icrc-annual-report-2013

Amid the insecurity in the region, notably in Syria and Yemen,ICRC dialogue and training sessions with various playershighlighted the importance of ensuring the safety of those seekingor providing medical/health care at all times – a goal supportedby its global Health Care in Danger project. It documented abusesagainst the medical services – for example, the killing of SyrianArab Red Crescent volunteers – and, whenever possible, submittedconfidential representations to the parties concerned. Building onsimilar initiatives carried out in 2012, the ICRC co-organized aninternational workshop in Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran, onthe role of National Societies in providing medical care duringarmed conflicts.National Society and ICRC teams also helped ensure that woundedand sick people throughout the region received appropriate carein a timely manner. First-aid teams, ambulance and emergencyservices, hospitals and field/mobile structures, including those inIraq, Jordan, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory, Syriaand Yemen, received ICRC supplies and equipment, funding,rehabilitation support, technical advice and training, particularlyin first aid and war surgery.People wounded in violence received emergency care fromNational Society personnel and community volunteers trained infirst aid, in line with the Safer Access Framework, at workshopsin Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory andYemen. Surgeons/nurses from Jordan and Lebanon, includingthose treating wounded Syrians, participated in war-surgeryseminars.In Syria, where first-aid training and war-surgery seminarscould not take place, government restrictions and insecurityalso thwarted the provision of health care, including the deliveryof certain medical supplies, particularly in areas held by armedgroups. Medical assistance could be delivered in such areas onfour occasions only. Nevertheless, Health Ministry hospitals andother health facilities, particularly the National Society-run mobilehealth units, administered pre-hospital emergency care, inpatienttreatment and primary health care to the wounded and sick usingICRC-donated medical supplies.Border health posts and clinics in Jordan and hospitals in Lebanonattended to weapon-wounded people from Syria thanks to ICRCmaterial and financial support. In Lebanon, the emergencymedical services (EMS) of the Lebanese Red Cross providedmedical evacuations and blood bank services, while the PalestineRed Crescent Society improved first-aid care in refugee camps.In the occupied Palestinian territory, the Palestine Red Crescentoperated its EMS, and patients in the Gaza Strip obtained treatmentat hospitals supplied with some 140 tonnes of medical material.More sustainable support, such as staff training and infrastructurerehabilitation, helped improve hospital services. On-site technicalguidance was provided to staff of selected hospitals in Iraq, Jordanand Yemen. Similar support helped health centres improve andstrengthen their primary health care services in Iraq and Yemen.In both countries and in the Gaza Strip, over 103,000 disabledpeople benefited from ICRC support for rehabilitation services.Training and material support helped physical rehabilitationcentres, device-manufacturing units and technical schoolsenhance the quality of their work. With a view to preventingmine-related injuries among the population, the Iranian andIraqi National Societies, working with the ICRC and local players,conducted risk-awareness/mitigation sessions. Jordan’s mineactionprogramme received ICRC technical support.Water and sanitation initiatives carried out with the localauthorities helped improve people’s living conditions, boostingaccess to clean water, improving hygiene and reducing people’svulnerability to disease. By working with the local authorities, theICRC encouraged community ownership while building theircapacities. Over 20 million people – almost 80% of Syria’s preconflictpopulation – benefited from large-scale ICRC emergencyand other support for local water boards, which improved thedrinking water supply and sanitation countrywide. Some 3million people benefited from similar works in Iraq, the occupiedPalestinian territory and Yemen. In Lebanon, the rehabilitation ofpumping stations improved access to clean water for over 230,000Lebanese residents and Syrian refugees. Emergency measures weretaken to ensure people had access to clean drinking water, forexample in Sa’ada Old Town (Yemen), where some 9,900 residentseach had at least 15 litres of drinking water daily thanks to ICRCwater-trucking operations, or in Syria, where some 621,000 IDPsreceived water distributed in 10-litre containers.The emergency needs of particularly vulnerable people, especiallyIDPs, refugees and host families, and mainly in Iraq, Syria andYemen, were met thanks to distributions – most often done withthe National Society – of food and household/hygiene items. InSyria, over 3.5 million residents and IDPs received food rationsto augment their diet. Distributions of household essentials easedthe plight of people such as the victims of house destructionsin the occupied Palestinian territory and Yemenis living infighting-affected provinces. Covering needs unaddressed by otherorganizations in Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon, the ICRC gave similarassistance to refugees from Syria, including Palestinians.People also regained some self-sufficiency thanks to inputsenabling them to establish or resume a livelihood. Householdsin Iraq, the occupied Palestinian territory and Yemen increasedtheir incomes by participating in cash-for-work programmes orby using agricultural inputs to boost harvests. In Iraq, 875 disabledor female heads of household started small businesses using cashgrants and other support. By engaging with the authorities onpolicies adversely affecting certain vulnerable groups of people,the ICRC also helped bolster community resources and resilience.Following representations to the Israeli authorities, 137 householdsaffected by the routing of the West Bank barrier gained betteraccess to their land. In Iraq, working with local NGOs, the ICRChelped 3,431 Iraqi female heads of household register for Stateprovidedallowances, while encouraging the authorities concernedto improve the registration/disbursement process.ICRC delegates visited detainees in Bahrain, Iraq, Israel, Jordan,Kuwait, Lebanon, the occupied Palestinian territory, Qatar andYemen. In total, they visited 95,530 detainees according to theICRC’s standard procedures, monitoring the detainees’ treatmentand conditions and focusing in particular on respect for judicialguarantees and the principle of non-refoulement. Delegates sharedtheir findings with the authorities in a confidential dialogue andmade recommendations, particularly with regard to improvingdetainee health care. Discussions with the detaining authorities,including during round-tables and local/regional workshops,focused on issues such as administrative detention, judicialINTRODUCTION | 463