It is once again an honour for the International Federation
of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to be able to address
the Inter-Parliamentary Union's Assembly.
The relationship established at this international level benefits
both Parliaments and National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
around the world.
One of the main reasons for this mutual benefit is clear from
your decision to debate the importance of the interplay between
Parliaments and civil society. National Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies are not, strictly speaking, civil society institutions.
This is because they are established by you - by Parliaments
- as a consequence of the obligations accepted by governments
when becoming party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
But, although they are not civil society institutions they share
many of the attributes of those institutions. They are independent
of government, and they are based in the communities they serve.
They are also auxiliary to the public authorities of their countries,
and as such maintain a dialogue with governments based on the
acknowledgement by governments of this status. Their interplay
with parliaments has the same kind of base, but it is potentially
much more far-reaching. The community base of National Societies
is reflected in the fact that the International Federation brings
together the world's largest humanitarian network and the world's
largest network of volunteers.
We count about 97 million volunteers within the network. They
bring their talent and their time to the direct service of the
most vulnerable people in their countries, and also work in
partnership with other organisations and governments whenever
crisis or emergency strikes. They also fill an essential gap
to provide service to disadvantaged people everywhere.
This is one of the main reasons why the International Federation
joined forces with you and the IPU and with UN Volunteers to
launch a joint booklet providing an information note for parliaments
on Volunteerism.
This booklet, launched in 2003, stands as a strong signal of
the way parliaments can work for the benefit of civil society
and other organisations working at the community level in their
countries.
We have worked with your Secretariat to distribute it worldwide,
and it is our hope that parliaments as well as National Societies
will soon be reporting on the value it provides to the work
we both do in support of the vulnerable.
The booklet envisages that there will be occasions when parliaments
will seek the advice and testimony of National Societies or
the International Federation as they do their work. We will
support that whenever the occasion arises, but I will now turn
to one recent example of such action which links directly to
the dramatic emergencies which have challenged our planet this
year.
It concerns the request of the Committee on Homeland Security
and Governmental Affairs of the United States Senate that the
International Federation testify at a hearing it conducted on
Hurricane Katrina.
This was done with the support of our Permanent Observer Mission
to the UN in New York, and it provided an occasion for the International
Federation to bring some vital aspects of community level disaster
response and recovery action to the attention of the Senate.
The International Federation and its member National Societies
around the world is working closely with the international community
and the affected countries to help address the calamities which
have recently struck the United States, Guatemala and Central
America and Pakistan, India and South Asia. This is in the same
year as a tremendous effort to address the impact of the Asian
earthquakes and tsunamis which struck on 26 December 2004.
We are ready, if requested, to bring our knowledge and experience
to the benefit of parliaments in the affected countries, and
of course to support the work of the IPU as it supports your
work. This is in line with the comments made earlier in this
debate by the Greek Parliament on the work of civil society
and volunteers in disaster situations.
This, in our view, will complement well other initiatives aimed
at better linking parliaments to civil society, everywhere in
the world.
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