AMERICA/UNITED STATES - TRADITIONS ARE WHAT DISTINGUISH EACH HUMAN SOCIETY FROM ALL THE OTHERS, THEY ARE ESSENCE WHICH ENRICHES THE HUMAN SPECIES: SAYS KOFI ANNAN IN A BOOK NOT TO BE MISSED “TRADITIONS, VALUES AND HUMANITARIAN ACTION” BY DR KEVIN CAHILL

Rome (Fides Service) – How do religious, cultural ands social systems and the values they support shape humanitarian action? What are the bases of caring societies? Are there universal values for human wellbeing? And how should humanitarian aid professionals incorporate these understandings and beliefs in their work? These are some of the questions posed and answers offered by a group of international experts in a book “Traditions, Values and Humanitarian Action” recently published in the United States by Kevin M. Cahill MD, director of the Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs at Fordham University and President of the Centre for International Health Cooperation in New York City. A distinguished group of international experts from divers religious traditions, from the academy, the media, diplomacy, the military, medicine and humanitarian relief organisations some face to face with the assumptions that guide humanitarian action – assumptions about human dignity, social justice and the proper role of efforts to rescue and repair communities in crisis. The nineteen original essays explore the mandates for humanitarian action in religious traditions, and the codes of conduct that guide the media, military, medicine and the academy for dealing with relief efforts. They also explore the threats to human welfare from terrorism, torture, gender exploitation, and even the unintended consequences of humanitarian action itself, International law, the media and the politics of civil society are critically assessed in the context of a new world of war, conflict and strife. In a message of introduction to the book the Secretary general of the United Nations Organisation, Mr Kofi Annan “Too often, in the name of tradition, anathemas have been pronounced and wars have been fought. Values are what enable us to overcome these divisions…In short if traditions can and should be kept distinct, values need to be shared. (ISBN 0-8232-2288-8) AP (Fides Service 29/7/2003 EM lines 29 Words: 340)