Red Cross Oration 2011: Yves Daccord, Director General, ICRC

Humanitarian organisations today face a range of challenges, both externally due to situations often outside their control, and internally in relation to how they organise themselves and deliver services. For the International Committee of Red Cross and Red Crescent, with its specific mandate during times of armed conflict and situations of violence, current battlefields are more diverse than ever before. From the complex situations in places such as Afghanistan and Iraq, to the dangers posed to civilians in Libya, Somalia or even Mexico, the humanitarian sector is facing new challenges in determining how to best provide assistance. Technological advances in communications and weaponry, the threat posed by nuclear weapons and a heavily polarised political environment add to the complexity that humanitarian agencies must contend with.

This significant public lecture marks the first occasion of a visit to Australia by a Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the founding body of the world’s largest humanitarian movement.  Yves Daccord, Director General of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) will highlight the challenges and ways forward for the humanitarian sector, with particular reference to the role of the ICRC and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The Red Cross Oration series

The Red Cross Oration springs from a collaboration between the University of Tasmania and Australian Red Cross. The organisations have joined together to present an annual oration. The purpose is to contribute to the advancement of public understanding and interdisciplinary dialogue concerning issues of human significance in the contemporary world. The Oration is presented by an internationally renowned speaker and has the primary purpose of introducing to the wider community issues that connect broadly with the values and principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. While the speaker may come from any discipline, the focus of the Oration is on an important contemporary issue that has a distinctly human meaning and significance whether related, for instance, to some aspect of human distress or suffering, human dignity or respect, or human understanding and human engagement.