The role of experience and the place of history in the writings of ICRC presidents

Cotter, Cédric

doi:10.1017/s1816383119000456

Cited by 2 publications

(1 citation statement)

References 8 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…As a paradigmatic example of neutral humanitarianism (Slim, 2020) to work across the lines of conflict, Cotter (2022) defines the ICRC's role as a temporary neutral intermediary "when it acts as a third party between two or several parties in dispute, with their agreement and in order to facilitate the resolution of all or some aspects of the dispute and/or the implementation of a settlement agreement" (paragraph 8). Under the auspices of the Geneva Conventions, this international agency engages in humanitarian diplomacy through confidential dialogues with policy-makers, belligerents and other stakeholders to persuade them to respect International Humanitarian Law (IHL).…”

Section: Context: the International Committee Of The Red Crossmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanitarian neutrality and language at the International Committee of the Red Cross

Garrido Sardà

2023

RLD

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

This article examines the articulation of the humanitarian principle of neutrality and language as the vehicle of this political stance at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). The ICRC is a neutral humanitarian actor recognised by the Geneva Conventions and historically linked with Swiss political neutrality and multilingualism. Through interviews, focus groups and institutional documents, I analyse the ICRC delegates’ linguistic negotiation of neutrality in humanitarian encounters. Based on the semiotic process of iconisation (Gal & Irvine, 2000) with a focus on the politics of embodiment (Bucholtz & Hall, 2016), the analysis reveals that raciolinguistic ideologies reinforce the dominance of English (Footitt et al., 2020) and the imagined figure of the White, male European humanitarian (Fassin, 2012) who does not speak local and regional languages such as Arabic. “Neutrality” emerges as a contextual and relational concept based on a negotiation in terms of possession of a language repertoire, racialised embodiment and cultural closeness. In the Middle East and Northern Africa, this results in stakeholder perceptions of lesser neutrality attached to Arabic-speaking “Westerners” and “Arabs”, who destabilise the imagined humanitarian figure linked with neutrality.

show abstract

Section: Context: the International Committee Of The Red Crossmentioning

confidence: 99%

Humanitarian neutrality and language at the International Committee of the Red Cross

Garrido Sardà

2023

RLD

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

From the Gilded Age to the Digital Age: The evolution of ICRC legal commentaries

Mohr¹,

Policinski²

2022

Int. rev. Red Cross

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Legal commentaries are a type of secondary source that provides clarity about the meaning of treaty provisions so they can be appropriately interpreted and applied by practitioners. Since 1870, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has produced such commentaries on each successive international humanitarian law (IHL) treaty or update to an existing treaty. Over time, who drafts these commentaries and the methodology behind them has evolved, from early commentaries written by a single jurist who had participated in the drafting of the treaty to multi-authored works based on extensive research and the methodology found in the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. The ICRC Commentaries have always been geared towards those tasked with applying IHL, but this audience has expanded over time, giving them a more global reach, and their reception has evolved accordingly. The most recent iteration of the ICRC Commentaries on the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols is currently being produced, with some changes in methodology to guarantee that they remain a practical tool for the interpretation and application of those instruments.

show abstract

The role of experience and the place of history in the writings of ICRC presidents

Cited by 2 publications

References 8 publications

Humanitarian neutrality and language at the International Committee of the Red Cross

Humanitarian neutrality and language at the International Committee of the Red Cross

From the Gilded Age to the Digital Age: The evolution of ICRC legal commentaries

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About