ICRC

Photojournalist André Liohn was recently awarded the 2011 Robert Capa Gold Medal Award for Almost Dawn in Libya and “photographic reporting from abroad requiring exceptional courage and enterprise." 

In this Decisive Moment, Mr. Liohn speaks about the meaning of that award, photojournalism and the healthcare workers he reported on while covering Libya.

On the occasion of the Capa Medal ceremony on May 9th in New York, the Overseas Press Club of America wrote:

This outstanding ICRC film shot by independent photojournalist André Liohn has just been selected as an official honouree by the 16th Annual Webby Awards. 

The documentary short, published last September, depicts the dangerous conditions faced by doctors, nurses and ambulance workers operating on the front lines of Libya’s recent armed conflict.

Great combat videography, important subject. Thank you André.

Post-election violence has largely ceased in Côte d'Ivoire but the humanitarian needs remain significant, notably for displaced and refugee families returning home.

Many find their houses destroyed, their property looted and the services like water and sanitation lacking. Hundreds of parents were separated from their children as they fled. Many are still looking for them a year later.

Since the end of the conflict, the ICRC in Côte d'Ivoire has worked closely with the Liberian, Guinean and Ivorian Red Cross societies to ensure that separated children are reunited with their families. Almost 700 children have been registered in seven countries, the vast majority of them in neighboring Liberia, where an estimated 100,000 refugees still live.

In 2011, the ICRC stepped up its operations in Nigeria, especially in the violence-prone regions of the north and in the Niger Delta. 

Inter-communal violence and a nationwide strike against the withdrawal of government fuel subsidies have affected thousands of Nigerians, civilians more than anyone else.

Recent bombings and armed confrontations between the group known as Boko Haram and security forces - most recently in the city of Kano - underscore a fragile humanitarian situation to which the ICRC and the Nigerian Red Cross are seeking to respond.

In Kano and elsewhere, ICRC teams are working alongside Nigerian Red Cross volunteers to help them treat and evacuate the injured. In addition, the delegation has assisted over 4,000 displaced persons in the states of Yobe, Borno, Gombe and Adamawa.