Red Cross protecting human dignity [Archives:2006/1001/Local News]
SANA'A, Nov. 21 ) Thirty-seven academics and religious scholars gathered in Sana'a to discuss “humanitarian protection under Islamic law and international humanitarian law.”
“We organized such seminars in different governorates like Aden and Taiz to highlight the similarities between Islam and international humanitarian law,” said Hicham Hassan, the spokesman of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Yemen.
He added that many principles promoted by international humanitarian law were found in Islamic laws.
“The protection of women, children and elders have to be guaranteed during armed conflicts, prisoners captured during the war must be treated humanly, they have to be provided with food, care and shelter…etc all these Islamic principles are also found in the humanitarian law,” he remarked.
However he confirmed that more than half of the Red Cross's current operations are carried out for conflict victims in the Muslim world – be they prisoners, displaced persons, families of detainees or other persons requiring aid. In the regions concerned certain conflicts have lasted for decades.
“Conflicts such as these present major challenges for independent and neutral humanitarian organizations. In the case of the Red Cross, they have fueled mistrust of its activities and emblem,” he said. “At the same time, ongoing discussions on the roots of humanitarian law have highlighted the fact that the law is a universally accepted set of rules reflecting the values of different civilizations, cultures and religious beliefs, in particular those of Islam, both as a religion and as a civilization boasting a complex and wide-reaching legal system.”
He said that the International Committee of the Red Cross has stepped up its dialogue with intellectuals, academics and scholars in various parts of the Muslim world, with an aim to lay the foundations for greater mutual understanding, dispel existing misconceptions and find common ground for protecting human dignity in armed conflicts.
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