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SIPRI and the International Committee of the Red Cross form knowledge cooperation

SIPRI and the International Committee of the Red Cross form knowledge cooperation
Drought stricken victims leaving their village in search for water and food in Sudan. Photo: ICRC/Ursula Meissner

SIPRI and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) have agreed on a multi-year knowledge cooperation. This formal collaboration builds on existing work between the organizations, including joint research on autonomous weapon systems.

Both SIPRI and the ICRC recognize the global challenge to well-being, human security and sustainable development represented by ongoing armed conflict and violence. As part of their cooperation, both organizations will bring their experience and knowledge together to explore ways to prevent suffering and enhance the protection of and assistance to persons in all situations of violence. The two organizations aim to maintain and further develop their collaboration with a view to advancing humanitarian law and policy.

‘We have found it a great experience to work with the ICRC on various projects recently so it is an extremely pleasing development as well as a great honour for us to take our cooperation to a new level with this knowledge initiative. We look forward to working together, learning from each other and helping humanitarian law and policy keep pace with today’s challenges,’ says Dan Smith, SIPRI Director.

The knowledge cooperation was formalized in June 2020 by Dan Smith, SIPRI Director, and Dr Helen Durham, Director of International Law and Policy, ICRC.

About the International Committee of the Red Cross

Established in 1863, the ICRC is an impartial, neutral and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of persons affected by armed conflict and other situations of violence, to provide them with assistance, and to endeavour to prevent suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles. More information about the ICRC can be found here.

Media contacts

For information and interview requests contact Alexandra Manolache, SIPRI Communications Officer, (alexandra.manolache@sipri.org, +46 766 286 133) or Stephanie Blenckner, SIPRI Communications Director (blenckner@sipri.org, +46 8 655 97 47).