The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; ) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signatories) to the Geneva Convention of 1949 and its Additional Protocols of 1977 (Protocol I, Protocol II) and 2005 have given the ICRC a mandate to protect victims of international and internal armed conflicts. Such victims include war wounded, prisoners, refugees, civilians, and other non-combatants. The ICRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, along with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and 192 National Societies.
Introduction
International Committee of the Red Cross
International Committee of the Red Cross | Introduction
a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland It is a humanitarian organization. A humanitarian organization. It is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland
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International Committee of the Red Cross
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who are they?
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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; ) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signatories) to the Geneva Convention of 1949 and its Additional Protocols of 1977 (Protocol I, Protocol II) and 2005 have given the ICRC a mandate to protect victims of international and internal armed conflicts. Such victims include war wounded, prisoners, refugees, civilians, and other non-combatants. The ICRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, along with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and 192 National Societies.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Introduction
This led to the creation of the "Committee of Five," a commission of the Society set up to investigate the plausibility of Dunant's ideas. The additional members of the Commission, with Moynier as chairman, were Dunant, the doctors Louis Appia and Théodore Maunoir and the army general Guillaume-Henri Dufour. Soon afterwards, the members of the Committee changed the name to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded" and in 1876 it adopted its current name, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Dufour became the first president of the Committee, and Moynier became its vice-president.
Gustave Moynier | Background
As a result of this initial discussion the society established an investigatory commission to examine the feasibility of Dunant's suggestions and eventually to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, which has subsequently been referred to as the "Committee of the Five," aside from Dunant and Moynier were physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss Army general of great renown. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded".
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement | Foundation
He demanded a "more robust" system to determine whether to release hundreds of men who probably will never face trial.
Jakob Kellenberger | Presidency of the <a href="International%20Committee%20of%20the%20Red%20Cross">International Committee of the Red Cross</a> (ICRC)
They are humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, volunteerism, unity, and universality.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Mission
Shortly after the beginning of the First World War in 1914, the ICRC under its president Gustave Ador decided to establish the International Prisoners-of-War Agency (IPWA). Its main task was to trace PoW and to re-establish communications with their respective families. Already at the end of the same year, it had a staff of some 1,200 volunteers who worked in the Musée Rath of Geneva. Many of them were girls, women, and students. Their mandate was based on resolution VI of the 9th conference of Washington in 1912 and hence limited to military personnel. However, the committee member and medical doctor founded a civilian section against the advice of other committee members.
International Committee of the Red Cross archives | World War I
After the end of the war, the ICRC organized the return of about 420,000 prisoners to their home countries. In 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded League of Nations, which appointed the Norwegian diplomat and scientist Fridtjof Nansen as its "High Commissioner for Repatriation of the War Prisoners". His legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of the League of Nations "High Commissioner for Refugees". Nansen, who invented the "Nansen passport" for stateless refugees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the ICRC as his deputies.
International Committee of the Red Cross | World War I
Their aim was to examine the feasibility of Dunant's ideas and to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, aside from Dunant himself, were Gustave Moynier, lawyer and chairman of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare; physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss Army general of great renown. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded". In October (26–29) 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battle field.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Solferino, Henry Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC
The official mission statement says that: "The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose independently humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance." It also conducts and coordinates international relief and works to promote and strengthen international humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles. The core tasks of the committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes are: The ICRC drew up seven fundamental principles in 1965 that were adopted by the entire Red Cross Movement.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Mission
The committee was given the sign of the Red Cross. The Committee initially included 63 people, including, Bulgakov, famous cultural figures, economist Alexander Chayanov, the president of the Academy of Sciences Alexander Petrovich Karpinsky and representatives of Russian religious denominations. Negotiations for help began with overseas organizations, including the American Relief Administration and polar explorer Fridtjof Nansen, the head of the Executive Committee of "International Aid to Russia." The negotiations culminated in agreements on the supply of food.
Valentin Bulgakov | Pomgol
This failure will remain part of the ICRC's memory, as will the courageous acts of individual ICRC delegates at the time.
International Committee of the Red Cross | The Holocaust
It is the oldest and most honoured organization within the movement and one of the most widely recognized organizations in the world, having won three Nobel Peace Prizes (in 1917, 1944, and 1963).
International Committee of the Red Cross | Introduction
Robert Mardini (born 1972) is Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Robert Mardini | Introduction
Currently Olivier Vodoz and Christine Beerli are the Vice Presidents. In 2019, Christine Beerli retired and Gilles Carbonnier was appointed vice-president.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Assembly Council
The ICRC - or rather its predecessor, the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded - was founded in February 1863 in Geneva by five men: businessman-turned-activist Henry Dunant, who had laid out the basic ideas in his much-acclaimed book "A Memory of Solferino"; lawyer and philanthropist Gustave Moynier; the medical doctors Louis Appia and Théodor Maunoir; and the General Guillaume Henri Dufour. The exact date of the creation of the library is unknown. It is first mentioned in the records of 1875, but ""we may suppose that it was born at the same time as the organization, initially perhaps simply taking the form of a collection of works belonging to the Committee’s founders."" The actual address of the newly founded Red Cross - and thus at least a part of its fledgling library - became Dunant's private residence, the third floor of his family's "Maison Diodati" in the Old Town at Rue du Puits-Saint-Pierre 4.
International Committee of the Red Cross Library | The early period: "Ancien Fonds"
The ICRC - or rather its predecessor - was founded in February 1863 at the "Ancient Casino" in the Rue de L'Evêche 3 of Geneva's Old Town by five men: businessman-turned-activist Henry Dunant, who had laid out the basic ideas in his much-acclaimed book "A Memory of Solferino"; lawyer and philanthropist Gustave Moynier; the medical doctors Louis Appia and Théodor Maunoir; and the General Guillaume Henri Dufour. At the same moment, its archives came into being:""Dunant, as secretary, signed off the minutes of the first meeting of the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, the precursor of the ICRC.
International Committee of the Red Cross archives | Early Period
Yves Daccord (born 1964) was the Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 2010 until 2020.
Yves Daccord | Introduction
The library of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) - in French: "la bibliothèque du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR)" - is a public library based at the headquarter of the international organization in Geneva, Switzerland. It was apparently founded around the time of the ICRC's inception in 1863. The library in its self-description is ""the leading documentary resource"" on the ICRC in particular and International Humanitarian Law (IHL) in general, along with the ICRC Archives. It plays a central role for the mandate of the ICRC according to article 4 (g) of its statutes ""to work for the understanding and dissemination of knowledge of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts and to prepare any development thereof"".
International Committee of the Red Cross Library | Introduction
Furthermore, due to the intervention of the Agency, about 200,000 prisoners were exchanged between the warring parties, released from captivity and returned to their home country. The organizational card index of the Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923, each card representing an individual prisoner or missing person. The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families, as part of the Restoring Family Links effort of the organization. The complete index is on loan today from the ICRC to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva.
International Committee of the Red Cross | World War I
It soon became commonly associated with the ICRC and significantly contributed to its positive image, thus also to its first Nobel Peace Prize in 1917 (The ousted Dunant had received the first one in 1901 as an individual). One of its early activists was the French writer Romain Rolland, who volunteered in the sub-division for missing civilians until July 1915. When he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for 1915, he donated half of the prize money to the Agency. His friend, the Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, provided a lively description of the commitment:""A rough stool, a small table of unpolished deal, the turmoil of typewriters, the bustle of human beings questioning, calling one to another, hastening to and fro - such was Romain Rolland's battlefield in this campaign against the afflictions of the war.
International Committee of the Red Cross archives | World War I
The Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71 showed that even Red Cross actors (in this case National Societies) can be so bound by nationalism that they are unable to sustain neutral humanitarianism.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Assembly
Today, the leading organs are the Directorate and the Assembly.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Organization
He sent copies of the book to leading political and military figures throughout Europe. In addition to penning a vivid description of his experiences in Solferino in 1859, he explicitly advocated the formation of national voluntary relief organizations to help nurse wounded soldiers in the case of war. In addition, he called for the development of international treaties to guarantee the neutrality and protection of those wounded on the battlefield as well as medics and field hospitals. On 9 February 1863 in Geneva, Henry Dunant founded the "Committee of the Five" (together with four other leading figures from well-known Geneva families) as an investigatory commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Solferino, Henry Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC
When she died, he married again and had further children with his second wife. His family, especially in his efforts in raising his children, played a large role in his life aside from his work as a doctor and medical consultant. After the publication of Henry Dunant's book "A Memory of Solferino" in 1862, Maunoir, together with Gustave Moynier, Guillaume-Henri Dufour and Louis Appia, joined the "Committee of Five" which was founded in February 1863 as a commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare. Soon afterwards, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to Wounded Soldiers," which by 1876 evolved into the "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC).
Théodore Maunoir | Introduction
On December 31, 2006, a plane chartered by the ICRC on its way to Somalia with a load of fuel drums and aid supplies, crashed not long after taking off in Nairobi, Kenya. The crew of three survived.
Diplomatic and humanitarian efforts in the Somali Civil War | International Committee of the Red Cross
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide, which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering. Within three distinct organizations that are legally independent from each other, but are united within the movement through common basic principles, objectives, symbols, statutes and governing organisations, there are the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), that is a private humanitarian institution founded in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland, in particular by Henry Dunant and Gustave Moynier.
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement | Introduction
The SCHR was created in 1972 to improve cooperation among humanitarian agencies involved in disaster assistance. The five founding agencies were Oxfam, the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (later to become the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies), the World Council of Churches (WCC), the Lutheran World Federation, and Catholic Relief Services (CRS). In 1983, Caritas Internationalis took over the seat held by CRS, and the International Save the Children Alliance joined in 1992. Care International and Médecins sans frontières (MSF) were added in 1997 and the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1999.
Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response | Background
National societies will be given the lead especially when a conflict is happening within their own country.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Responsibilities within the movement
Language selections of the journal are published in Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian, and Spanish. The current editor-in-chief is Vincent Bernard (International Committee of the Red Cross).
International Review of the Red Cross | Introduction
Gheorghe Pohrib expanded the responsibility of the firefighters to other types of rescue operations. In 1928, the International Committee of the Red Cross raised for the first time the issue of creating structures in charge of the protection of civilian population against chemical attacks and of preparing regulations to deal with such events. A special commission for the study and proposal of measures for civil defense was instituted by order No. 513 of June 21, 1928 of the Ministry of War. The commission included colonel Gheorghe Pohrib, head of the firefighter department, colonel George E. Popescu, head of the department of defense against chemical warfare as well as representatives of various concerned ministries.
Gheorghe Pohrib | Integration of firefighters into the civil defense structures
The ICRC is responsible for legally recognizing a relief society as an official national Red Cross or Red Crescent society and thus accepting it into the movement. The exact rules for recognition are defined in the statutes of the movement. After recognition by the ICRC, a national society is admitted as a member to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (the Federation, or IFRC). The ICRC and the Federation cooperate with the individual national societies in their international missions, especially with human, material, and financial resources and organizing on-site logistics. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, the ICRC is the lead Red Cross agency in conflicts while other organizations within the movement take the lead in non-war situations.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Responsibilities within the movement
In October (26–29) 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battlefield. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from other non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were: Austrian Empire, Grand Duchy of Baden, Kingdom of Bavaria, French Empire, Kingdom of Hanover, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Saxony, Kingdom of Spain, United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement | Foundation
By virtue of its age and its special position under international humanitarian law, the ICRC is the lead agency in the Red Cross Movement, but it has weathered some power struggles within the movement. The ICRC has come into conflict with the Federation and certain national societies at various times. The American Red Cross threatened to supplant the ICRC with its creation of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies as "a real international Red Cross" after the First World War. Elements of the Swedish Red Cross desired to supplant the Swiss authority of the ICRC after WWII.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Relationships within the movement
In 2016, 26 million people in about 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities benefited from IRC programs. The current President of the International Rescue Committee is former British Foreign Secretary David Miliband (2013–present).
International Rescue Committee | Introduction
The ICRC's operations are generally based on international humanitarian law, primarily comprising the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, their two Additional Protocols of 1977 and Additional Protocol III of 2005, the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, and the resolutions of the International Conferences of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. International humanitarian law is founded upon the Geneva conventions, the first of which was signed in 1864 by 16 countries. The First Geneva Convention of 1949 covers the protection for the wounded and sick of armed conflict on land. The Second Geneva Convention asks for the protection and care for the wounded, sick and shipwrecked of armed conflict at sea.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Legal Basis
The IRC was active worldwide, providing support for refugees fleeing conflict and oppression in India, Chile, Paraguay, Uruguay, Guatemala, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Uganda and the Soviet Union, while resettling refugees in the United States.
International Rescue Committee | 1970s
Amongst them were: and after a relatively quite decade
International Committee of the Red Cross archives | Between the World Wars
In the initial meetings of committee, Maunoir supported Dunant's ideas to propel the concepts behind the Red Cross into a widespread social movement reaching out to as many people as possible, instead of only creating an organization through negotiations with powerful political and military figures.
Théodore Maunoir | Introduction
Peter Maurer (born 1956) is the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), appointed 1 July 2012. Maurer was born in Thun, Switzerland.
Peter Maurer | Introduction
She was soon followed by the French historian and nazi hunter Serge Klarsfeld with his association of the" Sons and Daughters of Jews Deported from France". Already two years later he published a collection of documents from the archives about the internment and deportation of French Jews during WWII. In 1997, the archives adopted a new filing plan - B AI ("Services généraux – Archives institutionnelles") - which included computerized documents.
International Committee of the Red Cross archives | Post-Cold War
Its 25-member committee has a unique authority under international humanitarian law to protect the life and dignity of the victims of international and internal armed conflicts. The ICRC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on three occasions (in 1917, 1944 and 1963). The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was founded in 1919 and today it coordinates between the 190 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies within the Movement, internationally in close cooperation with the National Societies, relief assistance missions responding to large-scale emergencies. The International Federation Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1963, the Federation (then known as the League of Red Cross Societies) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the ICRC.
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement | Introduction
The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from other non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were Grand Duchy of Baden, Kingdom of Bavaria, Second French Empire, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Kingdom of Hanover, Grand Duchy of Hesse, Kingdom of Italy, Kingdom of the Netherlands, Austrian Empire, Kingdom of Prussia, Russian Empire, Kingdom of Saxony, United Kingdoms of Sweden and Norway, and Spanish Empire. Among the proposals written in the final resolutions of the conference, adopted on 29 October 1863, were: Only one year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, to attend an official diplomatic conference.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Solferino, Henry Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC
With the outbreak of World War I, the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges which it could only handle by working closely with the national Red Cross societies. Red Cross nurses from around the world, including the United States and Japan, came to support the medical services of the armed forces of the European countries involved in the war. On 15 October 1914, immediately after the start of the war, the ICRC set up its International Prisoners-of-War (POW) Agency, which had about 1,200 mostly volunteer staff members by the end of 1914. By the end of the war, the Agency had transferred about 20 million letters and messages, 1.9 million parcels, and about 18 million Swiss francs in monetary donations to POWs of all affected countries.
International Committee of the Red Cross | World War I
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) was the American branch of the International Relief Association (which later combined with another relief organization), which was founded by Albert Einstein in 1931. The IRC was initially an organization that helped those who were fleeing Nazi Germany and as need arose it expanded its clientele.
International Rescue Committee | History
The President's influence and role are not well-defined, and change depending upon the times and each President's personal style. From 2000 to 2012, the President of the ICRC was Jakob Kellenberger, a reclusive man who rarely made diplomatic appearances, but was quite skilled in personal negotiation and comfortable with the dynamics of the Assembly. Since July 2012, the President has been Peter Maurer, a Swiss citizen who is a former Secretary for Foreign Affairs. He was appointed by the Assembly for a renewable four-year term. The Presidents of the ICRC have been:
International Committee of the Red Cross | The President
At the end of the Cold War, the ICRC's work actually became more dangerous. In the 1990s, more delegates lost their lives than at any point in its history, especially when working in local and internal armed conflicts. These incidents often demonstrated a lack of respect for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Among the slain delegates were:
International Committee of the Red Cross | Fatalities
His book was largely positively received, and the President of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, jurist Gustave Moynier, made the book and its suggestions the topic of the 9 February 1863 meeting of the organization. Dunant's recommendations were examined and positively assessed by the members. They created a five-person Committee to further pursue the possibility of their implementation and made Dunant one of the members. The others were Moynier, the Swiss army general Henri Dufour, and doctors Louis Appia and Théodore Maunoir. Their first meeting on 17 February 1863 is now considered the founding date of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
Henry Dunant | Red Cross founding history
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) is a worldwide humanitarian aid organization that reaches 160 million people each year through its 192 member National Societies. It acts before, during and after disasters and health emergencies to meet the needs and improve the lives of vulnerable people. It does so with impartiality as to nationality, race, gender, religious beliefs, class and political opinions. The IFRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement along with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and 192 National Societies. The IFRC's strength lies in its volunteer network, community-based expertise and independence and neutrality.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies | Introduction
Below is listed their responsibilities, and/or their mini-biographies if known and not already linked above:
International Red Cross Committee of Nanking | Activities
Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On 22 August 1864, the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention:
International Committee of the Red Cross | Solferino, Henry Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) played a major role in working with POW's on all sides in World War II. It was in a cash-starved position when the war began in 1939, but quickly mobilized its national offices set up a Central Prisoner of War Agency. For example, it provided food, mail and assistance to 365,000 British and Commonwealth soldiers and civilians held captive. Suspicions, especially by London, of ICRC as too tolerant or even complicit with Nazi Germany led to its side-lining in favour of the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) as the primary humanitarian agency after 1945.
Philanthropy | Switzerland
Following the burning of parts of Cork city on 11 December 1920 by elements of the British security forces known as the Black and Tans, approaches were made by the city's Lord Mayor, Donal O'Callaghan to the American Red Cross for humanitarian assistance. The society, having taken advice from President Woodrow Wilson, the British embassy, the Foreign Office and the British Red Cross, declined at this time to act on his appeal. Numerous organisations and committees across the United States, operating independently in raising humanitarian aid money for Ireland realised that their funds would not be channelled through the U.S.
American Committee for Relief in Ireland | Genesis of the ACRI
Gustave Moynier (21 September 1826 - 21 August 1910) was a Swiss Jurist who was active in many charitable organizations in Geneva. He was a co-founder of the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded", which became the International Committee of the Red Cross after 1876. In 1864 he took over the position of President of the Committee from Guillaume-Henri Dufour, and he was also a major rival of the founder Henry Dunant. During his record long term of 46 years as president he did much to support the development of the Committee in the first decades after its creation.
Gustave Moynier | Introduction
The International Rescue Committee (IRC) is a global humanitarian aid, relief, and development nongovernmental organization. Founded in 1933 as the International Relief Association, at the request of Albert Einstein, and changing its name in 1942 after amalgamating with the similar Emergency Rescue Committee, the IRC provides emergency aid and long-term assistance to refugees and those displaced by war, persecution, or natural disaster. The IRC is currently working in about 40 countries and 26 U.S. cities where it resettles refugees and helps them become self-sufficient. It focuses mainly on health, education, economic wellbeing, power, and safety. Consisting of first responders, humanitarian relief workers, international development experts, health care providers, and educators, the IRC has assisted millions of people around the world since its founding in 1933.
International Rescue Committee | Introduction
During the Japanese-led Nanking Massacre, the International Red Cross established a contingent in the city to coordinate the humanitarian aid effort.
International Red Cross Committee of Nanking | Introduction
Cornelio Sommaruga (born December 29, 1932 in Rome) is a Swiss humanitarian, lawyer and diplomat who is best known for being President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from 1987 to 1999. Today, he chairs the Geneva International Centre for Humanitarian Demining (GICHD) in Geneva. He is also active on a number of boards, such as the International Union Against Cancer. Currently he is Chair of the Board of Directors of the Foundation For the Future, an organization dedicated to promoting human rights in the Middle East and North Africa, and the honorary President of Initiatives of Change International, a global organization dedicated to "building trust across the world's divides" of culture, nationality, belief, and background.
Cornelio Sommaruga | Introduction
Mr. Konoe has held several posts in the IFRC. He has been a member of the Standing Commission of the Red Cross Red Crescent (1995-2003) and its vice chairman (1999), member of the IFRC finance commission (1985-1993), as well as officer (1972-1975) and director (1981-1985) of the IFRC disaster preparedness bureau where he started in 1972.
Tadateru Konoe | International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
Rockefeller, donated and raised large amounts of money and organized relief aid that was channeled to the Armenians via the newly established American Red Cross. Other humanitarian groups and the Red Cross helped by sending aid to the remaining survivors who were dying of disease and hunger.
Hamidian massacres | International reaction
Angelo Gnaedinger has been the Director-General of the International Committee of the Red Cross since 1 July 2002. He was born in 1951, trained to become a lawyer, and served as magistrate of Schaffhausen. He joined the ICRC in 1984 and worked in the Middle East, Africa, and Europe before assuming the directorship.
Angelo Gnaedinger | Introduction
Still unaware of what would follow but hopeful that Dunant’s vision would bear fruit, the young Committee preserved this document and the ones that followed in order to account for their decisions and actions."" The actual address of the newly-founded Red Cross - and thus probably of its fledgling archives - became Dunant's private residence, the third floor of his family's "Maison Diodati" in the Old Town at Rue du Puits-Saint-Pierre 4. It remained there for the first few years. However, as Dunant's colonial businesses in Algeria collapsed, he declared bankruptcy in 1867 and was pushed out of the ICRC by its president Moynier in the following year.
International Committee of the Red Cross archives | Early Period
As the largest charity of its type, it is also part of the UK Disasters Emergency Committee, which is a group of large charities who fund raise for major disasters, such as the Boxing day tsunami
British Red Cross | International disaster relief
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, the world's largest group of non-governmental organizations working on humanitarian aid, is composed of the following bodies:
List of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies | Introduction
Committee of the Red Cross and so another distribution channel was needed. Five days after the inferno at Cork, a widely publicised meeting took place at the Banker's Club in New York City. It was organised by William Maloney with the intention of establishing a single nationwide organisation. It would have as its goal, explicitly and solely for the purpose of humanitarian relief, the raising and distribution in Ireland of $10 million. The body which soon emerged styled itself 'The American Committee for Relief in Ireland'. One of its founding members, Levi Hollingsworth Wood, approached a Dublin-based businessman and fellow Quaker, James Douglas, requesting his assistance in the local distribution of the funds on a non-partisan basis.
American Committee for Relief in Ireland | Genesis of the ACRI
The Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent is the permanent statutory body of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the highest deliberative body of the Movement between the meetings of the Council of Delegates and the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent. It was originally set up to coordinate cooperation between the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (previously known as the League of Red Cross Societies). It consists of two representatives from the ICRC (including its president), two from the IFRC (including its president), and five individuals who are elected by the International Conference.
Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent | Introduction
The Canadian Red Cross Society () is a Canadian humanitarian charitable organization, and one of 190 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. The organization receives funding from both private donations and from Canadian government departments. The Red Cross Society trains volunteers in emergency response, disaster response, and disaster assistance, and provides injury prevention services such as outdoor activities safety and first aid training. The society, through the international network of the Red Cross, helps the world's vulnerable populations, including victims of armed conflicts and communities destroyed by disasters. The current Secretary General and Chief Executive Officer of the Canadian Red Cross is Conrad Sauvé.
Canadian Red Cross | Introduction
, the president of the IFRC is Francesco Rocca (Italian Red Cross). The vice presidents are Annemarie Huber-Hotz (Swiss Red Cross), Miguel Villarroel (Venezuela Red Cross), Abdoul Azize Diallo (Senegalese Red Cross Society), Kerem Kinik (Turkish Red Crescent), Chen Zhu (Red Cross Society of China). Former presidents (until 1977 titled "Chairman") have been:
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies | Presidents of the Federation
In 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded League of Nations, which appointed the Norwegian diplomat and scientist Fridtjof Nansen as its "High Commissioner for Repatriation of the War Prisoners". His legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of the League of Nations "High Commissioner for Refugees". Nansen, who invented the Nansen passport for stateless refugees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the ICRC as his deputies.
International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement | World War I
Outside the SHARP and the RRP mechanism, the International Committee of the Red Cross, in partnership with the Syrian Arab Red Crescent, has been providing water, food, medical materials and other items to millions people affected by the fighting. ragmented response under the WoS initiative."
Humanitarian aid during the Syrian Civil War | ICRC
The IFRC is funded by statutory contributions from National Societies, the delivery of field services to programme partners, and voluntary contributions from donors such as governments, corporations and individuals. The criteria for the statutory contributions of each National Society are established by the Finance Commission and approved by the General Assembly. Additional funding, especially for unforeseen relief assistance missions, is raised by emergency appeals. From 2005 to 2015, the Chairman of the Finance Commission was Mr. Chrystold Chetty (Seychelles) and the Vice- Chair was Ms Kathryn Forbes (United States). From 2016, the Chairman is Mr. Abdulkader Husrieh. Ms Kathryn Forbes has been nominated the Chairperson of the Audit and Risk Committee whilst Mr.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies | Funding and financial matters
Jamila Hammami is mission head in Oman for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Jamila Hammami | Introduction
The ICRC is the International Committee of the Red Cross. ICRC may also refer to:
ICRC (disambiguation) | Introduction
Up until the middle of the 19th century, there were no organized and well-established army nursing systems for casualties and no safe and protected institutions to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. In June 1859, the Swiss businessman Henry Dunant travelled to Italy to meet French emperor Napoléon III with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in Algeria, at that time occupied by France. When he arrived in the small Italian town of Solferino on the evening of 24 June, he witnessed the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Second Italian War of Independence.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Solferino, Henry Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC
The IFRC has its secretariat in Geneva. It also has five regional offices and numerous country and multi-country cluster offices around the world. The secretary general is Jagan Chapagain (Nepal). The IFRC is governed by a governing board consisting of a president, four vice-presidents, the chairman of the finance commission and 20 National Society representatives. The highest body of the IFRC is the General Assembly which convenes every two years with delegates from all National Societies. Among other tasks, the General Assembly elects the president. The current president of the IFRC is Francesco Rocca, who also fulfills the role of president of the Italian Red Cross.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies | Organization
15% of the staff leaves each year and 75% of employees stay less than three years. The ICRC staff is multi-national and averaged about 50% non-Swiss citizens in 2004. The ICRC's international staff are assisted in their work by some 13,000 national employees hired in the countries where the delegations are based.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Staff
The Italian Red Cross (IRC, or "CRI") is the Italian national Red Cross society. The Italian Red Cross was one of the original founding members of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1919.
Italian Red Cross | Introduction
A room on the ground floor was reserved for the library next to the museum room and the meeting hall. However, this ""eccentric"" location and a lack of staff assigned to it made the library effectively dormant.
International Committee of the Red Cross Library | Post-World War I
The most reliable primary source on the role of the Red Cross during World War II are the three volumes of the "Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on its activities during the second world war (September 1, 1939 – June 30, 1947)" written by the International Committee of the Red Cross itself. The report can be read online. The legal basis of the work of the ICRC during World War II was the Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision. The activities of the committee were similar to those during World War I: visiting and monitoring POW camps, organizing relief assistance for civilian populations, and administering the exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing persons.
International Committee of the Red Cross | World War II
Here, while other authors and intellectuals were doing their utmost to foster mutual hatred, he endeavored to promote reconciliation, to alleviate the torment of a fraction among the countless sufferers by such consolation as the circumstances rendered possible. He neither desired, nor occupied a leading position in the work of the Red Cross; but, like so many other nameless assistants, he devoted himself to the daily task of promoting the interchange of news. His deeds were inconspicuous, and are therefore all the more memorable. [..]" Ecce homo! Ecce poeta!"Étienne Clouzot (1881–1944) - an archivist palaeographer, who was also a columnist for the liberal daily newspaper "" (which had published an anonymous essay by Dunant about Solferino and thus played a role in the founding of the ICRC, illustrating the networking connections of Geneva's patrician family dynasties) - became the director of one of the Entente sections and designed the classification system for the millions of index cards.
International Committee of the Red Cross archives | World War I
Marcel Junod (May 14, 1904 – June 16, 1961) was a Swiss doctor and one of the most accomplished field delegates in the history of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). After medical school and a short position as a surgeon in Mulhouse, France, he became an ICRC delegate and was deployed in Ethiopia during the Second Italo-Abyssinian War, in Spain during the Spanish Civil War, and in Europe as well as in Japan during World War II. In 1947, he wrote a book with the title "Warrior without Weapons" about his experiences. After the war, he worked for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) as chief representative in China, and settled back in Europe in 1950.
Marcel Junod | Introduction
On 13 March 1864, van de Velde was one of the first delegates from the newly formed International Committee of the Red Cross to act as an impartial intermediary in the Second Schleswig War. He assisted the wounded and captured Prussian and Austrian soldiers and helped establish the Red Cross as a relief organization in the 1863 conference resolutions. On 31 July 1867, Van de Velde was made an honorary member of the main Committee of the Red Cross, which included Willem Jan Knoop and Henri Dunant.
Charles William Meredith van de Velde | Red Cross
The archives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) are based in Geneva and were founded in 1863 at the time of the ICRC's inception. It has the dual function to manage both current records and historical archives. The general historical archives are openly accessible to the general public up to 1975. Along with the ICRC Library, the archives are widely considered to be the greatest repository for records on International Humanitarian Law (IHL). They have been dubbed by some researchers as ""the storehouses of sorrow"", since they preserve the memory of many millions of victims of armed conflicts as ""a legacy for mankind"".
International Committee of the Red Cross archives | Introduction
Maurice Gehri (born? died?) was a Swiss and in 1921 the Delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross during the Gemlik-Yalova Peninsula massacres. Together with an inter allied commission he participated in a humanitarian investigation to the events and wrote a report about it.
Maurice Gehri | Introduction
Marguerite Frick-Cramer (28 December 1887 – 22 October 1963), born Renée-Marguerite Cramer, was a Swiss historian. She became the first woman to join the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as a member in November 1918.
Marguerite Frick-Cramer | Introduction
The Standing Commission has nine members, five elected from national societies but serving in a personal capacity; two from the International Committee of the Red Cross (one of whom serves as President); and two from the International Federation of the Red Cross and the Red Crescent Societies (IFRC). There is also a permanent administrative Secretariat located at the ICRC Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland. Previous and current elected members of the Standing Commission
Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent | Membership
In November 2012, Juan Pedro Schaerer, head of the International Committee of the Red Cross′s (ICRC) delegation for Israel and the Occupied Territories issued a statement on behalf of ICRC "in its role as guardian of international humanitarian law" in response to the Levy Report's "misrepresentation" of a "commentary published by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the Fourth Geneva Convention," which the Levy Report "uses to support the argument that the Israeli settlement project does not entail a breach of international humanitarian law". Quoting the Hague Regulations of 1907 according to which a "territory is considered occupied when it is actually placed under the authority of the hostile army" the ICRC statement clarifies that
Levy Report | International Committee of the Red Cross
The lobby in Berlin was a success and already in October of that year the first International Conference of the Red Cross took place in Geneva. On 22 August 1864 this led to the Geneva Convention, ratified by 16 countries. This laid the foundation for International Humanitarian Law . The committee in Geneva, then consisting of five Swiss including Dunant and later called the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), became the custodian of International Humanitarian Law.
Johan Hendrik Christiaan Basting | Establishment of the Red Cross Movement
The Russian Red Cross Society () is a volunteer-led, humanitarian organization that provides emergency assistance, disaster relief and education in Russia. It is the designated national affiliate of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. It is now particularly concerned with problems relating to undocumented migrants, and, with the help of the international federation, provides food parcels and support to people who are detained. It was established by the order of Tsar Alexander II. Grand Duchess, Elizaveta Fedorovna was responsible for the organisation in Moscow.
Russian Red Cross Society | Introduction
The IRC seeks to focus the attention of policy makers on humanitarian crises and the needs of refugees, internally displaced people and other victims of conflict.
International Rescue Committee | Advocacy
The ICRC is headquartered in the Swiss city of Geneva and has external offices called Delegations in about eighty countries. Each delegation is under the responsibility of a Head of delegation who is the official representative of the ICRC in the country. Of its 2,000 professional employees, roughly 800 work in its Geneva headquarters and 1,200 expatriates work in the field. About half of the field workers serve as delegates managing ICRC operations, while the other half are specialists such as doctors, agronomists, engineers, or interpreters. In the delegations, the international staff are assisted by some 13,000 national employees, bringing the total staff under the authority of the ICRC to roughly 15,000.
International Committee of the Red Cross | Organization
Dunantist is named after Henry Dunant (1828–1910), who inspired the creation of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. It refers to the group of humanitarian practitioners, who follow the traditional or classic approach to humanitarianism, which comprises four fundamental principles: Aside from the strict subscription to the humanitarian principles that the Red Cross is based on, Dunantists also limit their action exclusively to humanitarian crises.
Dunantist | Introduction
The committee of 2019 consisted of among others Red Party politician Bjørnar Moxnes, Torunn Tryggestad from International Peace Research Institute (PRIO), Gro Lindstad from FOKUS (Forum for Women and Development) and Sven Mollekleiv, former Honorary President of the Norwegian Red Cross.
Student Peace Prize | The Committee
Reacting to the experience of World War II, the Fourth Geneva Convention, a new Convention "relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War," was established. Also, the additional protocols of 8 June 1977 were intended to make the conventions apply to internal conflicts such as civil wars. Today, the four conventions and their added protocols contain more than 600 articles, a remarkable expansion when compared to the mere 10 articles in the first 1864 convention. In celebration of its centennial in 1963, the ICRC, together with the League of Red Cross Societies, received its third Nobel Peace Prize.
International Committee of the Red Cross | After World War II
The IRC is now at work in about 40 countries and in 26 U.S. cities. In 2010, notable operations included disaster response in the wake of the earthquake in Haiti, ongoing programs to address the humanitarian crisis in Congo and to help community rebuilding efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and advocacy and resettlement efforts on behalf of Iraqis uprooted by the war. The organization was involved in responding to a massacre in Bani Walid, Libya, where near a hundred young men attempting to escape a militia were gunned down. On August 5, 2018, it was reported that the agency had lowered its staff number in Georgia after refugee arrivals decreased.
International Rescue Committee | Current work
Davison, wanted the League of Red Cross Societies to supersede the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in controlling the Red Cross action in international affairs. He argued that: It should be in reality, and not merely in name an International Committee, a Committee on which there will be representatives from all countries, instead of, as at present, a committee consisting of amiable but somewhat ineffective Geneva gentlemen. That which calls itself "international" has grown rather provincial… New blood, new methods, a new and more comprehensive outlook, these things are necessary.
Henry Pomeroy Davison | Involvement with the Red Cross
In 1863, Appia was requested to join the "Committee of Five" in order to examine the ideas of Henry Dunant and work towards their possible implementation. He therefore became one of the five founding members of the "International Committee for Relief to Wounded Soldiers" that in 1876 was renamed the "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC). In October 1863, Appia suggested that all volunteers should wear white armbands on the battlefield to designate their status. General Henri Dufour later expanded this recommendation by placing a red cross on the band. A red cross on a white background, the inverse of the Swiss flag, became the symbol of the Committee.
Louis Appia | Activity with the ICRC
and elsewhere. Over 2,000 political, cultural, union and academic leaders were rescued in just 13 months, ending when Fry was expelled by the Vichy French. Fry also worked closely with British intelligence, helping to establish escape routes for British servicemen.
International Rescue Committee | Founding
Vatche Arslanian (1955 – April 8, 2003) was a member of the Canadian Red Cross and head of logistics for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Iraq. He was one of the six ICRC delegates who chose to stay in the country during the 2003 Iraq war and continue helping local relief workers. He was killed by gunfire in Baghdad while travelling with two local Red Cross workers, who were able to escape. Five other civilian vehicles were caught in crossfire, and thirteen people were killed in total. Arslanian was a Canadian-Armenian citizen who emigrated from Syria.
Vatche Arslanian | Introduction
Upon return to Geneva, Dunant published his account "Un Souvenir de Solferino". He urged the calling together of an international conference and soon co-founded the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), while recognising that it is "primarily the duty and responsibility of a nation to safeguard the health and physical well-being of its own people", knew there would always, especially in times of war, be a "need for voluntary agencies to supplement…the official agencies charged with these responsibilities in every country." To ensure that its mission was widely accepted, it required a body of rules to govern its own activities and those of the involved belligerent parties.
First Geneva Convention | History
This newly created federation of National Societies expanded the international mandate of the Red Cross Movement beyond the strict mission of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to include relief assistance in response to emergencies which were not caused by armed conflict. In addition to the coordination of relief operations caused by natural disasters and health emergencies, the league's mission was to assist National Societies in their founding and development, especially in peacetime. In addition to providing assistance to victims of epidemics, natural disasters (earthquakes, floods and hurricanes) and famines, two other activities were developed during the first years of the league.
International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies | Founding
Prewitt Diaz served as a paid staff with the American Red Cross for ten years. He was invited to become an International Delegate on August 5, 1998. He served as the Regional Program Coordinator for Central America, Global Psychosocial Advisor and the Head of Programs in India.
Joseph O. Prewitt Díaz | II. American Red Cross International Services