Tracing Restoring Family Links Henry Dunant 1828 1910

Tracing Restoring Family Links

Henry Dunant (1828 -1910) • © ICRC / hist-00022 • Photothèque CICR (DR)/

Story of Claudius Mazuet

International Committee of the Red Cross

Geneva Conventions • Provide minimum standards of humanity during times of armed conflict • Recognise the right of people to know the fate of loved ones (eg GC 4/25 and AP 1/32)

ww 1 Australian Red Cross & World War 1 • 1914 - Australian soldiers traced by small office in Cairo • 1915 – Gallipoli and Western Front campaigns caused huge numbers of wounded, missing and POWs. • 1915 – Establishment of Australian Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau • 1916 –Bureau moved to London 1 st Battalion troops waiting for relief near Jacob's trench, Lone Pine, Gallipoli, 8 August 1915. Image from www. awm. gov. au (Public domain)

Red Cross Heroic Women • Vera Deakin • Secretary of ARC Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau Elizabeth Chomley • Established POW Department of Bureau • Personally wrote 400, 000 letters to families at home. • Organised 395, 000 parcels for Australian POWs.

ww 1 War 1 tracing systems World London, England. Women at work in the Index Card Department at the Prisoners of War Information Bureau. (Donor British Official Photograph BB 6) Images from www. awm. gov. au (Public Domain)

ww 1 War 1 relief packages World Red Cross Unit in NSW collecting funds in WW 1. RC Archival image AX 10 1264 Goods made by the Northcote Red Cross branch for sick & wounded Australian soldiers. (Source: AWM, Public domain)

A vital service • 40 million people • Fédération/MAYER, Till displaced by armed conflict, persecution • Thousands more by natural disasters and forced migration. • Separation can lead to serious physical, psychological, financial repercussions.

100 years of service Over 100 years Australian Red Cross has responded: • • • Australian Red Cross World War 2 Balkans conflict 2004 tsunami Missing migrants at sea

Networks cross 189 countries ICRC/BARRY, Jessica • ICRC/VII/HAVIV, Ron

What the service does 1. Clarifies the fate of the Missing • Marko KOKIC/ICRC 2. Helps families re-establish contact • Kate HOLT/ICRC 3. Facilitates the exchange of family news • Marko KOKIC/ICRC

Success! Joy! • After 19 years of separation, and with the assistance of the Australian Red Cross International Tracing Service, Isha Munya is reunited with her daughter, Faduma. • On the reunion day Isha exclaimed: “It was so emotional, you could feel it in the air. I saw Faduma come off the plane. I couldn't hold my tears back. ” Australia Red Cross / Mourne de Klerk

Visits around Australia Nauru • This image has been amended from DIBP website http: //www. immi. gov. au/About/Pages/detention/immigration-detention-facilities. aspx

Case Study • Samuel, a nurse, was separated from his two young children by violence in war-torn Sierra Leone in 1999. • For years, Samuel desperately tried to locate and contact his children with no success. Samuel contacted Australian Red Cross to see whether they could help find his children. • Two months later, Red Cross called Samuel with the good news. His children had been found safe, well and happy. Samuel is now in regular contact with his children. • Australian Red Cross/DEKKER, Rodney

Questions • Entre Ríos, Guatemala. Pedro Coc hugging his grandmother. © CICR / C. Amezquita For further information please contact your local Red Cross office Tracing team or tracing@redcross. org. au.