Sri Chinmoy:
The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

•   Deputy  Ambassador  Mrs.  Ruth  Garcia-Granados  Rosenhouse  of  Guatemala  and
•  Mr.  Vincent  Arlotta,  Director  of  the  Queens  Chap ter  of  the  American  Red  Cross.  

Guest speakers

Mrs.  Ruth  Garda -Granados  de  Rosenhouse,  Deputy  Permanent  Representative  of  Guatemala  to  the  United  Nations.

Ladies  and  gentlemen ,  it  is  a  great  privilege  for  me  to  represent  the  government  of  my  country,  Guatemala,  in  this  act  of  honouring  the  International  Red  Cross . I  cannot  think  of  any  21  other  voluntary  agency  that  has  done  more  to  miti- gate  the  pain  and  sorrow  caused  by  natural  and  man-made  disasters  than  the  Red  Cross  Societies  of  the  world.  I  cannot  think  either  of  a  setting  that  embodies  more  the  spirit  of  the  organisation  than  the  Dag  Hammarskjold  Auditorium  of  the  United  Nations.  Apolitical,  non-sectarian,  universal  in  scope,  the  Red  Cross  today  symbolises  the  best  of  all  selfless  human  impulses.  Created  to  repair  the  ravages  of  war,  this  remarkable  organisation  has  evolved  through  the  years  into  one  of  the  most  complex  and  sophisticated  instruments  of  the  modern  world.  It  is  equipped  to  deal  simultaneously  with  high-level  negotiations  involving  the  exchange  of  prisoners  of  war,  or  to  organise  an  emergency  team  of  rescue  workers  in  a  remote  mining  town  in  Africa  or  South  America.  And  I  cannot  omit  the  Red  Cross  commitment  to  human  rights.  Its  record  in  identi- fying  the  flagrant  violators  is  highly  commendable.  

In  this  respect,  we  recognise  that  the  Red  Cross  has  always  been  attuned  to  the  vital  issues  of  the  day.  Perhaps  this  flexibility  goes  a  long  way  in  explain- ing  why  the  Red  Cross  has  become  one  of  the  most  respected  and  durable  institutions  of  our  world.  I have  a  dual debt  to  the  Red  Cross  Society:  first,  as  a  professional  in  the  mental  health  field,  and  secondly  as  a representative  of  the  Government  of  Guatemala.  During  my  many  years  as  a clinical  psychologist  I  had  to  appeal  to  the  Red  Cross  on  many  occasions  on  behalf  of  my  patients  to  help  them  locate  a  loved  one.  I always  found  under- standing  and  assistance  from  the  Red  Cross.  As  a  representative  of  Guatemala,  I have  deep  gratitude  and  admiration  for  the  generous  aid  that  was  given  our  country  during  the  devastating  earthquake  in  22  1976,  when  Guatemala  was  virtually  destroyed  and  over  25,000  people  lost  their  lives  and  many  more  lost  their  homes .  

Many  of  the  Red  Cross  Societies,  including  that  of  the  Federal  Republic  of  Germany,  the  Norwegian  Red  Cross  and  the  Austrian  Red  Cross,  among  others,  undertook  to  rebuild  entire  villages  destroyed  by  the  earthquake .  Guatemala  is  also  grateful  to  its  own  local  chapter  that  supports  a  number  of  children’s  clinics  in  the  country .  To  terminate  this  brief  salute  to  the  Red  Cross  Society , I  would  like  to  express  my  special  thanks  to  the  anonymous  Red  Cross  worker : those  men  and  women  who  risk  their  lives  driving  an  ambulance  in  Lebanon,  or  descending  a steep  ravine  in  Guatemala  to  dig  out  an  Indian  family  during  an  earthquake.  I believe  them  to  be  the  real  unsung  hero es of o ur  modern  world.  Thank  you .  

Mr.  Vincent  Ariotta,  Director ,  Queens  Chapter  of  the  American  Red  Cross:  

It’s  a  pleasure  to  be  here  today.  Normally  my  remarks  would  be  about  the  American  Red  Cross  and  in  particular  the  23  American  Red  Cross  in  Greater  New  Yo r k ,  but  today  I was  asked  to  speak  more  ab o ut  the in t erna- tional  aspects  of  the  Red  Cross.  There  a re  several  aspects  to  it.  

There  is  an  Interna ti onal  Committee  which  is  located  in  Switzerland  and  is  conducted  by  up  to  twenty-five  Swiss  citizens.  The ir p urpose  is  to  protect  victims  of  war  in  accordance  with  the  Geneva  Conventions,  which  I will  go  int o  a  little  later  on.  They  also  grant  recogni ti on  to  new  national  Red  Cross  societies.  At  t he  present  time  the  symbols  that  represent  the  societies  are  the  red  cross  on  a white  background,  the  red  crescent  on  a  white  background,  and  a  red  lion  and  sun  on  a  white  background.  Also  at  the  present  time,  Israel  is  trying  to  come  into  this  organisation,  and  the  only  thing  that  is  holding  them  out  is  that  they  want  to  use  the  Star  of  David .  The  International  Committee  does  not  want  to  add  on  to  the  three  emblems  that  are  already  in  existence ,  but  I  think  that  they  will  agree , so  that  in  the  future  we  will  probably  be  seeing  four  different  emblems  when  we  display  our  signs.  

They  also  inspect  prisons  to  see  that  the  prisoners  of  war  are  being  treated  prop- erly,  and  they  direct  food  packages  and  mail  that  comes  from  home  for  the  prisoners  to  local  Red  Cross  chapters.  They  also  provide  medical  supplies  in  war  areas  and  they  have  a  tracing  service  whereby  members  of  families  can  locate  displaced  people.  For  example,  recently  the  Vietnamese  people  were  displaced  all  over  the  world  and  even- tually  they  will  be  trying  to  find  relatives.  Through  the  International  Committee  reaching  out  to  the  different  national  societies,  they  are  generally  located.  Sometimes  it  takes  much  longer  than  expected,  but  most  of  the  time  they  are  very  successful.  24  Another  aspect  is  the  League  of  Red  Cross  Societies,  which  comprises  a  Board  of  Governors  and  a  delegate  from  each  of  the  national  societies,  like  the  American  Red  Cross.  

Originally  our  name  was  American  National  Red  Cross,  but  we  cut  out  the  “national”  and  it  is  now  the  American  Red  Cross,  with  over  1,300  individual  chapters.  The  League  of  Red  Cross  Societies  promotes  cooper- ation  between  the  different  societies  and  also  coordinates  their  efforts,  especially  in  time  of  natural  disaster  or  in  relocating  refugees.  The  different  societies  have  experts  in  different  fields.  

Normally ,  when  there  is  a  major  disaster  in  Europe,  American  experts  may  be  called  over  to  help  give  a  hand,  especially  in  the  area  ?f  setting  up  depots  and  having  supplies  flown  and  shipped  in  and  distributing  these  supplies  to  the  various  groups  that  will  disperse  them  to  the  individuals  in  need.  

Then  we  have  the  International  Convention  of  the  Red  Cross.  This  is  the  highest  deliberating  body  of  the  Red  Cross.  It  normally  meets  every  four  years  and  it  has  representatives  from  the  national  societies,  from  the  League  of  Red  Cross  Societies,  from  the  International  Committee,  and  also  from  the  governments  who  have  signed  the  Geneva  Conventions.  This  group  ensures  unity,  so  that  throughout  the  whole  world  the  Red  Cross  is  working  more  or  less  as  one  organisation.  

The  national  societies  are  all  chartered  by  their  own  individual  governments.  I  mentioned  before  that  they  are  represented  in  different  ways.  Most  of  the  societies  use  the  red  cross;  the  Moslem  societies  use  the  red  crescent,  and  Iran  uses  a  red  lion  and  sun.  The  national  societies  promote  programmes  in  25  health,  welfare  and  safety .

 In  some  areas , as  in  Guatemala , t h ey  also  provide  hospita ls  and  nursing  schoo ls,  s et  u p  clin ics  a nd  h av e  on-going  health  education  programmes .  In  o ur  cou n try  normally  we  d on’ t  have  hospi tal s set  u p  and  run  by  Red  Cross  pe rsonnel.  We  d o  have  vo lunt eers  at  wo rk  in  hospita ls  as  aides.  They  feed  t h e  eld erly,  help  people  groom  the m selves,  r ead  to  peop le who  can’t  read  for  whatever  reaso n,  he lp  move  patients  to  areas  wh ere  they  ma y  have  to go  for  x- r ays  or  for  different  tests . In  this  way  t he y  do  a  j ob  that  is  really  appreciated.  Now,  I  mentioned  before  t h e  Ge ne va  Conven – tions,  and  these  consis t of fo ur  d iff eren t conven- tions.  

The  first  one  p r ov id ed  pro tection  for  the  wounded  and  the  sick  of  arm y  peLmn el  who  do  battle  on  land,  as  we ll  as  t he  doc tors,  medical  assistants  and  c haplains  of  the  armed  forces  on  land.  T he  second  conve ntio n  dealt  with  the  protect i on  of  the  sick,  wounde d  an d  sh i pwrecked  members  of  the  armed  forces  a t sea .  Th e  third  one  dealt  with  the  p rotect ion  of  prisone rs  of  war,  to  see  that  they  are  tr eated  properly  an d n ot  abused .  It  also  created  a  sys t em  of  inspections  whereby  they  can  go  in  and  inspec t  the  camps  to  make  sure  things  are  being  done  a ccord ing  to t h e co n ferences.  The  fourth  convent ion  was  to  protect  civilians  in  occupied  areas,  to  make  sure  tha t  there  is  no  brutality  and  that  people  are  being  fed  and  are  capable  of  living  in  a  human  way .  That  more  or  less  comprises  the  general  set-up  of  the  Red  Cross  as  an  international  organisation.

 If  I  have  time,  I  would  like  to  just  go  into  a few  of  the  things  that  the  American  Red  Cross  of  Greater  New  York  does  that  may  be  a little  different.  Our  26  major  disasters  are  fires.  Recently  it  has  been  reported  in  the  papers  about  a fire  in  New  Jersey,  and  this  goes  on  locally,  throughout  the  metro- politan  New  York  area.  So,  fires  really  are  the  major  disasters  that  we  contend  with  on  an  on-going  everyday  basis,  and  occasionally  floods.  What  the  Red  Cross  provides  in  this  field,  if  it  is  needed,  is  shelter,  clothing,  nursing  care,  medica- tion  and,  on  occasion,  assistance  in  rehabilitating  a  home  and  making  sure  that  the  people  get  back  to  a  state  of  being  as  they  were  before  the  fire.  

Those  people  that  are  already  receiving  monies  from  our  city  government  are  taken  care  of  for  the  immediate  needs  of  the  first  day,  and  then  they  go  to  the  agency  that  is  already  supplying  them  with  some  type  of  assistance.  What  are  the  immediate  ne eds?  In  the  middle  of  the  night  a  fire  strikes .  People  are  out  of  their  homes.  They  have  just  the  clothing  that  is  on  thei r  backs , w hich  most  of  the  time  is  just  bed  clothes  and  a  b a nket  thrown  over  them.  Through  the  cooperation  of  t h e Sev e nth  Day  Adventists,  who  sto re  clothing  of  all  sizes  and  description , we  can  provide  clothin g .  If  the  fire  happens  in  the  daytime  and  th e re  isn ‘t  that  immediate  need,  then  we  write  out  purchase  orde rs  to  different  stores  in  the  area  to  have  the  people  go  and  pick  up  new  clothing  or  whatever  their  needs  are.  If  they  are  able  to  get  back  into  their  apartment,  the  mattress  may  have  been  burned.  The  cause  of  many  fires  is  people  smoking  in  bed.  If  that  is  the  only  replacement  that  is  needed,  we  give  them  a  purchase  order  to  go  and  buy  a  mattress  so  that  they  can  return  to  the  apartment.  These  are  some  of  the  extra  things  that  we  think  of  in  the  field  of  disaster  relief.  27  

To  be  a  recogn ised,  charte red  chapter  of  th e  American  Red  Cross,  we  must  provide  services  to  servicemen  and  th eir  fam ilies.  Since  we  are  not  presently  in  conflict  any  place  and  most  of  the  people  that  are  in  the  armed  forces  are  there  on  a  voluntary  basis,  there  isn’t  too  great  a  need  for  service  to  military  families.  But  one  of  the  big  things  that  we  are  working  with  in  that  area  is  trying  to  help  servicemen  who  have  left  the  service  with  other  than  honourable  discharges.  There  is  a  set  method  of  filling  out  forms,  and  certain  kinds  of  documentation  that  are  needed  and  most  people  don’t  know  what  it  is,  whereas  our  social  workers  do  know  the  proper  procedures.  So,  in  this  way  the  serviceman  who  is  trying  to  correct  his  condition  does  it  on  a one-shot  deal,  more  or  less.  It  makes  the  job  a  lot  easier  for  them.  And  with  the  way  that  the  military  is  thinking  today,  they  change  their  minds  most  of  the  time  about  the  discharge.  Now  we  are  going  to  have  a film  which  will  show  some  of  the  background  of  the  Red  Cross.  I  thank  you  for  your  attention.  

Sri  Chinmoy  offers  his gratitude  to  guest  speakers  Deputy  Permanent  Representative  of  Guatemala  Mrs.  Rosenhouse  and  Mr. Vincent Arlotta, Director of the Queens Chapter of the American Red Cross. 

 “Meditation at the UN” Jan 1979 scanned  related pages-images  22 to 32..