ICRC Annual Report 2008
This report is primarily an account of the ICRC’s work in the field and its activities to promote international humanitarian law. Mention is made of some of the negotiations entered into with a view to bringing protection and assistance to the victims of international and non-international armed confl icts and other situations of violence. Other negotiations are not mentioned, since the ICRC feels that any publicity would not be in the interests of the victims. Thus, this report cannot be regarded as covering all the institution’s eff orts worldwide to come to the aid of the victims of conflict.
Moreover, the length of the text devoted to a given country or situation is not necessarily proportional to the magnitude of the problems observed and tackled by the institution. Indeed, there are cases which are a source of grave humanitarian concern but on which the ICRC is not in a position to report because it has
been denied permission to take action. By the same token, the description of operations in which the ICRC has great freedom of action takes up considerable space, regardless of the scale of the problems involved.
