|
||||||||||||||||
11-01-2005
ICRC in WWI: overview of activities
During World War I, the ICRC faced the biggest challenges of its 50-year history; it visited prisoners of war, strived to help civilians for the first time, led a campaign against chemical weapons and, at the end, visited political prisoners during the Hungarian revolution.
Activities for prisoners of war
Activities for civilians The postwar period: the challenge of the repatriations and the Russian and Hungarian revolutions
Morocco, January 1916. An ICRC delegate visiting a camp for German POWs.
At the time of the First World War, the international conventions made no explicit reference to action by the ICRC in aid of prisoners of war. From a legal perspective, the ICRC could nonetheless base its work on theHague Convention of 1907 respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land and the Regulations annexed thereto, which contain a number of provisions relating to prisoners of war and dealing with matters such as the exchange of information, visits to internment camps and the treatment of prisoners. The ICRC also based its work on a resolution passed by the International Red Cross Conference held in Washington in 1912, which entrusted it with the task of distributing collective relief to captured servicemen.
©ICRC/Ref. HIST 3005-33
Switzerland. Arrival in Geneva of a convoy of seriously wounded French soldiers.
In November 1914 the ICRC asked the Swiss President to look into the possibility of interning, in neutral Switzerland, a large number of men who were too severely wounded to be able to cope with the conditions of detention in the camps. For the first time, on 31 December 1914, the ICRC used its good offices to convince the belligerents of the need to reach agreement on this matter. However, it did not intervene directly, leaving the Swiss authorities to persuade the warring States to sign agreements among themselves. In 1916, as a result of these efforts, Switzerland took in up to 30,000 internees at one time.Similarly, the ICRC approached the parties to the conflict directly to propose ways of assisting wounded or sick prisoners, depending on their condition. On 26 April 1917 it also launched an appeal inviting the belligerent States to repatriate able-bodied prisoners who had been held captive for a long time or who were suffering from serious psychological disturbances (“barbed-wire psychosis”) . ICRC delegates were not the only ones to visit the POW camps. Representatives of the Protecting Powers – States responsible for defending the interests of one of the parties within the framework of its relations with the other party to the conflict – and those of national Red Cross societies of neutral countries also carried out this kind of activity. However, during the 1914-18 war the ICRC was the only organization to visit camps belonging to all the warring States, consistently applying the same inspection criteria. Moreover, its neutral status and its role within the Red Cross movement allowed it to contact all the States and national societies to draw their attention to the plight of prisoners of war. From 1914 until all prisoners had been released in 1923, a total of 41 ICRC delegates visited 524 camps throughout Europe (France, Germany, United Kingdom, Austria-Hungary, Italy, Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, Macedonia, Poland and Bohemia), in Africa (Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt) and in Asia (India, Burma, Japan). Activities for civilians The postwar period: the challenge of the repatriations and the Russian and Hungarian revolutions
©ICRC/Ref. HIST 1126
Riga, Latvia, 1920-22. Transit camp for Russian and Latvian POWs being repatriated from Germany (Stettin) and for German POWs being repatriated from Russia.
While the prisoners of war who were nationals of the Entente Powers (France, the United Kingdom and their allies) were liberated swiftly at the end of the war – as stipulated in the armistice agreements – it took much longer to organize the release of prisoners who were nationals of the former Central Empires (in particular Germany, Austria-Hungary and the Ottoman Empire). In fact the Allies decided that, in accordance with the Hague Convention of 1907, these prisoners would be released only after peace had been concluded with the various Central Powers by the treaties of Versailles, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, Neuilly and Sèvres (replaced by the Treaty of Lausanne). In 1919 the ICRC approached the Allied Supreme Council on several occasions requesting the repatriation of prisoners of war from the Central Powers who were held by the Allies or in Russia. On 23 March 1920 the Council authorized the repatriation of prisoners of war detained in Siberia. Then, on 11 April 1920, the League of Nations entrusted Dr Nansen with the task of organizing the repatriation of all prisoners in cooperation with the ICRC, which was responsible for the practical arrangements. More than 425,000 people were subsequently repatriated under ICRC auspices. In the immediate postwar period, the Red Cross also brought aid to the victims of the revolutions that erupted in Russia and Hungary. In both countries revolution represented a new challenge for the ICRC and the national societies concerned, which for the first time in their history found themselves having to deal with civil war. Birth of the Soviet Red Cross A Russian Red Cross Society had been in existence in Russia since 1867. This was transformed by a government decree of 6 January 1918 into the Soviet Red Cross, which was recognized by the ICRC in 1921. From 1914 onwards the ICRC had a delegate in Russia, Edouard Frick, who worked in close cooperation with the national society. In 1918, despite the events, the ICRC delegate was instructed to continue his activities, which he did by bringing together, on his own initiative, the Red Cross societies of neutral countries remaining in Petrograd. When Frick returned to Geneva in 1918 he had done a great deal of work, in particular helping people imprisoned for political reasons. However, the ICRC was not authorized to return to Russia until 1921, when it was involved in major repatriation operations for prisoners of the Central Powers who had been detained in Siberia. In March 1919 revolution broke out in Hungary. On 28 April 1918, ICRC delegate Rodolphe Haccius visited a prison near Budapest in which political prisoners were being held. It was the first time that the ICRC had carried out this kind of visit, which was outside its usual sphere of activity. Haccius secured the release of prisoners who were sick or over 60 years of age. Subsequently, steps taken by the ICRC delegation in Budapest led to the release of 280 foreign political prisoners. Working in cooperation with the Hungarian Red Cross, the delegation also aided the civilian population. The First World War made huge demands on the Red Cross movement, and the ICRC in particular. Some of the major tasks carried out by the ICRC between 1914 and 1918 were subsequently developed or had significant implications not only during but also after the war. This was especially true of the International Prisoners-of-War Agency and the ICRC's efforts to prohibit chemical warfare. |