“I Remain Very Concerned for the Humanitarian Situation in Yemen,” Says ICRC President.

Peter Maurer was born in Thun, Switzerland, in 1956. He studied history and international law in Bern, where he was awarded a doctorate. In 2004 Mr Maurer was appointed ambassador and permanent representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York. In this position, he worked to integrate Switzerland, which had only recently joined the United Nations, into multilateral networks. In June 2009, the UN General Assembly elected Mr Maurer chairman of the Fifth Committee, in charge of administrative and budgetary affairs. In addition, he was elected chairman of the Burundi configuration of the UN Peacebuilding Commission. In January 2010 Mr Maurer was appointed secretary of State for foreign affairs in Bern and took over the reins of the Swiss Department of Foreign Affairs, with its five directorates and some 150 Swiss diplomatic missions around the world. He succeeded Jakob Kellenberger as ICRC president on 1 July 2012. Under his leadership, the ICRC carries out humanitarian work in over 80 countries. Mr Maurer’s priorities for his presidency include strengthening humanitarian diplomacy, engaging States and other actors for the respect of international humanitarian law, and improving the humanitarian response through innovation and new partnerships.

AVA Diplomatic’s Exclusive Interview with

the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Peter Maurer

Interview by Mohammadreza Nazari 

How effective your political and diplomatic backgrounds have been in meeting the ICRC goals and strategies? What have you sought to modify in the ICRC since your presidency began?

Humanitarian diplomacy based on the principles of neutrality, impartiality and independence is a vital function of the ICRC, and as President I take on the role of chief diplomat for the institution. The ICRC’s diplomacy is based on a continued process of negotiation to set its presence in operational areas, maintain proximity to the affected people and communities, and seek the consent of the relevant parties to allow humanitarian operations to take place. I was a diplomat for 25 years, and today what I find rewarding is the positive impact that ICRC can immediately have in the lives of people living in places of conflict and violence.

The trends we see in today’s conflicts are forcing us to look for new ways to work. Conflicts are no longer short term. They are protracted, lasting many years and destroying the basic structures like health, electricity, water, that people depend on to live. ICRC has been working in many contexts for decades and we see that the enormous extent of human needs. We need new multisector partnerships, from business, academia, and technology to share expertise and resources so that we can find new ways to deliver our neutral, impartial humanitarian aid to meet the increasing and changing needs of people. This dimension of new partnerships is an area that I have sought to strengthen at ICRC during my presidency.

How did you assess the provision of relief by the ICRC in Syria the last time you visited the country? How dire is the need of Syrian people for relief and basic requirements?

I visited Syria in March, my sixth visit there. The years of war has extracted a huge toll on the people there – hundreds of thousands killed or injured; 6.1 million people displaced internally and 5 million are refugees in other countries; 4 out of 5 people are living in poverty and 13 million people in need humanitarian assistance. The people I met were exhausted – exhausted by the long war, and despairing at not having news about missing or detained family members.

Syria is the ICRC’s largest and most complex operation in the world. It is a conflict characterized by regular breaches of international humanitarian law: the way sieges are conducted, disproportionate attacks in urban areas, and the targeting of civilians and civilian services like ambulances, water stations and markets. And these are tactics used not only in Syria but across the region: a geo-political game played with human lives. These three crucial issues – humanitarian access, the protection of civilians, and humane treatment of detainees – are not in the category of “nice to have,” they are both a moral and legal obligation.

How has the Yemen conflict affected the civilians there? How large have the humanitarian contributions and aids been the ICRC sent to Yemen thus far?

I remain very concerned for the humanitarian situation in Yemen. Three out of four people there are reliant on humanitarian organizations, a total of 22 million people. I am also worried about the damage to essential infrastructure, including water, electricity, sanitation and health systems, which are vital to the civilian population’s survival. In these conditions preventable diseases can rapidly exacerbate people’s suffering – last year we saw a cholera outbreak threaten the lives of more than one million people.

The most recent push for Hodeida is likely to exacerbate an already catastrophic humanitarian situation in Yemen. Even before the war, Yemen imported 90% of its essential goods, 70% of which come from Hodeida. Today, humanitarian organizations alone cannot provide for the nearly 80% of the entire population who are in need, and can in no way be a substitute for the entire economic system that has collapsed. Main ports and airports need to reopen, and essential goods and fuel need to be allowed into the market. Resumption of trade is essential. Also, people wishing to leave and seek adequate medical care elsewhere should also be allowed to the best way possible, and that is through resumption of commercial flights in the main cities across the country.

In some parts of the country, the signs of poverty have become very clear. You see more and more people surviving on bread crumbs they look for in the garbage. Many families are very poor, and with the little money they have, they buy cooking oil in plastic bags, just enough to cook one hot meal a day. In some cities, we have seen beggars give money to other beggars.

On your trip to Iran, you met with Iranian officials. What achievements did those meetings have? What ups and downs have the relations between Iran and the ICRC had over the years?

In the framework of the ICRC humanitarian diplomacy, and in order to support and further develop the ongoing work and cooperation with Iranian counterparts about Humanitarian issues and concerns in the region and also our activities in Iran, I paid a visit to Iran in March 2018.

During my visit to Iran, I had meetings with several senior Iranian officials, including Dr. Zarif, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Velayati, Senior Advisor of Supreme Leader in International Affairs, Mr. Jaberi Ansari, Deputy Foreign Minister for Arab-African Affairs, Mr. Amir-Abdollahian, Iranian Parliamentary Director General for International Affairs and Assistant to Speaker of Parliament, and General Bagherzadeh, Chief of the Committee for the Search of the Missing in Action for the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the Islamic Republic of Iran. In these meetings we discussed our mutual concerns in relation to the human cost of the conflicts and humanitarian situation in Syria, Iraq, Myanmar, and Yemen. I also provided Iranian officials with reports on the ICRC humanitarian operations in the region and beyond.

 We appreciate the level of dialogue we have with the Iranian authorities on humanitarian issues and problems in the Middle East and beyond. We hope Iran can provide an important level of support to humanitarian action in increasingly polarized conflict zones and exert its influence to help respect the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and increase access to all victims to deliver humanitarian assistance.

As a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the ICRC has good relations and cooperation with Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS). The IRCS is our main partner in Iran. A part of my visit to Tehran also included meetings with Dr. Peyvandi, the new President of the IRCS, signing an MoU on joint cooperation with the IRCS, and attending the New Year’s preparatory Relief Maneuver of the IRCS.

We have had good cooperation in the fields of health (such as war surgery and physical rehabilitation), restoring family links, joint communication activities, and promotion of the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) with the IRCS through the years. We also made a donation in kind to the IRCS response for those affected by the Kermanshah earthquake last year. This donation included non-food items enough to support an affected population of about 40000 people. We see the potential to consolidate this cooperation to have effective partnership with the IRCS in Iran and beyond.

What are the current challenges of the ICRC? What can the future challenges be, to name some?

There is not one main humanitarian crisis in the world right now, rather, there is a pandemic of diverse, complex and often interconnected conflict-driven crises around the globe – all of them so far lacking viable political solutions and all of them with humanitarian consequences that are profound and immense.

Syria, not surprisingly, continues to dominate the headlines. Almost seven years of fighting have decimated parts of the country and its people, creating a humanitarian mega-crisis well beyond national borders that shows no signs of abating.

Yet the features of the Syrian conflict are by no means atypical in today’s global environment. Multiple protracted armed conflicts, increasingly urbanized, often with regional repercussions, are typically characterized by complex webs of asymmetric warring parties, in particular fragmented and multiplying non-State armed groups, and by a widespread lack of respect for even the most fundamental rules of international humanitarian law. Civilians invariably bear the brunt.

Looking ahead, without a radical delivery of political solutions to conflicts I can sadly only anticipate that humanitarian needs will remain a huge problem. Conflict and violence will continue to mean death and injury of civilians, force people to flee their homes, fuel hunger and disease.

As I mentioned, I believe that partnerships to tackle these problems are key – deeper multisector partnerships than we have traditionally formed. Working across sectors with each member bringing distinct expertise, resources and networks to tackle complex issues.

The fourth industrial revolution will be a key feature in the future: new technologies are rapidly giving rise to unprecedented means and methods of warfare. Innovations that only yesterday were in the realm of science fiction have the potential to cause catastrophes tomorrow. Some new technologies, such as combat drones, are already in use, while others like nanotechnologies, combat robots, and laser weapons are still in the experimental stages. Cyberattacks too are a looming challenge. Think of the humanitarian consequences if one side of a conflict hacks an enemy nation’s air traffic control systems, oil pipeline flow systems, or nuclear plants. The ICRC is urging governments and companies to deal with the humanitarian impact of conflict in the virtual world, and to address the emerging critical questions.