Update on Afghanistan with Reto Stocker

January 12, 2010 • 7:00 – 8:00 pm EST

Head of Delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Afghanistan

Speaker bio:

As Head of the ICRC Delegation in Afghanistan Mr. Stocker is in charge of ICRC’s largest operation worldwide, with 1,500 Afghan and 125 expatriate staff working from 14 permanent offices in all regions of the country. The ICRC has been working in Afghanistan for the last 30 years, providing assistance and protection to the conflict affected population.

Besides its medical work, including the running of 6 orthopedic centers and the support to several hospitals, the ICRC also assists displaced and other vulnerable groups. It works very closely with the Afghan Red Crescent Society, which has a grassroots network of 40,000 volunteers. ICRC’s protection work consists of visiting detainees under international and Afghan authority as well as teaching and observing the adherence to international humanitarian law (IHL).

Mr. Stocker has been with the ICRC since 1996 and has served in Abkhazia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Sudan, Macedonia, Liberia, and Pakistan. He has been working in Northern Afghanistan in 1999/2000 and has taken on the current assignment in November 2005.

Mr. Stocker has a Masters degree in Biology and a PhD in Global Climate Change, both from the University of Basel, Switzerland.
 
Please RSVP to Justine Fleischner at JFleischner@csis.org