Humanity for All
By Hans Haug, Paul Haupt Publishers, Bern, 1993

This comprehensive volume on the work of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement covers the origins of the Red Cross and explains in detail the work of the ICRC, the Federation and National Societies. The book includes chapters on the Movement’s fundamental principles, on international humanitarian law, and on cooperation between components of the Movement and other national and international organisations. It also explores such subjects as the Movement as a factor of peace and its contribution to human rights. It is nearly 700 pages in length and complete with photographs, annexes and bibliography.

The work is a unique reference written by someone who dedicated over 40 years of his career to the Movement. The author, in addition to being a professor of international law, was Secretary General and President of the Swiss Red Cross, Vice-President of the Federation and a member of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Available in English, French and German from the Federation. Sfr 28.

Clearing the Fields
Solutions to the Global Land Mines Crisis
Edited by Kevin M. Cahill, M.D.,
Basic Books and the Council of Foreign Relations, New York, 1995

More than 100 million landmines have been deployed in over 60 countries. This proliferation has brought a triple crisis. Individual lives are shattered; families, communities and societies bear an increasing medical burden; and governments are unable to develop lands and infrastructure rendered unusable by the presence of mines. This book, with contributions from experts in related fields, addresses the issue from a variety of practical positions, including the ethical, legal, economic, medical and military perspectives, and offers solutions – both short and long term – to this global menace.

Available in English from Basic Books, 10 East 53rd Street, New York, NY 10022-5299. US$ 25.

Health Care in Disasters
The Ngara Refugee Experience
Ministry of Health, Republic of Tanzania, 1996

Technical know-how in disaster health care and specifically the health management of large-scale refugee populations is fast expanding. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has participated fully in the provision of health care for the two million refugees in the Great Lakes Region of Africa since 1994. During the operation, many innovations were introduced in management, logistics and various technical areas such as water sanitation, hospital care, disease control and health information. To maintain institutional memory and to summarise this experience, a one-week workshop in Ngara brought together senior officials from the Tanzanian government and Red Cross staff and volunteers working in Ngara. United Nations’ specialised agencies (UNHCR, WFP and UNICEF), as well as relief organisations such as MSF, OXFAM, CARE and IIRO participated in writing a critical record of events. The meeting passed comprehensive recommendations for disaster preparedness in health to the Tanzanian government and to the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. This report will be the beginning of close practical collaboration in preparation for disaster response in health including rehabilitation measures.

Available in English from the Federation.

Anti-personnel Landmines: Friend or Foe?
By Patrick Blagden, ICRC, Geneva, 1996

The failure to ban, or even strictly limit, the use of anti-personnel landmines due to the assumption that they are an essential weapon of high military value prompted the ICRC to commission this independent study on the use and effectiveness of anti-personnel landmines in conflicts over the past 55 years. In addition to a career in combat engineering and weapons research with the British Army, the author brings to the study recent experience in more than a dozen countries as a senior demining adviser for the UN’s Department of Peacekeeping Operations. The conclusions, which throw clear doubts on the military utility of these devices, were unanimously endorsed by a meeting of military experts and by a number of additional military commanders.

Available from the ICRC in English, French and Spanish. Sfr. 6.

The State of the World’s Refugees
In search of solutions
UNHCR and Oxford University Press, Geneva, 1995

This report from the Office of the United Nations High Commis-sioner for Refugees sets out to examine the thorny question of how to resolve the global refugee problem. The book examines the origins of current refugee crises and provides a comprehensive account of the way in which approaches to the problem of human displacement have changed since the end of the Cold War. While the right of asylum should be vigorously maintained, the book argues, greater efforts must also be made to tackle refugee problems at their source, by restoring peace and prosperity to countries where large numbers of people have been forced to abandon their homes. The report is complete with case studies, statistics, graphs and maps, describing the state of the world’s refugees.

Available in English, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Russian, Arabic. For further information, contact UNHCR, Palais
des Nations, CH-1211 Geneva 10.

Meet Kofi, Maria & Sunita
Family life in Ghana, Peru & India
By Lesley Anne Simmons, Cobblestone Publishing, USA, 1996

This multicultural chil-dren’s book follows the lives of three families in the developing world as they share their stories of hardship and their dreams for the future. Colourful illustrations by children accompany each story, along with a map of the country concerned. Discussion questions help children understand the importance of economic development and the need for education, health care and clean water. It prompts children to think about the value of money and the implication of rising population numbers and helps them understand the complex problems facing people in developing countries.

Royalties from the book are donated to the Lewis T. Preston Education Program for Girls which provides grants for girls from poor families to attend school and college. The author is a spokeswoman for the World Bank in Washington DC, where she has lectured and written extensively for children on development.

Available in English from Cobble-stone Publishing, 7 School Street, Peterborough, New Hampshire 03458, USA. US$14.95.

The Conscience of the World
The influence of NGOs in the UN systems
Edited by Peter Willetts, C. Hurst & Co. Ltd., London, 1996

Over the years non-governmental organisations (NGOs) have played an increasingly visible and important role in global civil society. They have been particularly active in the fields of human rights, disaster relief, development and the environment, among others. Recently, they have also played an influential part at the major international conferences – the Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, the Vienna human rights conference, the Cairo population conference, the Copenhagen Social Summit and the Fourth World Confer-ence on Women held in Beijing.

What is an NGO? What are the historical roots? How do NGOs gain recognition at the UN and at conferences? What rights of participation do they have and how do they gain influence? This book answers these questions and gives a valuable insight into how NGOs operate.

Available in English from C. Hurst & Co. Ltd., 38 King Street, Covent Garden, London WC2E 8 JT. GB£14.95.

UN International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Setu Centre for Social Knowledge and Action, Ahmedabad, 1995

This publication is the second in the series of human rights education materials that have been translated into two western Indian languages. The first volume, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights published in 1994, has been widely used by grass roots organisations in western India as part of their mobilisation, awareness and human rights education activities. This second volume elaborates and builds on key rights put forth in the declaration. It is illustrated through folk and tribal painting and crafts from all over India.

Available in Gujarati and Marathi from Setu Centre for Social Knowledge and Action, 1, Punyashiok, University Road, Ahmedabad - 380 009, India.

International Responses to Traumatic Stress
Edited by Yael Danieli, Nigel S. Rodley, Lars Weisæth, Baywood Publishing Company, USA, 1996

Traumatic events cause drastic and often tragic changes in people’s lives. Beyond threatening life and property, they cause psychological injury (post-traumatic stress disorder) which can also lead to physical illness. This book was written to draw attention to how major institutions have responded to grave and widespread traumatising events. The idea grew out of a series of meetings between 1987 and 1992 which brought together representatives of different parts of the UN system, other international government organisations, NGOs and individual experts to share their contributions, collaborative efforts and future initiatives. The result is a comprehensive reference work which, while highlighting the very good work that has been and is being achieved in this area, also reflects on how much more still needs to be done.

Available in English from Baywood Publishing Company, Inc., Amityville, New York.

Afghanistan: Tools of peace
Azimuths/ICRC, Geneva, 8 minutes

This short TV magazine-style documentary illustrates how war scrap is being recycled into agricultural tools by Afghan craftsmen in besieged Kabul. Encouraged by an ICRC project, steel from destroyed tanks and aluminium from rocket debris is used to manufacture shovels, sickles and secators. These tools are then distributed to farmers within the framework of the ICRC’s agricultural development and reconstruction projects.

The philosophy behind the projects is to reactivate existing skills and local technology in order to provide income and contribute to the local economy rather than simply assisting the civilian population, still victim of the ongoing conflict.

Available from the ICRC in English, French and Spanish. VHS copy Sfr 20.

Seeds of Deaths
Azimuths/ICRC, Geneva, 8 minutes

Another in the series of TV magazines, this video describes the ICRC’s mine-awareness programme in Azerbaijan, illustrated with the stories of mine victims and details of the work of the ICRC’s prosthetic/orthotic workshops there.

Available from the ICRC in English, French and Spanish. VHS copy Sfr 20.

Random Ambush
ICRC, Geneva, 1996

This multimedia programme available on CD-Rom is designed to spread awareness of the problems that arise from the indiscriminate use of landmines. The programme, aimed at members of the general public, in particular young people and teachers, was developed as an adjunct to the ICRC’s worldwide campaign to ban anti-personnel landmines.

Photos, voice recordings, video clips and graphics combine to present a wide range of information on these vicious devices and the issues that surround them: the different types of mines, the business of selling them, the injuries caused, treatment and rehabilitation of victims, the social and economic costs arising from their use, mine-clearance techniques, gaps in international law governing their use, and details of the campaign to ban them.

Available from the ICRC in English. Sfr 25 or US$20. A Spanish version can be obtained through the Spanish Red Cross or a number of National Societies in Latin America.