iranian red crescent

TEHRAN, Mar. 10 (IRCS) _ The Iranian Red Crescent Society (IRCS) implemented the sixth Training Workshop on Minimum Standards in Humanitarian Response (Sphere Project) in Mashhad, located in the northeastern province of Khorasan Razavi, on 6-8 March 2018.

The workshop was held in close cooperation with the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) and the Bureau for Aliens and Foreign Immigrants' Affairs (BAFIA) of the Iranian Interior Ministry aimed to familiarize the participants with the minimum standards in humanitarian aids, to increase accountability in disasters, to reduce human suffering, to transfer and exchange experience from the Iranian Red Crescent Society to international non-governmental organizations as well as to improve the quality of the humanitarian services of the Iranian Red Crescent by using these standards.

The workshop participants were representatives from the IRCS HQs, Red Crescent provincial branches in Khorasan Razavi, North Khorasan, South Khorasan, Semnan and Golestan.

In the opening ceremony of the workshop, Leili Khaleghi, director general of the IRCS international communications and protocols said: “The Sphere handbook could be used in all of the relief and rescue operations and it should be available for relief workers, rescuers and operational managers.”

“Iranian Red Crescent renders the highest level of relief and rescue services to the affected people in disasters and crises by maintaining human dignity,” she continued. “Using of Sphere handbook and its instructions on minimum standards should be considered in future.”

Sepideh Seyyed Askari, representative of the Norwegian Refugee Council delivered the speech of NRC Country Director, Olivier Vandecasteele during the opening ceremony and said: “Considering Khorasan Razavi province as a host province for the majority of Afghan refugees in Iran, the city of Mashhad is selected for mounting the workshop.”

Referring to the NRC’s relief services to the affected-people in recent quake in Kermanshah province, she also added: “The NRC supports the Iranian government’s efforts in protection of most vulnerable Afghan refugees in the provinces of Kerman, Qom, Semnan, Tehran since 2012 and recently in Khorasan Razavi.”

Norwegian Refugee Council plans are currently being conducted in 31 countries across the world to respond to the humanitarian needs of refugees and offering sustainable solutions to their troubles.