WITH THE SERVICE OF THE HUMANITARIAN ACTION

Each year, everywhere in the world, occur of the major humanitarian crises due to natural disasters (tsunamis, hurricanes, seisms…), industrial, epidemiologic, environmental, or with terrorist acts. Recently, the management of catastrophes such as the tsunami in South Asia East or of chronic crises as to the Darfur and her 2 million refugees, highlighted the problems of coordination of the helps.

Nicole Guedj, former minister, Adviser of State, very early became aware of the need for giving to all the actors of ground and in particular to ONG humanitarians the means of better coordinating their action in crisis situation.

Since 1997, she recommends the creation of a rapid deployment force of the United Nations, intended for the coordination of the international helps for the victims of the humane catastrophes: the “ Red Helmets ”.

Named Secretary of State to the Rights of the Victims, it integrates this proposal in an action plan, adopted in the Council of Ministers of September 29th, 2004. December 31st, 2004, after the tsunami in Southeast Asia, the President of the Jacques Chirac Republic proposed with UNO, in the name of France, the creation of a “humane international force of fast reaction”. This project was accepted by the General secretary of the United Nations, and is currently being studied.

It is in this context that the creation project of the Fondation Red Helmets was born in 2006, with an aim of supporting the work of ONG on the ground, to optimize the rescue of the too many victims of humanitarian crises. An association of prefiguration was installation.

The Foundation Red Helmets, in addition, laid down a major goal: to obtain in the long term, the effective installation of an international force of coordination of the helps, under the aegis of UNO.

Facilitatrice of the humanitarian action, the Foundation Red Helmets also engages with:

· To innovate, while placing state-of-the-art technologies in the middle of the action the humanitarian of the 21e century: the new means of communication, of analysis and assistance to the diagnosis make it possible to improve the action of the intergovernmental Organizations and ONG on the sites of catastrophes.

· To optimize the action of the various humane actors at the time of the crises, by coordination, formation, and the provision of means of transport and powerful logistic tools.

The specificity of the approach of the Foundation is thus to convince the large industrialists to put their competences and their means at the service of the humanitarian. It aims at creating a synergy supporting the partnership between three branches of industry: associative, public and private.

EMERGESAT: A HUMANE CONTAINER OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS BY SATELLITES

Since its creation, the Foundation Red Helmets attempted to install practical tools, answering waitings of humanitarian associations. And it is in this preoccupation with a pragmatism, that was born humane container EMERGESAT.

When major humanitarian crises occur, the traditional means of communication are generally out of use. The satellites are on the other hand mobilizable at any moment to restore the connections.

The first realization of the Foundation Red Helmets is to place at the disposal of the whole of the actors, a humane container of communication and information exchanges by satellites. Autonomous, it allows in particular the communication by satellite connection, the exchanges of information with the decision-making centres and the services distant. It also makes it possible to establish a lan of radio between the various operating teams, thanks to technologies GSM, VHF, Wifi. EMERGESAT meets the logistic needs. It places at the disposal of the rescue squads the very last satellite cartographies for a better knowledge of the configuration of the ground, water resources or organization of displacements of population.

The re-establishment of telecommunications thus allows several fundamental applications for the first-aid workers. - First diagnoses on water quality - Télémédecine: Remote medical help - Food Inventory control and average logistics - Management in urgency of civil engineering: identification of repairs of the public buildings, the roads, the railways and the landing strips. - Distribution of the assistances to the victims, seeks missings, and identification of the people deceased.

PROJECTS

Today, the Foundation Red Helmets works with the development of many projects making it possible to reinforce the capacities of intervention of the courageous rescue squads intervening on humane sites of catastrophes.

CURRENT EVENTS

IN DARFUR, TECHNOLOGY TO SAVE LIVES July 3rd, 2007, Nicole Guedj, President of the Foundation Red Helmets, signed a protocol of partnership with Antonio Gutteres, High commissioner of the United Nations for Refugees (HCR), for the sending of a container EMERGESAT in Chad/Darfur.

Darfur, province Sudanese which borders Chad, counts approximately 6 million inhabitants. This population, divided into some 600 ethnos groups, is distributed on a large territory like France. According to association Doctors without borders (MSF), 12.000 to 13.000 humane workers are currently deployed in Darfur. Displacements of population, the aggressions and the combat made to date more than 250.000 civilian victims. To recreate in any point a true center of satellite mobile communication to high banc is the challenge which we answered with these florets of the research and French technological development. As from October 2007, the Foundation Red Helmets will place at the disposal of the HCR, for one three months period renewable, a humane container which will be sent Chad/to Darfur in order to support the action of the humanitarians in the Sudanese province.

THE GRAND PRIX OF THE CATASTROPHE TO THE INTERNATIONAL MUSEUM OF THE RED CROSS Container EMERGESAT will be presented during an exposure of the MICR putting to the honor operational tools, making it possible to the actors of ground to act in the urgency, when a natural disaster occurs.

MORE INFORMATION

EMERGESAT