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.