The Oxfam Handbook of Development and Relief
By Deborah Eade and Suzanne Williams, Oxfam Publishing, Oxford, 1995

The Oxfam Handbook of Development and Relief is the product of the experience of Oxfam (UK and Ireland) in its work in over 70 countries around the world. The handbook analyses policy, procedure and practice in fields as diverse as health, human rights, emergency relief, capacity-building, and agricultural production. It takes into account the changes in thinking, analysis and development policy which have taken place since the mid-1980s in response to the changing circumstances in which development and relief operations are carried out. The handbook is published in a three-volume set and is a valuable reference tool for development practitioners and planners, for policy makers and social analysts, and for teachers and students of development.

Available in selected bookstores or by contacting Oxfam Publishing, 274 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7DZ, UK. UK£ 24.95.

World Disasters Report 1995
Federation, 1995

At a time when rapid political and economic changes coupled with growing poverty spell challenge for relief agencies, the 1995 edition of the World Disasters Report examines disasters in countries such as Rwanda, Ethiopia, Mozambique and the former Yugoslavia. The report, published in conjunction with The Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters in Brussels, is divided into four sections covering: key issues, methodologies, the year in disasters and a disasters database. Among its conclusions, the report holds that humanitarian agencies must clearly state and put into practice values, operational principles, and professional and technical standards to which they are committed. It also urges agencies to lobby governments to respect humanitarian norms and rules, without which effective assistance cannot be given.

Available from the Federation in English, French, Spanish and Arabic.

AIDS, Health and Human Rights,
An explanatory manual
Federation, Harvard School of Public Health, 1995

Federation, Harvard School of Public Health, 1995
This manual is the fruit of a collaborative effort between the Federation and the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights at the Harvard School of Public Health. Based on the premise that HIV/AIDS prevention and care require collaboration between health workers and human rights workers, this manual explores ways to forge and strengthen a practical working relationship between the public health and human rights fields. It introduces the subjects of public health and human rights, explores their relationship in the case of HIV/AIDS and gives concrete examples of the public health/
human rights dialogue. It also includes in annex form existing international protocol pertaining to health and human rights.

Available in English from the Federation (Sfr 20) as well as from the Harvard School of Public Health, François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, 8 Story Street, Cambridge, MA 02138 USA. French and Spanish versions are forthcoming.

Caring for people with AIDS at home
Federation, 1994

This manual, produced in cooperation with the Norwegian Red Cross and NORAD, is directed specifically at volunteers who are helping people with HIV/AIDS and their families. It provides basic information on homecare and HIV/AIDS as well as simple suggestions on how better to care for those who are affected by HIV/AIDS. It is in an easy to read, well-illustrated and convenient format.

Available in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese from the Federation.

Let the dawn come
Social development: looking behind the clichés
Panos, 1995

Let the dawn come is a collection of five extended essays written by journalists from Guatemala, India, Uganda, Zimbabwe and Bangladesh who set out to listen and accurately reflect the experiences of ordinary people in communities in their countries. In this way, the book seeks to bridge the gap that exists between what development professionals think and do and what the average person wants and needs from development. “It needs to dawn on all of us,” writes Juan Somavia in the book’s preface, “that there is no one answer to development: that each culture, each community, each country must have the power, resources and confidence to mould their own paths of development.”

Available in selected bookstores or by contacting Panos Publications Ltd, 9 White Lion Street, London, N1 9PD, UK. UK£ 8.95.

Between hope and insecurity: the social consequences of the Cambodian peace process
Peter Utting, editor
United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, 1994

Between hope and insecurity is a collection of papers presented at a meeting held in Geneva, Switzerland, in April 1993. The meeting was convened to discuss the social and economic impact of the large-scale United Nations peace-keeping operation in Cambodia in 1992. Besides the peace-keeping forces, peace also brought a dramatic influx of international agencies and personnel into Cambodia and the meeting also analysed the impact of this influx and identified ways to reconstruct a war-torn economy and civil society, key social problems and future research priorities.

Available from the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), Palais des Nations, 1211 Geneva 10, Switzerland.

Tempête sur le Désert
By Christophe Girod, Editions Bruylant, Brussels, 1994

“Desert Storm” is an account of the ICRC’s action during the Gulf crisis between 1990 and 1991 and situates it within the broader geopolitical framework. The book recounts the events, beginning with the invasion of Kuwait and culminating in the Gulf war. Girod also describes the ICRC’s efforts in the war’s aftermath to assist the Iraqi population, the 80,000 prisoners of war awaiting repatriation in Saudi Arabia, the victims of the conflicts that erupted in Iraq after its defeat, and the detainees in Kuwait suspected of collaboration.

Christophe Girod’s work also raises some questions about the recent tendency to combine humanitarian and military action. With the UN attempting to bring more humanitarian activities under its banner and States increasingly under pressure to assume a humanitarian role themselves, the ICRC stands firm in its position that all humanitarian efforts should be carried out free from political considerations.

Available in French from the ICRC. Sfr 24.

ICRC 1994 Annual Report
ICRC, Geneva, 1995

This report is a comprehensive account of the ICRC’s work in the field to protect and assist the victims of conflicts. It also documents the institution’s activities to promote and develop international humanitarian law and the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The 324 pages provide an excellent reference for anyone researching details of a particular ICRC operation in 1994 or, more generally, seeking to understand the nature of the ICRC’s work.

Available from the ICRC in English, French and Spanish.

Lifelines
ICRC, Geneva, 1994, 30 minutess

The anguish suffered by families separated by the war that has ravaged the former Yugoslavia is poignantly revealed in this 30-minute film showing the work carried out by the ICRC’s Tracing Agency with the help and support of local and other National Red Cross Societies. The film draws the viewer right into the centre of tracing work and presents first-hand accounts of the hope that is kept alive thanks to this useful Red Cross activity.

Available in English, French and German from the ICRC.

A Conscious Step
ICRC, New Delhi, 1995, 16 minutes

In 1990 the ICRC launched a joint programme with the Myanmar Red Cross Society to assist the forgotten victims of landmines in Myanmar (formerly Burma). The makers of the film accompanied ICRC doctors as they travelled to remote areas to seek out amputees requiring treatment and transport them to one of the two hospital centres (in Yangon and Mandalay) where they are fitted with artificial limbs and rehabilitated.

Available in English from the ICRC.

Responding to the Cries: the ICRC in the former Yugoslavia
ICRC, Zagreb, 1995, 8 minutess

This video describes the ICRC’s efforts to come to the aid of the civilian population hardest hit by the war in the former Yugoslavia. Programmes included community and school kitchens serving hot food, assistance to medical facilities, the provision of drinking water, visits to prisoners, the exchange of Red Cross messages and dissemination of the rules of international humanitarian law to the armed forces.

Available in English from the ICRC.