Intercross: The Podcast

In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we sit down with Monica Mukerjee, a Mental Health and Psychosocial Support Delegate for the ICRC currently based in Juba. She is also the Sexual Violence Focal Point for the delegation. Since March 2018 she has worked in South Sudan developing mental health and psychosocial activities for victims of violence in primary health care facilities as well as for weapon-wounded patients receiving care in ICRC hospital programs. She has previously worked in Uganda, Geneva and Ukraine. How do you promote mental health as a priority in contexts where physical needs are often lacking? What types of support does ICRC provide? How do practitioners address issues around stigma? How do they practice self-care? Join us for a fascinating conversation finding healing after trauma. Hosted by Niki Clark.

With this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we announce the start of a new monthly series with Humanitarian Law & Policy. Humanitarian Law & Policy is the ICRC blog based in Geneva that provides timely analysis and debate on international humanitarian law (IHL) issues and the policies that shape humanitarian action. With this series we hope to have monthly conversations on trends, issues, future challenges and solutions as they pertain to IHL or humanitarian action. We also will be taking advantage of our coworkers' deep network of authors including academics, practitioners, legal minds and more to further delve into some of the conversations that have been started on their blog and in the International Review. In this first discussion, we speak with Jonathan Horowitz, a senior legal officer for the Open Society Justice Initiative. We talk about the relationship between international humanitarian law and human rights law and some of the debates and tensions around the two bodies of law during armed conflict. We focus on one debate in particular – detention in non-international armed conflicts. Look in the coming weeks for other perspectives on this issue. Hosted by Niki Clark and Sasha Radin.

In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, discuss frontline humanitarian negotiations. The Center of Competence on Humanitarian Negotiation recently launched a field manual on the subject, taking the collective experience and perspectives of numerous humanitarian practitioners working in some of the most challenging conflict environments and translating it into tangible tools and resources. Claude Bruderlein, director of the Centre and lead researcher for ICRC negotiation practices talks through the development of the manual, the art of negotiation and how his years of operational experience brought him to his current position. Hosted by Niki Clark.

In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we come to you from Juba, South Sudan. Following a two week wheelchair basketball training program, we sit down with two athletes from radically different worlds. Malat Wei was a young child when his family was forced to flee South Sudan, shortly after he contracted polio and lost the use of his legs. Though he grew up in an Ethiopian refugee camp, he fell in love with sports, spending his long days at the camp playing soccer with his able-bodied friends. Malat would use only his hands to navigate the dusty pitch. At age 12, his family was resettled as refugees in Texas where a few years later he was introduced to wheelchair basketball by a member of his church. He was immediately hooked. Now 24, he plays university-level wheelchair basketball in Arizona, after a successful stint playing professionally in France from 2015-2016. Jess Markt is from Denver, Colorado. At age 19, he was in a car accident that left him paralyzed from the chest down. Previously a college track-and-field star, wheelchair basketball was a major factor in Jess' recovery, both physically and mentally. He now serves as the ICRC's Diversity, Inclusion and Sports Advisor and coaches disabled athletes in war zones, including Afghanistan, South Sudan and the Gaza Strip. Several years ago, Jess and Malat met at a tournament in New Mexico and their friendship was born. When Malat discovered that Jess was coaching in South Sudan, he pitched the idea of going with him to help coach athletes back in his home country. And that's just what they did. Hosted by Niki Clark.

In this episode of Intercross the Podcast, we discuss the protection of cultural property in the time of armed conflict. It's no secret that people around the world have a deep connection with places and objects of artistic, historic and religious importance. Archaeological sites connect us to the past. Monuments beckon from afar to be visited and marveled at. Our customs, traditions and values bind us to each other and the places we call "home." Cultural property and heritage are vital to the identity of individuals, communities and entire nations. Much more than stone, paper or canvas, ancient statues, manuscripts and works of art provide us with a sense of cultural cohesion and pride. Yet, too often, cultural property comes under attack during situations of armed conflict and violence. Such attacks constitute an affront to our history, dignity and humanity. Importantly, destroying or damaging cultural property in wartime is strictly prohibited under International Humanitarian Law. In this episode, we sit down with Pascal Bongard, Head of the Policy and Legal Unit of Geneva Call, and Cori Wegener, the director of the Smithsonian Institution Cultural Rescue Initiative. Hosted by Niki Clark.