Saudi Arabia joins the Board of Directors of the International Federation of Red Cross
The President of the Saudi Red Crescent Authority, Dr. Jalal Al-Owais, and his accompanying delegation participated in the first meeting of the Board of Directors of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, after the Kingdom, represented by the Authority, won membership in the Board of Directors, in the elections that resulted in the twenty-third session of the General Assembly of the Federation currently held in Geneva.
The meeting of the Board of Directors of the International Federation witnessed a discussion of the climate and environment charter for humanitarian organizations, which aims to stimulate collective action to maximize response to climate and environmental crises, especially towards the groups most suffering from the effects of these crises, as the Kingdom signed the charter, and expressed its support for its great humanitarian goals.
The charter commits the signatories to seven main items, most notably: intensifying the response to the growing humanitarian needs, helping people respond to the effects of climate crises, maximizing environmental sustainability, accelerating the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, and cooperating across and outside the humanitarian sector to enhance climate and environmental action, and enhance capacity to understand climate and environmental risks and develop solutions to them.
The Kingdom’s support for this charter came as it is in great agreement with the objectives of the Kingdom’s Vision 2030, and the environmental initiatives of His Highness the Crown Prince, especially the “Green Saudi Arabia” initiative, which aims to raise vegetation cover, reduce carbon emissions, combat pollution, land degradation and preserve marine life.
The Kingdom, represented by the Saudi Red Crescent Authority, had won the membership of the Board of Directors of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent for the Asia-Pacific region for a four-year session, after the Kingdom won most of the votes of the delegates of the member states in the Federation’s General Assembly, for the second time in its history.