IRC - International Rescue Committee's Blog

From Harm To Home: The IRC’s Programs in the United States [IRC at 75]

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 11:44:47 GMT

As we observe our 75th anniversary this year, IRC president George Rupp is blogging about one moment from our rich history each month. You can read all his posts here.

Later this month, hundreds of refugees newly arrived in the United States will be joining the IRC to celebrate their first Thanksgiving holiday in America.

On [...]

2008 Freedom Award goes to Kofi Annan [Photos]

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:57:01 GMT

Last night the International Rescue Committee presented our 2008 Freedom Award to Kofi A. Annan, president of the Global Humanitarian Forum and former Secretary-General of the United Nations, to honor his contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom. Here are photos from the award dinner in New York (more information to come).

Previous winners of [...]

Giving peace a chance in Karamoja [Photos]

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 04:57:01 GMT

While Uganda’s northeastern Karamoja region suffers serious food shortages, the country’s northern districts are slowly recovering from a civil war that rocked the East African nation for over two decades. The IRC’s Peter Biro reports.
For generations, the people in Uganda’s northeastern Karamoja region have been fighting a bitter inter-clan war that has taken countless lives [...]

“We’ve been running for a year” / Congo

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 10:20:05 GMT

Gina Bramucci continues her report from Kibati, Democratic Republic of Congo, as the camp refilled and the International Rescue Committee’s firewood distribution program restarted on Sunday.
“The IRC emergency response team made it back to Kibati on Sunday, after ensuring that the situation was calm and civilians had returned home. Most of those who fled the fighting [...]

If Nobody Helps Us, We Will Perish

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:56:26 GMT

While Uganda’s northeastern Karamoja region suffers serious food shortages, the country’s northern districts are slowly recovering from a civil war that rocked the East African nation for over two decades. The IRC’s Peter Biro reports.
Dark blue clouds are building up on the horizon and a cool breeze announces the midday rain. Boys tending to cattle [...]

Congo: The Moment of Flight

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Tue, 11 Nov 2008 08:56:26 GMT

Gina Bramucci is in Goma, eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where International Rescue Committee staff were forced to call off an emergency distribution in progress last Friday due to active fighting nearby. She describes the scene:
I arrived in Goma this morning, happy to be joining the IRC team that‚s remained on the ground and worked [...]

Urge President-Elect Obama to Welcome Refugees

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 17:01:24 GMT

President-elect Obama will be responsible for renewing America’s promise as a beacon of hope for refugees who are fleeing persecution and violence.
We hope you will join the International Rescue Committee in calling on the President-elect and the next Secretary of State to modernize the U.S. Refugee Admission Program and ensure this country welcomes refugees in [...]

Not a drop to drink?

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 10:09:57 GMT

Joanne Offer is currently travelling in eastern Chad, near the Sudanese border, where the International Rescue Committee helps around 60,000 Darfuri refugees in two camps as well as local Chadian communities. You can read all her posts here.
I’m now even further north and further east in Chad – in a small village called Bahai, which [...]

A vote in Africa

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:41:53 GMT

A guest post from Emily Stehr, who works with the International Rescue Committee in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
People from every age group and every corner of the village are here. Elders are the first to take seats in the impromptu meeting space, a compound fenced in by banana trees and grass mats. But some [...]

Congo: Report from aid workers under attack

IRC - International Rescue Committee — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 05:41:53 GMT

The International Rescue Committee is scaling up emergency humanitarian response in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s North Kivu province after intensified violence displaced an estimated 250,000people over the past week.
IRC senior policy adviser Anna Husarska spoke to two colleagues who had come under attack on October 29, as they sought to flee the town of [...]