimes telephone/videoconference services to help people contact relatives,including those detained locally or abroad; they also issued traveldocuments, allowing asylum seekers to resettle in a host country.The ICRC impressed upon the governments and National Societiesof the Korean peninsula the importance of finding a solution tothe prolonged anguish endured by family members split up by the1950–53 Korean War. It pursued efforts to improve the capacitiesof governments and local players in Indonesia, Nepal, Papua NewGuinea (Bougainville), Sri Lanka and Timor-Leste to address theissue of persons unaccounted for. This included psychological,social, economic and legal support, provided directly or indirectlyto families of missing persons. Such support was expanded to10 additional districts in Nepal after a review revealed that thewell-being of previous beneficiaries had improved. Training inthe correct handling of human remains helped ensure that peoplewere accounted for. The ICRC continued to act as a neutralintermediary in facilitating the handover of the remains of fallenfighters between the parties to the conflict in Afghanistan.272 | ICRC ANNUAL REPORT 2013