Intercross: The Podcast

International Nurses Day is celebrated around the world every May 12, the anniversary of Florence Nightingale's birth. In non-global epidemic times, nurses and medical workers make up the backbone of our country's health care system. But particularly in this age, their role has been nothing short of critical. In this episode of the podcast, we have Linda MacIntyre, the chief nurse of the American...

By 2030, it is estimated that up to two-thirds of the world's extreme poor will live in countries characterized by fragility, conflict, and violence. The global fragility landscape has worsened significantly: There are now more violent conflicts globally than at any time in the past 30 years, and the world is also facing the largest forced displacement crisis ever recorded. As these numbers increa...

More than 175,000 people in the United States have recovered from COVID19. Once a person recovers, his or her blood contains antibodies in its plasma that can possibly fight the virus. Those antibodies can be obtained from a donor's blood and given to a severely ill patient via transfusion. The hope is that these antibodies can help patients recover. The use of convalescent plasma—or plasma extrac...

The Coronavirus is having an impact on absolutely every element of our lives. For people living in war-zones, the virus is just one more threat when you're already dealing with so much suffering. Faced with immediate threats to life, such as gunfire, shelling and bombings, and lack of life-saving health care, it's a real challenge to prioritize how you're going to deal with it all. So with this ep...

In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we discuss Lake Chad. Situated in north-west Africa, what is known as the Lake Chad region – Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Chad – has been ripped apart by conflict. Civilians are regular subject to direct and/or indiscriminate attacks, including bombings in populated areas, as well as sexual violence, forced recruitment, and abductions. Over 2.4 million peopl...

In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Massimo Marelli, Head of Data Protection Office for the ICRC. Massimo discusses how the ICRC approaches data protection and why this is a vital aspect of the ICRC's humanitarian action in an increasingly digitally-connected world. He provides an overview of the ICRC's data protection policies, such as the ICRC Rules on Personal Data Prote...

After a couple of months break, Intercross the Podcast is back. And we are returning with quite a compelling conversation. Our guest, Esperanza Martinez, ICRC's head of health, first spoke with us back in November 2017. She joined the ICRC in 2001, then worked for other organizations (UN and donor agencies as well as the private sector) before undertaking her current role in the ICRC's headquarter...

From December 4-12 2019, the Statutory Meetings of the Red Cross and Red Crescent will bring together Red Cross and Red Crescent leaders from virtually every country in the world, as well as the International Federation, and the ICRC. Collectively known as the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, it is the world's largest and oldest humanitarian network, consisting of 192 National So...

December 3rd is the International Day of People with Disabilities. Celebrated globally since 1992, this year's theme is "The Future is Accessible," meaning that we must all, together, look towards a future where the barriers which stand in people's way no longer exist. According to the World Bank, one billion people, or 15% of the world's population, experience some form of disability, and disabil...

Since September 1, the ongoing fighting between armed groups has forced large numbers of people in Birao, in the north-east of the Central African Republic, to flee their homes. More than 25,000 people – almost the entire population of the town – were forced to flee empty-handed in a matter of hours to makeshift camps, leaving behind homes that have either been ransacked or burnt down. In addition...

With armed conflicts taking place in so many parts of the Muslim world, the Islamic law of war is as indispensable as ever for the protection of civilians and others. Over the centuries, classical Muslim jurists have provided impressive legal literature, which, just as international humanitarian law (IHL), brings humanity in war. Emphasizing the universality of IHL's principles, which transcend le...

The war in Syria has lasted more than eight years and has led to massive destruction and loss of life. The human cost of this conflict is widely considered, in fact, without historical precedent among civil wars. Increasingly, there is doubt that the conflict will reach a resolution or political settlement anytime in the near future, resulting in a growing fatigue and frustration across the intern...

On this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we are joined by Julie Arrighi, the Urban Manager and ICRC Partnership Lead at the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre. This year, the ICRC, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Climate Centre, and the Overseas Development Institute (ODI) are hosting a global policy roundtable series on "Climate Risk, Conflict, and Resilience," with the objectives of better under...

In this episode of the Podcast, we speak with Kate Spradley, a biological anthropologist and professor with the Forensic Anthropology Center at the University of Texas. In 2013, she founded Operation Identification, a service-learning project that seeks to restore identities to the remains of migrants recovered from the Rio Grande Valley region. We talk about her work, the barriers to identifying...

Whether within or across borders, the displacement of persons remains a pressing humanitarian concern. Millions of people are separated from their homes, livelihoods and families each year by armed conflict or other catastrophes, and frequently suffer severe abuses and hardship while in flight or at their place of refuge. ICRC recently released a study called Displacement in Times of Armed Conflic...

Eight years of violence and armed conflict have taken a heavy toll on Libya. Its economy is in crisis, instability prevails, and basic services such as health care, schools, electricity and water are suffering. In Tripoli, the latest conflict continues with no end in sight over three months after it began. There are growing fears that a protracted urban battle lies ahead. Meanwhile, tens of thousa...

There is a quote, attributed sometimes to Michelle Obama, Brene Brown and even James Comey, that says, "It's hard to hate up close." In this episode, we are joined by Andrea C. Hummel, director and founder of Improv for Peace, an organization that focuses on making this idea a reality, operating under the belief that if people are able to better understand each other and communicate in a safe envi...

In this episode of the Podcast, we come to you from Women Deliver, the world's largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women. We are joined by Dr. Hozan Sindi, a general health practitioner in Iraq. Dr. Hozan served as a medical intern at the West Erbil Emergency Hospital during the fall of Mosul in 2017. She was also featured in the ICRC/National G...

In this episode of the Podcast, we come to you from Women Deliver, the world's largest conference on gender equality and the health, rights, and wellbeing of girls and women. We are joined by Dr. Mina Mojtahedi, the disability inclusion advisor for both ICRC and the International Federation. A former Paralympian, a PHd of Nutrition and an international expert in human rights of persons with disabi...

The risks of functionally delegating complex tasks—and associated decisions—to sensors and algorithms is one of the central issues of our time. Nowhere are these issues more acute than in relation to decisions to kill, injure and destroy. In this episode, we are joined by Neil Davison, ICRC's Scientific and Policy Adviser in the Legal Division Arms Unit and Will Pons, our guest host and legal advi...

The evidence is irrefutable: Humor helps. Helps situations involving communications, relationships, problem solving, and productivity among others. So much so, in fact, that the Red Cross Red Crescent Climate Centre has been exploring it as an unconventional approach to engagement in difficult conversations. In this episode of the Podcast, we are joined by guest host Anna Nelson, ICRC's head of co...

Rule 55 of Customary Law states that 'The parties to the conflict must allow and facilitate rapid and unimpeded passage of humanitarian relief for civilians in need, which is impartial in character and conducted without any adverse distinction, subject to their right of control.' And while the rules seems clear, in complex conflict settings there are often challenges to implantation. In this episo...

Armed conflict and other situations of violence deprive those in the midst of it of the essentials – food, clean water, health care, shelter – and the chance to experience life and grow at their own pace. Despite the protection afforded them by international law, both children and adults are vulnerable to all sorts of risks. One of the most critical is the impact violence has on education. The int...

It has been six weeks since Cyclone Idai made landfall in southern Africa, unleashing unprecedented devastation and destruction on communities in Mozambique, Malawi, and Zimbabwe. Many communities were stranded for weeks and cut-off from outside assistance. Tens of thousands of people were left homeless. Crops were washed away. The ICRC has been working with IFRC and national Red Cross societies t...

In late March, the small village of Ogossagou in Central Mali experienced a horrific massacre. The scene, from those who were there, looked apocalyptic. Huts and farm buildings burnt and riddled with bullet holes, charred remains of cars and donkeys. The wells became unusable because of the contamination of corpses. Families are struggling to come to terms with what happened– the latest in a recen...