Henri Dunant Centre -- the discreet peace mediator
Henri Dunant Centre -- the discreet peace mediator
Agence France-Presse, Geneva
In helping end nearly three decades of bloody conflict between the Indonesian government and separatist Aceh rebels, the Henri Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue has temporarily shrugged off the anonymity it usually favors in pursuing its work.
The signing on Monday at the center's Geneva headquarters of a peace deal on the oil- and gas-rich province will place the independent and impartial organization, established in 1998, into the limelight.
The centre is dedicated to the "alleviation of human suffering in armed conflict through dialog", it says in an information brochure.
"By helping the parties to a conflict to speak to each other, the Centre works to reconcile their differences."
Following in the example of the Rome community of Sant'Egidio which in 1992 helped forged a peace deal in Mozambique between the Mozambique Liberation Front and the armed opposition, RENAMO, the Henri Dunant Centre (HDC) has been working since January 2000 to halt the 26 years of fighting in Aceh province.
It is financed by the Red Cross Movement, governments, private philanthropists and charitable foundations.
Few acts by the centre are publicized, as discretion and low- key dialog are part of the center's approach to humanitarian action.
Since August 2000, the centre has been active in Yangon, Myanmar, facilitating dialog between the military junta and opposition groups.
It is the only independent organization in Myanmar that regularly meets the SPDC and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The centre also has helped foster talks between the International Labor Organization and the Myanmar junta.
In April 2001, the centre set up a program to help counter the human costs of the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, which it says are estimated to kill about 500,000 people a year.
It has also established a network of humanitarian negotiators to support humanitarian organizations working in dangerous environments, and has carried out a study on the problems posed to humanitarian workers when engaging with armed groups.