(Rivista Internazionale - December 1994: Development of the Order of Malta's activities - 3/4)

Bukavu. The Nyakavogo Refugee Camp built by the Order's French Hospitaller Works (OHFOM) in Zaire for Rwandese refugees.

Besides the transport and distribution of aid, the following activities deserve mention:
• Evacuation of the old, sick and children from the war zones
• Installation and co-ordination of refugee camps in Croatia and Hungary
• Management of three soup kitchens in Zagreb, Bihac and Banjaluka
• Mobile kitchens along the roads used by refugees
• Meals-on-wheels in various places
• Management of a Kindergarten for 100 children in Zagreb and aid to other kindergartens
• Creation of the Order's Croatian ambulance corps and a similar service in Serbia
• Designing a home for disabled children, victims of the war
• Aid for reconstructing villages.
8.2 LEBANON
Every year about 190,000 patients are treated in 14 medical centres. The Order's activities are directed by its ambassador and co-ordinated in co-operation with the Lebanese Association.
8.3 EL SALVADOR
In 1992, about 180,000 patients were treated in 11 medical centres. Medicines amounting to US$ 1,300,000 were distributed.
8.4 UNOCA MEDICAL AID
In 1991 and 1992, the MHD (Malteser Hilfsdienst) and German Johanniter-Unfallhilfe were asked to provide medical assistance to the United States Observers for Central America (UNOCA). This was the first time in which the Order worked under the United Nations banner.
8.5 IRAQ-KURDISTAN CRISIS
During the violent fighting in the Kurd regions of Iraq, the MHD of German and Austria sent relief corps to southern Turkey and northern Iraq for medical assistance to refugees and to supply water-purification equipment.
8.6 CAMBODIA
OHFOM and MHD have been active in assisting and treating lepers in the country. The number of those affected by the disease has recently greatly increased.
8.7 THE SUDAN - UGANDA
The MHD team in Uganda has established itself from the beginning of 1994 on the Sudanese border to assist Ugandan refugees, and especially in the treatment of tuberculosis.
8.8 CHAD
The Order's activities have been restructured in this country, afflicted by internal scissions and continual fighting. The only hospital structure functioning in the capital is supervised by the Order. A programme for fighting leprosy has been developed. Relief supplies from OHFOM, mainly medicines, are distributed on a large scale.

9. HUMANITARIAN INTERNATIONAL LAW
The Hospitaller was an observer at the conference of the states signatories of the Red Cross Convention on the Protection of War Victims, organised by the Swiss government in September 1993, on the request of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
The conference was on the applicability of international law on war in so-called non-international armed conflicts, and the Hospitaller read a statement on the Order's position. The Hospitaller also took part in an event organised by the Pontifical Council «COR UNUM» during Easter week 1994, dealing with various aspects of humanitarian intervention in times of war.

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