Humanitarian - Australian Red Cross
Humanitarian - Australian Red Cross
Humanitarian - Australian Red Cross
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TK (Tarin Kowt) in the DMT (Detention<br />
Management Team) managing the ISA<br />
(Initial Screening Area) and handling<br />
all roles apart from TQ (Tactical<br />
Questioning). How does a civilian<br />
keep up<br />
In real life, when an ICRC protection<br />
delegate visits detainees, there are<br />
strict standard procedures. On arrival,<br />
the delegate meets authorities and<br />
addresses issues of concern, and<br />
discusses how the visit will take place.<br />
ICRC will then check or establish<br />
a register of all inmates, conduct<br />
interviews with detainees without<br />
any witness, offer the opportunity<br />
of a <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> family message and<br />
conduct a thorough inspection of<br />
every part of the facility. The objective<br />
is to monitor conditions, prevent<br />
ill-treatment or disappearances and<br />
assist authorities in meeting their legal<br />
obligations. Independent reporting<br />
is provided to the prison authorities<br />
and their ministerial hierarchy and<br />
remains confidential. While ICRC visits<br />
– repeated, not one-off – in no way<br />
guarantee all is well, they do show<br />
the detaining authorities’ willingness<br />
to work with independent monitors<br />
and show prisoners that they are not<br />
forgotten by the outside world.<br />
In a typical year, ICRC staff visit as<br />
many as 500,000 detainees in more<br />
than 60 countries. Today, because<br />
most detainees are not prisoners-ofwar<br />
in strict legal terms (and different<br />
legal protections apply in internal armed<br />
conflict from international armed conflict),<br />
the ICRC, in agreement with authorities,<br />
visits a much broader range of people<br />
detained as a result of conflict.<br />
How did the inspection of the pretend<br />
ADF facilities go Fortunately, very well.<br />
On the arrival of our team, an interpreter<br />
in civilian clothes was provided by the<br />
ADF and the visit began.<br />
The purpose of ICRC inspections is not<br />
adversarial. Rather, observations made<br />
are the starting point for discussions<br />
aimed at encouraging authorities to<br />
confirm or raise standards, if necessary,<br />
towards those set out in the law.<br />
During the tour of facilities the ICRC<br />
and the MPs examined and discussed<br />
various points – the size of cells and<br />
exercise yards, the requirement of<br />
organising family visits, even for socalled<br />
‘high value’ detainees, sensitivity<br />
to local cultural practices and the<br />
‘comfort’ of detainees being balanced<br />
against security concerns. This to-andfro<br />
negotiation is typical of the way the<br />
system works.<br />
What an experience – to travel with the<br />
ADF and see them in action, observing<br />
the IHL they had been taught, first and<br />
foremost by the Army’s own Command<br />
and Legal Officers, and supported by<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong>.<br />
Yet the trip had its challenges too. Pete<br />
and Eve lived under tough conditions<br />
– coping with tropical humidity, and<br />
sleeping in the open air under the<br />
requisite mosquito nets. And, for a<br />
little extra spice, the exercise had<br />
to be abandoned, and everyone<br />
evacuated twice, just before Cyclone<br />
Anthony was expected and again<br />
when Cyclone Yasi struck. No rest for<br />
the MPs though. Post Yasi they were<br />
re-assigned, supporting ADF recovery<br />
efforts from Townsville to Tully.<br />
Between January and May 2010, the<br />
ICRC carried out an astounding number<br />
of visits in the Afghanistan conflict.<br />
Some 14,000 detainees were reached,<br />
including those held by the Afghan<br />
authorities, US forces, the NATO-led<br />
International Security Assistance Force<br />
and others in the armed opposition.<br />
The ICRC has had a delegation in Kabul<br />
since 1987. But Uruzgan province – a<br />
name now familiar to <strong>Australian</strong>s – has<br />
been a difficult area for the ICRC since a<br />
tragedy in 2003. An El Salvadorian ICRC<br />
water engineer, Riccardo Munguia, was<br />
deliberately targeted, pulled from his car<br />
and killed. Almost all ICRC operations in<br />
the region were suspended, though they<br />
were supported from Kandahar.<br />
An ICRC office was re-opened in<br />
Uruzgan in 2009. It is from that base<br />
that the ICRC now maintains regular<br />
contacts with the ADF base and<br />
detention facility. In other words when<br />
‘our’ Townsville MPs arrive at their<br />
Afghanistan posts they will see the<br />
ICRC practices on which they were<br />
trained replicated exactly. Familiarity<br />
and consistency of approach can only<br />
lead to greater IHL adherence.<br />
– Bev Patterson, <strong>Australian</strong> <strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong><br />
About The Royal <strong>Australian</strong><br />
Corps of Military Police<br />
The Royal <strong>Australian</strong> Corps of Military<br />
Police is a small highly trained<br />
and professional Corps providing<br />
command support and police support<br />
to the Army and the <strong>Australian</strong> Defence<br />
Force in peace, crisis and conflict on<br />
any operation, anywhere in the world.<br />
Their role covers four key areas: law<br />
enforcement; security; mobility and<br />
manoeuvring support; and internment<br />
and detention. One Military Police<br />
Battalion is the Army’s deployable<br />
Force Element of this Corps.<br />
About the ICRC<br />
The International Committee of the<br />
<strong>Red</strong> <strong>Cross</strong> (ICRC) is an impartial,<br />
neutral and independent organisation<br />
whose exclusively humanitarian<br />
mission is to protect the lives and<br />
dignity of victims of armed conflict<br />
and other situations of violence and<br />
to provide them with assistance.<br />
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