 Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. I'm very pleased to welcome you to this, the inaugural lecture of the 2022 Development Matters series which is supported by RSAID. Today we're delighted to be joined by Robert Mardini, Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who's been given generous time to us out of his busy schedule. Director General Mardini will speak about the international humanitarian landscape in 2022 and his address will last about 20 minutes and after his keynote we proceed with questions from you and from the audience. You'll be able to join today's discussion using the Q&A function on Zoom, which you should see on your screen. Please feel free to send your questions in throughout the session as they occur to you and we will come to them once Director General Mardini has finished his presentation. And also I remind you to use the Q&A function for the recording and of course you can also use Twitter to handle this at IIEA. We're also live streaming this afternoon's session so a very warm welcome to all of you who are joining us through YouTube. Robert Mardini is Director General of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC, responsible for steering the organization global humanitarian activities and its 20,000 staff in more than 100 countries with a master's degree in civil engineering and hydraulics from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology EPFL. Robert began his ICRC career in 1997 going on to serve as Director, Deputy Director General from 2010 to 2012, Regional Director of the Near and Middle East 2012-2018 and permanent observer of the United Nations and head of delegation New York 2018 to 2020. So before we turn to Mr. Mardini, I'd like to hand the floor over to Rory de Borca, Director General of Irish Aid, to issue some opening remarks. Rory, over to you please. Thanks Mark and hello Robert. It's a real pleasure to have the opportunity to be somewhat of a John the Baptist though hopefully with a different ending for Robert today because Ireland's partnership with the ICRC is of long standing. It's really essential and I think it's actually kind of appropriate that Mark as a former Chief of Staff opened up the discussion and that the Department of Foreign Affairs follows because Ireland's relationship with the Red Cross, Red Crescent movement goes back a long time. It predates the foundation of the state and you know the Geneva Conventions are a big part of what the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement define and are guardians of and in many ways create the framework for the optimal conduct of wars but also the guarantees that open up the humanitarian space that the ICRC operates when we as a department work with you to alleviate the circumstances that people find themselves in during or following conflicts and also which are partners in the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent after natural disasters. The Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, but particularly the ICRC, occupies a particularly unique space you know as a trusted interlocutor in places where frankly the rest of us cannot go. Your colleagues work at risk, unarmed under the protection of a flag and do and we know this put their lives at risk and many of your colleagues sadly have died over the years and we pay them tribute but we need the work that the ICRC does because it's in those really dangerous places those places where people are most at risk that humanitarian assistance and in international humanitarian law is most important and if it wasn't for the ICRC and partners like the ICRC I think we would see an awful lot more human toll and the politics of moving from conflict into peace would be much more difficult. Robert you know has taken on the role of leader of the ICRC you know only two years ago and while Ireland was in the chair of the donor the co-chair position of the donor body which supports the ICRC and you know it's been a difficult two years for you know for the ICRC as it has for everybody else through a pandemic and I think as we begin certainly in Europe to emerge from that pandemic we see a deteriorated humanitarian landscape. This year projection suggests we need an additional 17 percent or this additional 70 percent people needing humanitarian assistance worldwide that's about 50 times our population 250 million people and COVID has released all sorts of political and security and other shocks across societies which were unprepared to take on the strain and I fear that those strains are going to complicate your work over the decade ahead you know and to this you know and that sense that conflict unfortunately is much more present in our world this decade I think we'll also see the intensification of climate issues coming into the into the into our considerations you know all of this means that I think as we move forward the ICRC will continue to be a really important partner for us you know we work with you in many places at the moment occupied Palestinian territory Ethiopia the style Syria I'd rather we had to work with you in less places I fear sadly that we may have to work with you in more and we really value your unique role and the humanitarian access you give also just want to briefly just mention the role you play on this island which is also very important working on cross-community relations on the northern part of the island easing secretary intentions limiting the use of violence within and between communities and also you know intersecting with the work of the Irish Red Cross around prisons as well I mean really really valuable work and we're going to work with you I think in the future on disarmament a really key theme of our foreign policy protections of civilians and respect for humanitarian law questions which I think also lead into our security council tenure so really value partner I'm really looking forward to what you have to say to a smart Robert and you know I think it'll be a really valuable discussion and a brilliant one for us to start our reflections on development over the course of the year so with that Robert I'll hand over to you thank you thank you so much Ruri I really liked your introductory remarks and I think you qualified in three words how ICRC delegates operate you said they work at risk unarmed and protected by the by the emblem and I think it's it's a very powerful formula summarizing what colleagues are doing across the globe and and yes you know we have many donors but I think that the partnership we have with Ireland is of high quality because we really see eye to eye on on the you know what is at the heart of our mandate of our identity international humanitarian law the seven principles of the Red Cross represent movement impartiality neutrality humanity and and and and the four others and what what I'm always impressed about Ireland is that as a country you really punch above your weight in terms of the generosity in terms of also your might in the multilateral and policy space which is equally important and it complements the work of our delegates on the ground and your current term at the Security Council is a very strong testimony to everything we are doing moving the needle to put at the heart of the multilateral space and the United Nations Security Council the you know the voice the concerns of people caught up in armed conflict and violence and this to me irrespective of the yearly amount that that is an expression of the generosity of the Irish people is in itself priceless in terms of impact and two days ago we were discussing how we can sharpen our evaluation and outcome-based approach and how we can measure progress and we recognize that there are things where it's easy to measure progress you know a water project a hospital the number of amputated people fitted this is easy to measure but how can you measure the adoption of the treaty on the prohibition of nuclear weapons for instance this effort started 75 years ago and it's only one year now that we can say that there is a treaty that became hard law and this is the behind the scene work that it is very hard to measure but where you shift important priorities to the fore in order to protect lives livelihoods for something that is as important as this so really thank you Ruri thank you Vice Admiral Mellet and everyone at the IIEA for this warm welcome it is a great pleasure to join all of you today albeit virtually to kick off this year's lecture series at the institute as I said the ICRC really enjoys with Ireland a long-standing and solid partnership it is built essentially on shared core values and a fundamental sense of humanity it is built too on a shared desire to help some of the neediest and most vulnerable people on the planet those who are affected by armed conflict or other situations of violence and our joint aim and our challenge is to be able to do this as smartly and as strategically as possible in a way that is relevant effective and sustainable for affected people ICRC and the Department of Foreign Affairs recently had our annual round table unfortunately I could not be physically in Dublin and while I was only able to join virtually I was really happy to see familiar faces like our old friend Ruri and to meet new ones we had valuable exchange on various organizational priorities funding issues of course and our work plan for 2022 to also touched on a range of issues including Ireland's current role on the UN Security Council sanctions climate change new technology and the humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan in Ethiopia and the list unfortunately as you said Ruri or earlier is much longer than this tragically so this event today is really a welcome opportunity to look at some of these issues in more depth consider any that were missed and give you maybe the chance to ask a question and to engage especially those of you who are not so familiar with the ICRC I know many of us are beginning to feel at least cautiously optimistic about the direction the COVID pandemic not least in Ireland where I know you've just come out of a particularly long and hard set of restrictions but as we all know the pandemic won't be over until it's over everywhere which brings me to to share a few observations on what the humanitarian context in which we are currently working typically look like so while the pandemic continues to affect all of us the ones most affected as always are those who are already vulnerable or marginalized this includes of course those living in the midst of armed conflict or violence for whom the pandemic is just one of multi-layered threats and sources of hardship the humanitarian environment in many of today's armed conflict is characterized by complexity and unpredictability I saw this all too clearly when I visited the Mali last year at the end of last year like in many of the context where the ICRC works people affected by conflict are particularly vulnerable to a whole host of other pressures including accelerating climate change and outbreaks of diseases I met people displaced multiple times because of conflict but also because of increasingly erratic weather patterns and growing competition over scarce resources we see similar dynamics playing out across the Sahel and far beyond in places like Afghanistan Ethiopia Iraq Somalia and Yemen to mention but a few most of them have been suffering conflict induced humanitarian crisis for many decades in Afghanistan more than four decades of armed conflict have destroyed the economy infrastructure and basic services and left people exhausted and traumatized the country the country's humanitarian crisis was alarming even before more recent events have brought brought it into the verge of total collapse and also under the spotlight of of the media so long-term conflict obviously makes people and their environment less able to absorb new shocks like the covid pandemic just the parentheses I was speaking yesterday with our head of delegation in in Ukraine and she had to cancel a field trip to in the Donbas because covid is now affecting a large portion of our staff the same in Azerbaijan the same in in many other places like Afghanistan where I'm planning to visit the end of February and the visit might be postponed because of now covid and omicron hitting hard so I was just saying that yeah places like Afghanistan Gaza Mali South Sudan all those places covid-19 was not on the top of anyone's is of concern and that was interesting it's so high on our agenda but when you ask people in the Gaza Strip for instance in June what their priorities are covid is is not among the top five so is the case in Afghanistan it doesn't mean that covid is not present there simply because a host of other problems were considered must more urgent by those affected yet the fact that the pandemic is still ranging after two years highlights that what many of us have been saying for a long time which is the the the brutal reality and truth without global vaccine equity including in countries in conflict the whole world is at risk I mean let's not forget that in countries like Somalia Syria Yemen the rate of vaccination is revolving around the five to ten percent maximum so you can imagine the long way ahead to reach that objective then there is the very nature of modern warfare which is generally more protracted more fragmented and more urbanized than any other time in recent history even the most fundamental rules of international humanitarian law are frequently violated by warring sides sometimes it is hard even to identify the parties nevermind engage with them on their obligations to protect civilians then you have the shifting and splintering alliances of armed groups fighting on many fronts for many different reasons in the norm is becoming the norm in so many contexts and you add of course criminality to political grievances and sometimes a more radicalized way of thinking and just as diverse are the methods and means of warfare used and I'm sure that these resonates with you vice admiral these are characterized in some cases by what may be described as reckless disregard for the protection of civilians waging battle in the midst of a densely populated urban area sometimes with highly explosive weapon is just one sadly widespread example that is killing and maiming thousands across the globe the suffering this causes mainly for civilians is simply immense the devastation we have witnessed over the years in cities such as Aleppo, Gaza, Mosul for example will have consequences lasting four generations beyond catastrophic loss of life livelihoods infrastructure and and services which are of course the the the most visible part of this impact there is also the invisible scars of four which are mental health and all the traumas that are deep seated in communities and with the people with whom we discuss in fact the ICRC published a new report just last week comprising over a decade of research across more than 15 contexts the report underscores how devastating these weapons are when used in populated areas and why it is so urgent and critical for states and all parties to conflict to avoid using them Ireland is taking a leading role on this issue on the multilateral stage steering the work to reach a political declaration to address the humanitarian harm arising from the use of explosive weapons in populated areas put this trends together with rapid urbanization mass migration and climate change and the prognosis is even worse another pressing concern is the growing risks posed by autonomous weapons systems including so-called killer robots that are unpredictable or designed to target humans clear and legally binding boundaries are urgently needed in our view to prohibit these kinds of weapons systems and while humanitarian needs are increasingly globally so too are the constraints on humanitarian organizations to respond effectively financial economic and political pressures due to the pandemic and intensifying what we might call a blatant nationalization of overseas aid by some states and the further erosion of multilateralism the politicization and manipulation of aid is an ongoing and huge challenge for us it puts pressure on humanitarian organizations and effectively holds civilians populations to ransom a particular concern is the growing negative impact of sanctions and counter terrorism measures on humanitarian aid preventing or restricting the ability of conflict affected people to access the protection and assistance and assistance that they need and here it's not just about the access of humanitarian organization it's also about the access of communities to critical and life-saving services we see a clear trend of states and donors but transferring the risks associated with operating in fragile and as you said brewery at risk context environment of humanitarian and local actors this is simply unsustainable and wrong in our view all this is happening against a very worrying backdrop of misinformation this is for this information hate speech and propaganda online which is an extension to the battlefield in the in the cyber space and in the internet technology and data can be of tremendous support for conflict affected population and humanitarian organizations working with them but they can also be a significant source of risk and harm we see a definite risk rise sorry in the use of digital technologies to spread harmful information or to effectively weaponize information in places affected by war and violence cyber attacks including the use of ransomware will only increase we know that we experience the painful brutal reality of this just a couple of weeks ago when a massive and highly sophisticated data breach targeted or cyber attack targeted the data and personal information of some five hundred fifteen thousand people receiving services from the red cross and represent movement this appalling breach happened even though we've worked hard in recent years with the trusted partner to maintain beef up reinforce our cyber security and our data protection policies and systems this is a real game changer and a major concern and as an organization I can tell you it was a punch in the face we were shaken to the core because it's really at the heart of the trust that we build with people we serve to to be a trusted repository of their data so when this type of crisis happened of course it is a huge blow to to our role and our mandate the implication for the ICRC of these various trends that I mentioned in terms of being able to deliver a relevant effective and sustainable humanitarian response are widely ranging and complex I know we'll talk in more detail shortly about some of the specifics but very briefly though a few of our key priorities going forward so in terms of COVID-19 response I think ensuring equitable access to vaccines is our top priority it's a global priority but for us ICRC this is our focus will be the most vulnerable or difficult to access communities very often in places controlled by armed groups where the services of a state do not reach and we need here to help people and communities find ways to cope with long-term impact of the pandemic which has deepened ongoing humanitarian needs livelihood support access to education and mental health and psychosocial support are just a few examples in terms of addressing the toxic effects of converting climate change and conflict which is a reality that we are facing more and more we urgently need to find ways to keep people and communities adapt as we highlighted at COP26 this means closing the funding gap between conflict affected mainly low-income countries and middle-income countries and and it means committing more funding to adaptation efforts which still lacks far behind funding for actions to mitigate the impact of climate change we need to mobilize those who are best placed to ensure that climate action and finance reach communities affected by conflict including national and local authorities international financial institutions and the private sector another key priority is for us to leverage data and invest in digital transformation including new services for affected population and at the same time we need to work even harder with our partners to keep ahead of the game in terms of to preventing and mitigating the growing threat of cyber attacks all of our priorities highlight the importance of strategic partnerships which are critical for us within and beyond the humanitarian sector this of course includes leveraging the voice and footprint of our global network the red cross and reticent movement 192 national societies 14 million volunteers but of course we need to go much further in terms of partnership we need to strengthen our relation with also emerging powers to secure additional political support and funding and to expand our outreach of our humanitarian diplomacy we need to better tap into the private sector including large tech companies to co-create solutions at scale for affected people and raise capital in innovative ways and we need to strengthen our partnerships with the development actors to better achieve sustainable humanitarian impact at the intersection of the humanitarian and development world because precisely conflict are becoming more and more protracted on average if you take the top 15 icrc operations those are context where we've been present on average for 35 or 36 years various initiatives are currently being explored including with the world bank these are part of our overall efforts to enlarge our funding base and diversify our income sources and also to leverage solutions for people affected for civilians and people affected by armed conflict even if it's not the icrc implementing those solutions we can bring together partners who can implement a case in point is a water project in goma where around the table you have the world bank you have other development agencies you have the private sector you have the regi diesel in goma and it's a project that will offer new water supply sources for 300,000 people it's not a project icrc will do but it's we can play a catalytic role here ireland remains one of our key trusted partners and i can never repeat this enough your support and that of the irish people goes well beyond funding alone your staunch defense of international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles is invaluable we have a shared appreciation of how critically important it is to strengthen the resilience of people and communities affected by long-running conflict and complex crisis we are looking forward to strengthening our cooperation still further with irish irish aid and the irish red cross as you mentioned earlier the rury on humanitarian issues of shared concern around the world during our meeting with the dfa we made the following three key requests to the irish authorities as our unique partner firstly use your remaining year as a member of the u. n security council to continue to advocate for respect of international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles putting the needs of conflict affected populations at the center of the debate second use your influence among the donor community to explain the importance and the value of the good humanitarian donor principles that we have been discussing for many years now and third be a thought partner to the icrc as we adapt to needs and the environment dublin is known for hosting the european headquarters of many tech companies and for having an innovative approach to partnership please help us in flagging our digital objectives and support support us in developing relationships beyond the usual suspects your wealth of ideas expertise and resources meet in the domain of communication technologies healthcare and the wide range of others can help us to co-create humanitarian solutions together we can better rise to the challenge of alleviating the suffering of the country of the countries and the countless people affected by armed conflict or violence so many thanks again to the iiea for the very warm welcome and for hosting this event and without further ado i'd be happy to answer to any questions you might have over to you vice admiral excellent tour de force and thanks very much for your very broad analysis i suppose i have a number of questions coming in but one of the questions that is linked to your issue with regards to building coalitions does the icrc welcome the rise in privately funded humanitarian activities and actors of course because i mean our our analysis today unfortunately is that we see a growing gap between humanitarian needs and the the existing collective response of local organization humanitarian organization so this gap is widening and we see a plateauing of our traditional donors for legitimate reasons the pandemic has has been hitting hard now for two years so countries have to prioritize so we need urgently as a humanitarian sector to diversify our sources of funding and the private sector can and should play a role this is why we are exploring new financing models to to to complement the very generous support of of key donors of course when it comes to icrc it is so important that irrespective of where the money comes from we are able to use it in an impartial way based really on our objective assessment of the needs of the populations we serve and not be asked by donors to favor for instance one population to the other so we have criteria to accept funds and of course very stringent esg and due diligence we cannot accept money from weapon producer for instance and for obvious reasons or you know tobacco companies or anything that threatens health and we have a resource mobilization strategy that is very ambitious in terms of also stepping up and and garnering more support from the private sector and the public also thanks very much and it's linked to that a question from Valerie Hughes who raises a recent human rights watch report on I suppose some corruption in the delivery of humanitarian support and humanitarian organizations in Syria I don't know if you're familiar with that report and a question with regards to a failure in transparency and linked to that also while we're on Syria is a tragic question there from the book from Polanni who talks about the death of three his brothers in one of the camps in Syria he makes the point that ICRC have never mentioned these camps no I'm not aware of the situation with that but is there more that can be done first of all in the context of endeavoring to ensure that governance of a humanitarian aid is transparent and keeping with your principles and how much of a challenge is that in the context of the need to service a I suppose vulnerable populations and at the same time sometimes not having the access to actually deal with the level of transparency would like and secondly perhaps you could just comment on Govran Polanni's question over some of these camps in Syria that seem to still exist and is there anything more that can be done sure no thank you for the the very important question so we take measuring what we do very seriously at ICRC and we are an organization which has a by and large a direct delivery modest modest operandi so of course we work hand in hand with national Red Cross Red Press societies but it's not we don't delegate or subcontract the risk and as Ruri mentioned earlier we work at risk in the most difficult places and this is where it is important to have sometimes delegates who are not from the very country to be able to operate not only in an impartial way but to be perceived as such which means in concrete terms that if we take a context like Syria the ICRC has certainly been one of the organizations who had most its feet on the ground in terms of negotiating with armed groups in order to garner acceptance and good security conditions in order to be able to cross front lines and this enable us to ensure or limit the risks of diversion of aid which is part of life in humanitarian settings because those are countries where security is not guaranteed everywhere and where there is an incompressible risk but we are hard at work at ICRC to minimize that risk at all times and to do this very often we pay the ultimate price I mean if we take a country like Syria until today we still have an unresolved hostage crisis that started back in 2013 we manage a hostage crisis in many other places we have colleagues who are sometimes victims of severe security incidents including sometimes paying the ultimate price and this is because we want to give assurance as much as possible that you know the taxpayer money that our donors entrust us with is used in the best possible way so of course it's nobody can give a 100% guarantee but we are also very transparent when there is a case of diversion or corruption that is reported to our to the office of ethic risk management and compliance that is in my office actually we inform our donors of the case and how we are managing it and the scope the magnitude of it but we are really hard at work to minimize the number of those cases and it is also the trust vis-à-vis the people we serve because the complexity is always in all the context where we operate is a fact that we cannot help as much as we can everyone so we have to prioritize and those are sometimes difficult decisions regarding the camps in Syria I think that the question refers to to the camps in the northeast I don't have the latest on those camps but the ICRC is one of the few organizations present in Al-Hol camp also running a health facility there with the presence permanent almost a permanent presence we have a presence in Haasakeh we also visit the camps in Al-Roch and other places in the northeast and we visit detention facilities and detainees so I don't know the specifics about the recent visits but everything we see and we discuss in some of those places are not automatically things that we will reveal in the public domain because those are also part of our modalities when the ICRC visited prison and if we bear witness for instance for ill treatment we will not say it publicly we will say it first to the detaining authorities because the purpose of our visits is really to bring about a behavioral change and improving the living conditions for the detainees so we we impress on the detention authorities on the on the political authorities to reach this change and this doesn't happen overnight it's a long term work and what is absolutely key is the fact that the ICRC can repeat its visits and raise the concerns in a confidential way in order to build trust and try to generate positive change for for the detainees so it's not automatic that the ICRC will go public following some some missions of course we have no problem to be public about supporting a hospital or building a new water supply scheme but we will not say publicly what we see in prisons and this is by design and by definition okay excellent thank you very much for that response there is a question there from I think it's kind of galvan and he's just raising how important are exercises like exercise viking over the last number of years I think in my last job but we certainly collaborated with the Swedish authorities and on these exercises that have a very important protection of civilians intervention and working in partnership with the ICRC and are they of value and is there more that can be done in that kind of context whereby we're institutionalizing that requirement of protection of civilians into the mentality of forces that often have to go to challenge in theaters now absolutely this is part this is an important part of our work I mean the ICRC is not just a humanitarian organization delivering aid on the ground it's an organization that was entrusted by states I mean states are the high contracting parties to the Geneva conventions and they entrusted the ICRC to develop international humanitarian law and to promote international humanitarian law and to ensure that it is respected so this type of programs are absolutely critical to to trained armed forces we try to do the same with armed groups when there is an appetite and interest to do so because it is critical to have those reflexes built in so that when when a conflict happens there are part of the natural behavior you know the three key principles at the end of the day everything boils down to to the principles of precaution taking every precaution to protect civilians distinction making the distinction between civilians and the military objects or targets and the proportionality sky is not the limit when it comes to using force and the earlier we are able to have those carved out in the thinking of students at universities and the people serving in armies the better we minimize the you know the mistakes happen in armed conflict and we try to do this with armed groups where we the aim is the same but maybe the ways are different and here we connect with the religious leaders for instance and ask their support to convey the messages in a way that will resonate with the armed groups so for instance I remember in Iraq we were able to impress impress on Grand Ayatollah Sistani on IHL and he he made the fatwa in Arabic referring to to the Quran and Islam to to to remind the the same rules at the end of the day protecting civilians that rape is prohibited by Islam that humane treatment of detainees when this is said by Ayatollah Sistani it has a much greater impact on the popular the popular mobilization units then if an ICRC delegate comes and lectures with the Geneva Conventions but the aim is the same and we feel that the impact here can be very powerful. Thank you very much and I think that's just linking to a question here from Susan Keating given that gender-based violence has been prosecuted as war crimes crimes against humanity and in some cases the most previous of all the crime of genocide is there more the international community needs to be doing given that we've just recently passed the anniversary the 20th anniversary of UN Security Council resolution 1325 and should countries where gender gap is greatest be called out? Well our angle at ICRC will always be armed conflict and gender-based violence sexual violence unfortunately is all too common in armed conflict and as an institution the ICRC pivoted the and our approach today is unless proven otherwise sexual violence and gender-based violence is there and this is the working assumption of our delegates so in detention facilities in camps in areas controlled by maybe armed groups who have propensity for violence we factor this in as part of the reality in our dialogue on international humanitarian law but also in our humanitarian response and we have invested a lot recently in this if you take a context like Ethiopia today for instance our health response factors in sexual violence in a systematic way we have the opportunity to support people who have suffered sexual violence so this of course brings help psychosocial support but it also feeds our dialogue with parties to the conflict which is also important so I think the message here to all states I mean in armed conflict sexual and gender-based violence is prohibited clearly so of course states parties to the conflicts have the obligation to respect but states parties to the Geneva Conventions have also the responsibility to ensure respect under article one common to the four Geneva Conventions so every country has a role to play and to move the needle towards a place where the world will be with less of this outrageous violations the ICRC cannot I mean cannot move the needle on countries that are not in armed conflict with the gender gap of course we can we can discuss it but we don't have a clear role to be able to to to discuss this that was the other part of the question yeah thanks very much Robert and just I think in your few words you mentioned the challenge in terms of climate change and climate breakdown and the penalties associated with that are the institutions if you like a fit for purpose in the context of the protection of human rights as we move forward because of these new types of transnational impacts that impact on people well we see more and more the interplay between climate change and violence and and we see now more people leaving everything behind because whether a direct consequence of climate change they extreme weather events and more intense cycles of floods and routes or the more indirect shrinking water resources and shrinking grazing lands increases the increase sorry the the the tension and and armed violence between herders and agronomists communities and it generates violence and also displacement of population and the people who flee their homes who live in camps because of these phenomenon so again the ICRC will always be supporting people affected by these these compounded crisis and and we're trying now to to really through the new climate and environment charter that we launched with the IFRC in May and to which now we have more than 200 signatories most of them humanitarian organization but states started to also sign the United States Switzerland and Norway and the idea is really to walk the talk in terms of also humanitarian organizations factoring in climate risk in their programs but also at the same time reducing their climate their carbon footprint in terms of human rights we always try to leverage international humanitarian law and human rights always in the best interest of people and and and have the conversations with the states on on this those are difficult conversations a part of human rights in connection with displacement is the the the the principle of Nora Foulement which is important which often we evoke with the states to ensure that people are not forced to go back to their countries if they are threatened by any retaliatory measures for instance. Thank you very much I see a question there from Anthony Brogan about the your views on the deterioration of the landscape in Eastern Europe where recently MSF have withdrawn and their services and is it a I suppose a worrying signal to us where in Ukraine or in a Polish Belarus border where MSF have withdrawn because of denied their access was denied to vulnerable populations. Now this again I did not follow the latest on that front what we know is the fact that the Red Cross Recursions movement is active on that border through the national the respective national societies and the ICRC is supporting including in helping Red Cross societies help families separated get in touch again but it's a it's a very challenging situation obviously and it's always a very delicate balance to navigate you know the fact that you are accepted and what you say in the public domain and it is always a very delicate balance that we we have to weigh carefully because sometimes being vocal in the public domain will have repercussions for instance having access denied I don't I don't know again the specifics for MSF but we've seen this how delicate this is in Ethiopia where we are really navigating a very delicate balance and our approach at ICRC will always be to favor I would say a robust and uncompromised confidential dialogue with the authorities rather than just putting our concerns in the public domain because this very often results in losing access in the first place and our role and our mandate is to engage with the difficult interlocutors always in the best interest of the people we serve and sometimes it is true that you know you want to speak up because what you see is unbearable but then if you if the organization is denied access there is only there is so much you can do to help so you need to navigate this standing your ground when it comes to principles but deciding what to say in the public domain and what to say in the in the confidential dialogue in another institution you would say that you might win the battle but you lose the war so I fully advise with that point it just is a question there from Solagna Mitra she's raised and she's picking up on your point with regards to vaccine equity and the issue of I suppose vaccines being securitized by states is there more that international organizations need to do that to move the politics out of the actual requirements to have access to vaccines yeah I mean we're really doing our best we together with others Ocha UNICEF and others we we negotiated the the humanitarian buffer we know that the humanitarian organizations cannot buy or purchase vaccines and it's legitimate and it's the right thing to do to prioritize states and the COVAX facility the challenge today is is more vaccination than vaccines the vaccine is still challenging in some countries and places but the most challenging thing is to get from vaccines available in the warehouses in the capital to vaccination in the most remote village this is a challenge and to bridge this gap you need of course funds logistics you need a lot of resources and you need also to a certain extent security I understood that and just I suppose building on the issue of vaccines and the access to that and do you feel that theaters like Africa have overcome I suppose a hesitancy even where vaccines are available towards let's say widespread inoculation campaigns no absolutely I mean we've seen hesitancy in high-income countries in Europe I think all European countries struggle to a certain extent with vaccine hesitancy in global south countries and in particular countries affected by armed conflict I mean COVID is not a priority for people when I was in South Sudan back in March last year COVID was starting to hit hard the second wave I think and people were dying and they didn't even know it was COVID for many it was you know similar symptom than malaria so it was not an issue and we've seen how hard it is to sensitize people to get to be vaccinated in Europe so you can imagine the effort it takes to reach the same level of persuasion in African context and in context where understandably so communities are struggling to make ends meet to get their children to school to struggling with other diseases and also displacement because of conflict and or climate change so it's it's harder and this doesn't say anything about the availability and the capacities of state to do this so so our role as ICRC is really facilitate the last mile vaccination for instance in places that are controlled by armed groups where state cannot do this we can facilitate and work hand in hand with the national Red Cross or expression society and make it happen in in hard to reach places thank you very much and I just want to remind everybody who's still on this if you want to please use the social platform Twitter or other just to reflect the excellent discussion we've had we've come more or less to the end of our time Robert I have huge respect for you and your institution you personally have given remarkable leadership and certainly I'm very proud of the relationship between Ireland and the ICRC it goes back a long time our values are coming we both are advocates for multilateralism and at the end of the day that's the real I suppose collaborative framework that will bring civil society and the institutions of civil society forward where people are free where the institutions of state function and where the vulnerable are protected I'd ask that you would convey on our appreciation in terms of this forum to your membership and all of those who actually go into harm's way often without the protection that actually gives them the certainty that they need in very very challenging environments so thank you very much for your time today it's been a pleasure to talk to you and I look forward to staying in touch thank you Vice Admiral it was an honor privilege and thank you for having me and thank you for this opportunity and Ireland is very close to our heart at ICRC and thank you for the support to Ruri and all colleagues and you Vice Admiral thank you very much