Global: Meeting the specific needs of women in war

Aiding victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, providing mother-and-child care in remote areas of Pakistan-administered Kashmir, giving courses to female detainees in Yemen to help them find their way in society after release - these are examples of the commitment shown by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to carefully assessing and meeting the specific needs of women in all aspects of its work. In the run-up to International Women's Day, ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger expressed his satisfaction that the organization's strategies and field operations increasingly reflected an awareness of the special problems, the particular vulnerabilities of women. Further progress was needed, he cautioned. "Assessing and meeting these special needs should become a spontaneous, automatic and lasting part of all our work."