Pierre Gentile

Since February 2007, Mr. Gentile has worked at ICRC’s headquarters in Geneva as the head of the Protection of the Civilian Population Unit. In this capacity, in 2008 and 2009 he oversaw a project to elaborate and disseminate professional standards for protection work for the sector as a whole, working in consultation with many humanitarian and human rights actors. Since September 2011 he has worked on the update of these standards with the support of an advisory group composed of experienced protection specialists from different humanitarian organizations. Over the last couple of years, he also supervised the realisation of a set of 19 training modules
for ICRC staff working on protection, with a strong component of E-learning, including multidisciplinary approaches to address the vulnerabilities and capacities of population
groups.

He began his career with the ICRC in 1996 as a delegate in Vukovar, Croatia, working to address the needs of internally displaced persons and the whereabouts of missing persons. Since that time, he has spent 10 years working in various ICRC delegations. In Rwanda, Mr. Gentile conducted detention visits to prisons and local police stations, and in Colombia, he advocated for the protection of civilians with armed groups. He also served as Head of Subdelegation in Herat, Afghanistan, where he managed a large portfolio of assistance programs aimed at preventing displacement in the area. In Peru, Mr. Gentile served as Deputy Head of Delegation where he liaised with the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the Peruvian Ombudsman’s office. Then, as protection coordinator in Ethiopia, he supervised a team that conducted more that 200 detention visits per year, as well as engaged the penal administration on improving staff curricula, developing alternatives to imprisonment, and strengthening construction standards. Mr. Gentile again served as protection coordinator for the ICRC in Jerusalem, where he worked to increase respect for civilians during hostilities and law-enforcement operations, as well as to address the effects of long-term policies in the occupied territories on the resident population.