Georgia: Amnesty Appeal and International Committee of the Red Cross Continues to Treat Injured

Georgia/Russian Federation: ICRC delivers assistance to civilians in conflict affected areas: The ICRC is flying 15 tonnes of medicine and medical supplies to Georgia on Tuesday to help treat those injured in the armed conflict involving Georgian, South Ossetian and Russian troops. Large numbers of civilians have been hurt in the conflict and thousands have been forced to flee their homes. See reports by Sangeeta Koenig, the ICRC's deputy head of operations for Eastern Europe, and more on the organization's response to the crises at ICRC dot org slash eng.

See Amnesty Appeal end of ICRC info...

The ICRC website describes its history as "Growing from one man's spontaneous gesture to help wounded soldiers, to become an organization reaching out to millions of war victims around the world, the ICRC has worked in most of the major crises of the past 140 years. Hand in hand with its operational activities have been its efforts to develop the laws governing armed conflicts, so as to ensure greater protection for those who do not, or who no longer, take part in fighting; the ICRC and the Geneva Conventions are inextricably linked." [2]

It goes on to state, "The idea that mankind must be protected against the scourge of war can be found among all the peoples of Antiquity. It was only in the nineteenth century, however, that considerable efforts were undertaken to make war more humane. The decisive events were the creation of the ICRC in February 1863 and the signature, in August 1864, of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, which signalled the birth of international humanitarian law." [3]

The ICRC was the winner of the 1917, 1944 and 1963 Nobel Peace Prizes

Funding

Funding comes from countries that are (blogger's NOTE) a "party to the Geneva Conventions (governments) (DOES THIS STILL INCLUDE USA? blogger's note) ; national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies; supranational organizations (such as the European Commission); and public and private sources. All funding is voluntary." its website states.

"The ICRC does not wait to receive funds before it responds to urgent needs in the field, and counts on the goodwill of its contributors to provide the funds as quickly as possible. At the end of each year the ICRC launches two budget appeals, for headquarters and the field, to cover the coming year."

Be sure to also watch ICRC on Treatment of Detainees

Georgia/Russia Amnesty Action Recommended...Posted August 11, 2008 from Amnesty Appeal STILL RELEVANT!

RECOMMENDED ACTION: Please send appeals to arrive as quickly as
possible:
- urging all parties to the conflict to comply with principles of
international humanitarian law which are binding on states and
non-governmental armed groups;
- calling on all parties to distinguish between civilian and military
targets and to ensure the protection of civilians and civilian
objects and to avoid attacks that do not attempt to distinguish
between military targets and civilians or civilian objects and
attacks that have a disproportionate impact on civilians or civilian
objects;
- urging all parties to provide safe passage to civilians fleeing
from the conflict and allow unimpeded access to humanitarian relief
for those in areas affected by the conflict.

APPEALS TO:

President Mikheil Saakashvili
Office of the President
Ingorokva 7
0105 Tbilisi
GEORGIA
Fax: 011 995 32 99 96 30
Salutation: Dear President

Ms Eka Tkeshelashvili
Minister of Foreign Affairs
4 Chitadze Street
0188 Tbilisi
GEORGIA
Fax: 011 995 32 28 46 78
Salutation: Dear Minister

President Dmitrii Medvedev
Office of the President
Ilinka Str 23
103132 Moscow
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax : 011 7 (495) 606 51 73
Salutation: Dear President

Mr Sergei Lavrov
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Smolenskaia- Sennaia pl., 32/34
119200 Moscow
RUSSIAN FEDERATION
Fax: 011 7 (495) 244 22 03
Salutation: Dear Minister

COPIES TO:

Ambassador Vasil Sikharulidze
Embassy of the Republic of Georgia
1101 15th St., NW #602
Washington DC 20005
Fax: 1 202 393 4537
Email: embgeorgiausa@ yahoo.com

Ambassador Yuri Viktorovich Ushakov
Embassy of the Russian Federation
2650 Wisconsin Ave NW
Washington DC 20007
Fax: 1 202 298 5735
Email: russ-amb@cerfnet. com (Currently unavailable)

PLEASE SEND APPEALS IMMEDIATELY.
Check with the AIUSA Urgent Action office if sending appeals after 22
September 2008.

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Tip of the Month:
Write as soon as you can. Try to write as close as possible to the
date a case is issued.

** POSTAGE RATES **
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Amnesty International is a worldwide grassroots movement that
promotes and defends human rights.

This Urgent Action may be reposted if kept intact, including contact
information and stop action date (if applicable). Thank you for your
help with this appeal.

Urgent Action Network
Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Ave SE 5th fl
Washington DC 20003
Email: uan@aiusa.org
http://www.amnestyu sa.org/urgent/
Phone: 202.544.0200
Fax: 202.675.8566

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END OF URGENT ACTION APPEAL
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