Senate body to challenge impartiality of Red Cross

An influential Senate Republican body is drafting a White Paper calling into question the impartiality of the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to a senior Senate aide.

Asking that the Republican body not be named before the paper was released, the aide said it would raise concerns about "recent ICRC actions and statements that call in to question the organisation's long-standing impartiality and neutrality principles when applied to the US government".

The paper will call for changes at the ICRC, including allowing non-Swiss nationals to become board members. It will also question whether the organisation is straying from its core mission by lobbying governments on issues such as biological weapons.

The ICRC argues that preventing the use of such weapons on the battlefield is within its mission because of their humanitarian impact.

While having no direct impact on legislation, the paper, which could be released as early as Monday, could fuel congressional scepticism towards humanitarian organisations.

The ICRC came under fire last month after it confirmed it had raised concerns with the Pentagon in 2002 about allegations that US guards were mishandling the Koran at the US-run detention facility at Guant�namo Bay in Cuba.

Some Republicans have criticised the ICRC for allegedly impeding US efforts to prosecute the war on terror. But others, including John McCain, the Arizona Republican senator who was a prisoner of war in Vietnam, have strongly defended the organisation.

The policy paper will argue that the ICRC has been less zealous in pursuing access to prisoners of war in the case of US soldiers. The ICRC concedes it was unable to gain access to US prisoners in Iraq before the regime collapsed, but argues it used all possible means to convince the Iraqis to provide access.

The Senate aide said the policy paper would also call for an investigation by the Government Accountability Office, the oversight arm of Congress, into how the ICRC spent its funding, about 28 per cent of which it receives from the US.

The State Department said that the US held the ICRC's work in the "highest regard". Antonella Notari, ICRC spokeswoman, said: "The ICRC doesn't side with any of the parties to armed conflicts.

"It remains neutral and impartial with respect to any cause other than the humanitarian cause."