Francesco Rocca must do the decent thing and immediately resign his presidency of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

10 June 2023 – Mukesh Kapila

The leader of the worldwide family of the Red Cross Red Crescent has just used his presidential power to frustrate some civil rights : free speech, free association, and non-discrimination of a group of already-marginalised people.

Francesco Rocca is not doing this in his capacity as President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) but as President of the important Italian region of Lazio that includes the national capital, Rome.

Mr Rocca says he is not anti-gay but the withdrawal of his administration’s  traditional patronage of “Rome Pride 2023” deliberately targets the long-marginalised LGBTQ+ community. And what is their fault, apart from committing – in the eyes of conservative right-wingers –  the Original Sin of existing?

The theme of today’s Roma Pride – one of many worldwide events during  Pride Month – is “QueeResistenza” against increasing attacks on LGBTQ rights in Italy since the current ruling coalition of  “Fratelli d’Italia”, “Lega” and other conservatives came into power under Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in October 2022. Mr Rocca is closely allied with them as their backing secured his own meteoric political rise in February this year.

It is inevitable that Mr Rocca will be judged by the intolerant company he is obliged to keep for political reasons. Alternatively, he could have taken as his model the stance taken by Rome’s Mayor Roberto Gualtieri who courageously defied President Rocca’s unjust order and accompanied the Parade.

Specifically triggering the present controversy are gay people seeking to use their Parade to demand the right to bear children through surrogacy. This is a universally contentious topic, regardless of sexual orientation. In Italy, it is even more so because surrogacy is illegal and subject to hefty financial penalties and jail time.

The government to which Mr Rocca is so intimately joined, is about to make it illegal for Italians to go for surrogacy in countries where this is legal.  When their much-loved foreign-born babies are brought home, they risk official sanction because Italian authorities – including the junta headed by Mr Rocca – could deny their registration and hence fundamental entitlements as human beings.  This would be a throwback to earlier times  of state-authorised cruelty against stigmatised sections of society, such as orphans.

All interconnected injustices and inhumanities – current or feared – deserve vigorous debate. But that is not this article’s purpose, and nor is a discussion of Italian political trends against the background of its well-recognised past fascism.  Italy is now  a noisy and vibrant democracy and its people deserve the government they elect.

What is discussed here is just the curious paradox of Mr Rocca.  Those like me who know him for many years saw him as moderate and decent with no hint that extreme views lurked inside his liberal breast. His background includes being a courageous ani-Mafia lawyer, an efficient  hospital administrator, and a charismatic President of the widely-respected Italian Red Cross whose work I have myself admired in Italy and abroad.  Mr Rocca  is also on record standing up on difficult humanitarian concerns such as forced migration – a particularly hot issue in Italy.

In 2017, Francesco Rocca was elected President of IFRC – re-confirmed in 2022 – by its then-192 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. That made him the leader of  the world’s largest humanitarian network with 17 million volunteers and staff helping around 300 million people through some 197,000 local units and  expending around CHF 36 billion in the process.

There were high expectations from President Rocca’s humanitarian leadership at a time of complex threats that generate record volumes of need and suffering. So, what made him apparently change his spots? Could it perhaps be personal ambition for office that obviously required shifting his values right-wards. Because the general rise of right-wing populism in Italy (alongside similar European and global trends) brings greater opportunity for today’s budding politicians.

Mr Rocca’s presidency will be remembered as the most disappointing in IFRC’s century-long history.  He has enjoyed basking in the halo of widely-respected Red Cross Red Crescent work. His lofty position meant shaking hands and sharing photo-ops with world leaders while receiving credit for invisible humanitarian labourers in distant and dangerous places.

Initially active in travelling around the world to harness votes for his election, he has subsequently been largely absent from the frontlines of crises where he could have brought much needed encouragement.

Platitudinous and patronising statements via social media to publicise President Rocca  have evoked contempt.  Especially when he has had little to say to console or comfort the millions facing existentialist conflicts. Such as the raped,  starving, and abused survivors of wars in, for example, Tigray. Myanmar, or Sudan. When I challenged him on that, he was defensive and prickly, displaying a cowardly concern for how he would be perceived politically, rather than recognising his moral duty to give voice to the voiceless – a much-trumpeted Red Cross Red Crescent mission.

Why did Francesco Rocca go AWOL from executing the spirit of his humanitarian presidency? Perhaps he was too busy advancing his political agenda through the reputation-polishing opportunity of his IFRC pedestal?

There is nothing wrong in harbouring political ambitions and we need good humanitarian-minded politicians.  And Mr Rocca is not the first leader to use a humanitarian platform to advance personal goals. But Mr Rocca is probably the most notorious in this regard as the current Lazio LGBTQ controversy illustrates.

That is because the Red Cross Red Crescent values, principles, and  code of conduct make it crystal clear that officers of the Movement must always conduct themselves in a  non-partisan, non-divisive, non-discriminatory manner and not engage in political controversies.

Of course, these long-standing proscriptions are debatable in the modern contested era and many, particularly me, would argue that the Red Cross Red Crescent must modernise its modalities. But respect for the institution requires that if you have signed up to serve – let alone lead it – you must follow its extant rules.  Because that is what professional duty and decency demand, apart from the legal obligation to do so.

I know this personally. I was at the peak of my humanitarian career as Undersecretary General in IFRC when I felt a calling, deep in my heart and conscience, to move beyond Red Cross Red Crescent neutrality towards the opposite: standing strongly besides the victims of wars and crises and calling-out without fear or favour those wicked people who are responsible for their suffering and distress.

And so, I resigned from IFRC in 2012 out of my enduring affection and respect for that institution. It is more important than me and has a crucial  role even if I deplore what IFRC does not do, while applauding so much of what it does. My subsequent work has focused more on showing how humanitarian practice can be merged with human rights promotion, I am motivated to do this by my  personal  involvement in or around many genocides: Rwanda, Darfur, Srebrenica, Cambodia, Rohingya, Uyghurs, and Tigray.

If Mr Rocca has suddenly discovered a new calling to go into a particular brand of domestic Italian politics – he should be free to do so.  But, in pursuing his ambitions, he must not betray his sacred IFRC charge by taking on an incompatible political role with values and practices that are diametrically opposed to the ideals and laws of the Red Cross Red Crescent.

Being the President of a large global fellowship of humanitarians requires complete adherence to its norms at all times. His IFRC position is something like a secular pope to whom millions of dedicated humanitarians look for example. He could take inspiration from his Vatican neighbour: the real Pope who strives to live his values and beliefs full time and at all times. Not just in office hours and not now and then, not here and there.   And he does not have a second job as pope of something else.

President Rocca’s two large hats are one too many, even for a man of his big personality.  He should be assured that he is not indispensable to the Red Cross Red Crescent while serving the good people of Lazio who surely deserve his full attention.

His greatest and last service to the IFRC family is to leave now with dignity before he is ejected in disgrace.  Departing now is critical before he causes yet more damage to a humanitarian cause that is much more noble than anyone’s personal ambitions.