The ICRC definitely needs a certain ‘development’ of its policy of confidentiality, Abou Seada

By Angy Ghannam, IOL Staff

CAIRO, June 7 (IslamOnline.net) – The inquiries into the abuses of Iraqi prisoners in the U.S.-run Abu Gharib prison have so far left crucial questions concerning the confidentiality policy of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) unanswered as the humanitarian organization was buffeted by demands to drop its silence over what it hears or sees about prisoners as a price for gaining access to jails in trouble spots around the world.

“Yes, the ICRC definitely needs a certain ‘development’ of its policy of confidentiality which will allow the humanitarian organization to present its findings to the U.N. Human Rights committee and to the International Criminal court (ICC),” Hafez Abou Seada, Secretary General of the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights told IOL Sunday, June 6.

The ICRC can present its findings to the ICC if it includes war crimes, violations of international humanitarian law, violation of the four Geneva Conventions and other international treaties, he added.

The ICRC reiterated it would not make public reports it has written on abuses at U.S.-run prisons in Iraq although it has been buffeted by demands that it drop its policy of confidentiality in dealing with prisoners in Iraq.

As a standard procedure, the ICRC visits people in places of detention, does private interviews with them and then it writes all its findings in a report that it discusses only with the detaining authority.

Abou Seada, also a member of the Egyptian National Council  for Human Rights, said that after the establishment of the ICC, the Red Cross and its employees may have to abide by the criminal law article that oblige anyone who knows of a crime to report it.

The ICC is the first permanent court to try war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. It was set up by the United Nations in The Hague on July 1, 2002, and was due to start work approximately one year later. On June 16, 2003, the chief prosecutor of the ICC, Argentinean human rights lawyer Luis Moreno-Ocampo, was sworn in.

Ever since the idea was tabled in the U.N., Washington has insisted not to sign up to the ICC and is seeking immunity for its soldiers and citizens from being tried under ICC jurisdiction by cutting bilateral deals  with its signatories.

“We all understand that the strength of the ICRC lies in its neutrality and confidentiality principles which help them present their relief aid to victims all around the world, but in some cases, such as Abu Gharib, another party needs to be informed,” he added.

Never Public

However, an ICRC spokeswoman said that the ICRC can’t compromise their concept of confidentiality.

“We work in a confidential manner in order to maintain the trust of the detaining authorities, we give them our recommendation and we keep visiting the prison to see if our recommendation is taken into consideration,” said Tamara Al Rifai, ICRC chief communication support center.

“We have learned that when we go public, a lot of times, we are denied access to the detainees and so we don’t want to go through that, we prefer to be confidential but have unimpeded and continuous access to prisoners,” she added.

She explained that the ICRC would rather go ahead this way than resort to public communication approach which would “make us unwelcome in many situations where there are victims”.

Debate

“If we denounce and condemn, we would have been thrown out, governments don't like to be under scrutiny,” Al Rifai

Al Rifai admitted that Abou Gharib incident created a debate within the ICRC and that although the Red Cross strongly believe in the confidential approach, the organization realized that in some cases it didn’t work.

“It is a very difficult question for us, because on one side, we have the tradition of confidentiality which allows many governments to let us into their prisons while they don’t let any other organization that uses public communication.

“On the other hand, we also understand that times are changing and that access to information is now very easy for people and that the media places a very big pressuring role on decision making.

“I understand there is a debate, we are aware of it. Honestly, we are thinking about it, but we are not right now in a position to make huge changes,” she added.

The ICRC, for a long time, was a media shy organization, but now “we understand the importance of working with the media to shed light on human issues because conflicts are ultimately all about human costs and only media can help us show the human cost of conflicts.”

A leaked ICRC report and reviews by human rights organizations have put the administration of President George W. Bush on the defensive over its abusive treatment of prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Resignation

This came as the head of the Washington office of the ICRC, who had urged the U.S. Government to take action over the prisoner abuse scandal in Iraq, has recently resigned for what he said were personal reasons.

Sources in the community of non-government groups that work with the Red Cross said they believed Christophe Girod was unhappy with his own organization and with the U.S. Government and that he felt they (the Red Cross) should have gone public with their report.

Sources also said Girod came away dissatisfied from a meeting on the abuse issue with U.S. National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice.

Misunderstanding

Iraqi prisoners have been suffering for months from torture at the U.S.-run prison

The ICRC is an organization that monitors the application of humanitarian law in situations of conflict. However, Al Rifai expressed her worries that there has been a misunderstanding in the public opinion about its role.

“ICRC can't enforce humanitarian law, we are not a legal mechanism, we are not a criminal court and we are not a policeman of the countries. So, we can't impose the way states should work. What we do is monitor the situation and help governments about their own application because these governments have signed (in to respect) international law,” she said.

The Geneva convention is obvious as it states in its first article that the parties who have ratified the convention have to respect and insure respect of the convention, so it is up to the governments to respect their own obligation, she added.

The Geneva conventions, written in 1949, are the set of laws applicable in armed conflicts. Their main purpose is to ensure respect and integrity of the victims.

"I feel the confidentiality aspect is really misunderstood because we also live in a world where condemnation and denunciation are very present in our every day language but this is not the language of the ICRC.

“We don't care about denouncing as long as we have access to the people we want to visit.

“There are other international non governmental organizations that deal with human rights and who publish reports and denounce, so why not be complementary, we do our work and they do the public communication,” she said.

“If we denounce and condemn, we would have been thrown out, governments don't like to be under scrutiny,” she explained.

They Knew

“Concerning Abu Gharib, we did our part, we have gone to the highest level, the President of the ICRC has discussed it in his recent visit to the United States with National Security Adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell and U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary of State Paul Wolfowitz.

“We have submitted our reports in February 2004 to Iraq’s U.S. administrator Paul Bremer and to Lt. Gen. Ricardo Sanchez, commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, and later we have also given the report to the permanent mission of the U.S. in Geneva,” she added.

The Red Cross repeatedly warned the White House, the Pentagon and the State Department in confidential reports and closed-door meetings since last spring that U.S. troops were abusing inmates at various military-run prisons in Iraq.