News: Neutrality
Colombian president Alvaro Uribe confirmed a story CNN first reported a few days ago - apparently, a member of a military intelligence team sent to rescue some hostages taken by FARC had the bright idea of putting on a bib bearing the emblem of the ICRC.
It probably received no more than a blip on the nightly news here, but if there's anything I learned in my International Criminal Law class, it's that humanitarian workers have it tough. Red Cross relief teams are often under attack even without government forces misusing the emblems of neutrality - I can't imagine what would happen if this kind of fraud occurred regularly.
In a world with 6.7 billion people, it's probably important to have at least one organization that has no stake in any conflict save for mitigating human suffering. Here's a bit about the Red Cross:
posted by Mulliga @ 2:42 AM
2 comments
2 Comments:
So do they hand back the people, including the three americans who were rescued from FARC because it was cheating?
The people who were rescued had spent years in the jungle, some up to 10 years, while they were humilliated, raped, tortured, and killed.
Not a single shot was fired, no one threated by those forces and no military damaged was inflicted on Farc. you want more? FARC is not a belligerent group, it is a terrorist group and CIRC rules only apply to legitimate armies and enemies. You want even more?
FARC kidnapped people while they were inside a United Nations Vehicle with white flags. If you don't belive me search a person named Alan Jara.
Or what about when FARC killed injured soldiers while being transported in an ambulance with the CIRC emblems, does that not count?
Or what about when FARC killed 117 people; all of them women and children inside a Church in 2002?
I'm sorry to say this but FARC has never respected a single so-called neutral international organizations, so what's the big deal anyway? besides, it is known that it wasn't the whole rescued group, but one person who was scared to hell, and wanted to protect his own life(which is ironic because that's what the red cross emblem should be for) because there were around 60 armed rebels around where they landed.
Why doesn't CNN says that?
Colombia did not appropriate the Red Cross Symbol. One person did, and that should be said.
To be fair, I never said this was some kind of clandestine Colombian government policy - just one individual who put on the symbol. And yes, armed groups (including FARC) tend not to respect aid workers anyway. But I still think people should at least make the effort not to abuse the red cross.
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