Red Cross Red Crescent conference to address Asia Pacific's major challenges
22 November 2002

Population movement, public health emergencies and the escalating cost of disasters to lives and livelihoods in the world's most disaster-prone region, are threatening the future development and security of Asia Pacific, the International Federation of Red Cross and Crescent Societies warns today.

The region has the highest number of refugees, accounts for 20 per cent of the 40 million people with HIV/AIDS across the world and suffers 60 percent of the world's natural disasters.

The warning comes as the 6th Asia and Pacific Regional Conference of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, hosted by the Philippine National Red Cross, opens in Manila to address these issues and to commit to an action plan. The conference, being held from 25-28 November, will be attended by representatives from 46 of the 49 Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Asia Pacific and the Middle East, donor sister societies, the International Federation, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), and organizations such as UNAIDS, the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank.

With more than one million new HIV/AIDS infections in Asia Pacific in 2001 alone, HIV/AIDS is the most pressing public health challenge as it is spreading faster than the ability to contain it. Social evils campaigns and highly discriminatory attitudes in some Asian countries lead to people with HIV or at high risk, being singled out as deserving punishment. This approach is fuelling the epidemic and driving the unsafe practices of injecting drug users underground.

"Asia is likely to suffer the next big wave of the pandemic and unless we act now, the region will experience the same socio-economic devastation as elsewhere where family structures are breaking down, the numbers of orphans are rising dramatically and where development has been put back by decades," says Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro, President of the International Federation.

The scale of population movement in Asia is also having significant repercussions with communities increasingly vulnerable to violations of basic human rights, poverty, ill-health and xenophobia. Asia has the highest number of refugees - more than four million of a global total of nearly 13 million - of which Pakistan and Iran host more than three million Afghan refugees. In addition, there are tens of millions of internally displaced people and migrants - both documented and undocumented. Their plight has not been helped with Asia being the region with the fewest ratifications of conventions protecting the rights of refugees and migrants.

"Both HIV/AIDS and population movement have the capacity to threaten social stability and development. We cannot afford to let this happen. The Red Cross and Red Crescent is already working hard to prevent this, but we and others have to step up our activities if we are to have a greater impact. This conference is an important forum for finding ways of doing that effectively," says Governor Mario R. Nery of the Philippine National Red Cross.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent has a network of 63 million volunteers in the region, many of whom are already working on HIV/AIDS, migrant and refugee programmes. Many are also the first on the scene when disaster strikes the region such as the 200 volunteers of the Indonesian Red Cross who took a lead in the response to the bombing of a nightclub in Bali in October which killed nearly 200 people.

Hit by the majority of natural disasters, Asia Pacific suffers the greatest human and financial costs which hinder long-term development of communities while the Pacific is on the slow frontline of climate change, posing huge challenges for tiny and remote communities. This year, the region has experienced continent-wide floods - from China to India with Red Cross Societies in flood-affected countries responding with immediate relief aid. The Red Cross Red Crescent conference in Manila will be looking to find new ways of managing disasters so as to prevent development gains being lost overnight as well as looking to see how to respond to new threats in a changing world climate.

For further information, or to set up interviews, please contact:

In Manila
Tessie Usapdin, Philippine National Red Cross - Tel: + 63 25 278 38 84
Jemini Pandya, Press Officer - Tel: + 41 79 217 33 74
Omar Valdimarsson, Regional Information Delegate - Tel: + 66 1 823 92 18

In Geneva
Duty phone - Tel: + 41 79 416 38 81

The Geneva-based International Federation promotes the humanitarian activities of 181 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies among vulnerable people. By coordinating international disaster relief and encouraging development support, it seeks to prevent and alleviate human suffering. The Federation, National Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross together, constitute the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.