{"id":78303,"date":"2023-07-27T14:00:42","date_gmt":"2023-07-27T05:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/?p=78303"},"modified":"2025-01-10T16:45:15","modified_gmt":"2025-01-10T07:45:15","slug":"new-cooperation-agreement-concluded-with-the-international-committee-of-the-red-cross-icrc","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/news\/78303","title":{"rendered":"New cooperation agreement concluded with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, June 13, 2023, Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), visited Waseda University, where she met with \u00a0Waseda University President Aiji Tanaka and attended the signing ceremony for the cooperation agreement.<br \/>\nAfter the signing ceremony, she gave a lecture titled \u201cInternational Humanitarian Law in a Challenging Security Environment\u201d at the Waseda University International Conference Center. She is the first woman to be elected as President of the ICRC, which celebrated its 160<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary in 2023. This is her\u00a0 first visit to Asia since assuming the presidency in October 2022.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-78297 size-full aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1149\" height=\"772\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC2.jpg 1149w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC2-610x410.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC2-768x516.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1149px) 100vw, 1149px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Since the conclusion of the cooperation agreement in November 2018, Waseda University and the ICRC have cultivated a close partnership through activities such as cohosting various events. Dr. Peter Maurer, the former president of the ICRC, was awarded an honorary doctorate from Waseda University at the time of the conclusion of the cooperation agreement.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, a joint research agreement was concluded between the ICRC and the Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering in April 2021 in order to develop innovative technologies for humanitarian assistance. Joint research projects include developing drones that can detect unexploded landmines by incorporating the university\u2019s strength in AI and robotics research. This is the first time the ICRC is partnering with a university outside of Switzerland to pursue technology development.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_78298\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-78298 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Waseda-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1351\" height=\"899\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Waseda-1.jpg 1351w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Waseda-1-610x406.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/Waseda-1-768x511.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1351px) 100vw, 1351px\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Joint research projects include developing drones that can detect unexploded landmines by incorporating the university\u2019s strength in AI and robotics research.<\/p><\/div>\n<p>President Tanaka gave opening remarks where he presented the missions of the ICRC, and their commitment to providing humanitarian aid while maintaining the difficult position of neutrality and impartiality. He emphasized the importance of such principles, describing them as embodiments of \u201cintellectual resilience\u201d and \u201cflexible sensitivity,\u201d which are qualities the university aims to nurture in its students.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-78301 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"713\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC6.jpg 713w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC6-610x456.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC6-360x270.jpg 360w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 713px) 100vw, 713px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>President Spoljaric addressed the audience of over 350 students gathered at the International Conference Center in an engaging tone, stating that we cannot remain indifferent in the face of conflicts and disregard for international humanitarian law. Students listened intently as she spoke about ICRC\u2019s missions in relation to various international agreements such as the Geneva Convention and the ICRC\u2019s adherence to the principles of neutrality and impartiality, while relating them to her personal experiences in providing humanitarian assistance around the world. The lecture provided a rare and valuable opportunity for students to hear directly from the ICRC president on these important topics.<\/p>\n<p>The lecture was followed by a question-and-answer session, where students and moderators asked questions on themes such as the use and role of technology and the application of the principles of impartiality and neutrality as an organization. She responded sincerely to each question.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-78302 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC5.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1320\" height=\"897\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC5.jpg 1320w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC5-610x415.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613_ICRC5-768x522.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1320px) 100vw, 1320px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>As the partnership enters the next phase, Waseda and ICRC are in discussion to hold joint research projects with the Waseda Research Institute for Science and Engineering in fields such as waste disposal and disaster response and recovery. Waseda University and the ICRC are moving toward further collaboration to contribute to world peace.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-78296 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613ICRC.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1304\" height=\"860\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613ICRC.jpg 1304w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613ICRC-610x402.jpg 610w, https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/assets\/uploads\/2023\/07\/20230613ICRC-768x507.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1304px) 100vw, 1304px\" \/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, June 13, 2023, Mirjana Spoljaric, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":78297,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,117],"tags":[214,380],"class_list":["post-78303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-topic","tag-intl-office-en","tag-president-global"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78303"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":78325,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78303\/revisions\/78325"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78297"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.waseda.jp\/top\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}