International Committee of the Red Cross
Comité international de la Croix-Rouge | |
Formation | 17 February 1863 |
---|---|
Type | International NGO |
Purpose | Protecting victims of conflicts and providing them with assistance |
Headquarters | Geneva, Switzerland |
Coordinates | 46°13′39″N 6°08′14″E / 46.2274°N 6.1373°E |
Region served | Worldwide |
Field | Humanitarianism |
President | Mirjana Spoljaric Egger |
Vice President | Gilles Carbonnier |
Director-General | Robert Mardini |
Budget | CHF 1576.7 million (2016)[1] 203.7 m for headquarters 1462.0 m for field operations |
Staff | 15,448 (average number of ICRC staff in 2016)[2] |
Award(s) |
|
Website | www |
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; French: Comité International de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and is a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. The organization has played an instrumental role in the development of rules of war and promoting humanitarian norms.[3]
State parties (signatories) to the
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 191 National Societies.[5] 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).[6]
History
Solferino, Henry Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC
Up until the middle of the 19th century, there were no organized and well-established army
On 9 February 1863, the
Among other activities, the Committee organized an international conference in Geneva in October (26–29) 1863 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 committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were
- The foundation of national relief societies for wounded soldiers;
- Neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers;
- The utilization of volunteer forces for relief assistance on the battlefield;
- The organization of additional conferences to enact these concepts in legally binding international treaties; and
- The introduction of a common distinctive protection symbol for medical personnel in the field, namely a white armlet bearing a red cross, honouring the history of neutrality of Switzerland and of its own Swiss organizers by reversing the Swiss flag's colours.
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. 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:[10]
The convention contained ten articles, establishing for the first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict. Furthermore, the convention defined two specific requirements for recognition of a national relief society by the International Committee:
- The national society must be recognized by its own national government as a relief society according to the convention, and
- The national government of the respective country must be a state party to the Geneva Convention.
Directly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies were founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg. Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde, a captain of the Dutch Army, became the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict. Three years later in 1867, the first International Conference of National Aid Societies for the Nursing of the War Wounded was convened.
Also in 1867, Henry Dunant was forced to declare bankruptcy due to business failures in Algeria, partly because he had neglected his business interests during his tireless activities for the International Committee. The controversy surrounding Dunant's business dealings and the resulting negative public opinion, combined with an ongoing conflict with Gustave Moynier, led to Dunant's expulsion from his position as a member and secretary.[11] He was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy and a warrant for his arrest was issued. Thus, he was forced to leave Geneva and never returned to his home city.
In the following years, national societies were founded in nearly every country in Europe. The project resonated well with patriotic sentiments that were on the rise in the late-nineteenth-century, and national societies were often encouraged as signifiers of national moral superiority.[12] In 1876, the committee adopted the name "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC), which is still its official designation today. Five years later, the American Red Cross was founded through the efforts of Clara Barton. More and more countries signed the Geneva Convention and began to respect it in practice during armed conflicts. In a rather short period of time, the Red Cross gained huge momentum as an internationally respected movement, and the national societies became increasingly popular as a venue for volunteer work.
When the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Henry Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist. More significant than the honour of the prize itself, the official congratulation from the International Committee of the Red Cross marked the overdue rehabilitation of Henry Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross. Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of Heiden. Only two months earlier his long-standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving a mark in the history of the committee as its longest-serving President ever.
In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time. One year later, the
World War I
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 (
During the entire war, the ICRC monitored warring parties' compliance with the Geneva Conventions of the 1907 revision and forwarded complaints about violations to the respective country. When
Between 1916 and 1918, the ICRC published a number of
A year before the end of the war, the ICRC received the 1917 Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding wartime work. It was the only Nobel Peace Prize awarded in the period from 1914 to 1918.
After the war ended,
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.[14]
The League was established in 1919 with Davison as its chairman. However, "Swiss aloofness or unilateralism was hard to overcome",[15] and the relationship between the ICRC and the League became, and remained, a problem for years to come. The untimely death of Davison in 1922 after an operation will undoubtedly have had an adverse impact on the league’s ability to counter what he saw as Swiss intransigence.
In 1923, the Committee adopted a change in its policy regarding the selection of new members. Until then, only citizens from the city of Geneva could serve in the committee. This limitation was expanded to include Swiss citizens. As a direct consequence of World War I, an additional protocol to the Geneva Convention was adopted in 1925 which outlawed the use of suffocating or poisonous gases and biological agents as weapons. Four years later, the original Convention was revised and the second Geneva Convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" was established. The events of World War I and the respective activities of the ICRC significantly increased the reputation and authority of the Committee among the international community and led to an extension of its competencies.
As early as in 1934, a draft proposal for an additional convention for the protection of the civil population during an armed conflict was adopted by the International Red Cross Conference. Unfortunately, most governments had little interest in implementing this convention, and it was thus prevented from entering into force before the beginning of World War II.
Chaco War
In the Interwar period, Bolivia and Paraguay were disputing possession of the Gran Chaco - a desert region between the two countries. The dispute escalated into a full-scale conflict in 1932. During the war the ICRC visited 18,000 Bolivian prisoners of war and 2,500 Paraguayan detainees. With the help of the ICRC both countries made improvements to the conditions of the detainees. [16]
World War II
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.[17]
The legal basis of the work of the ICRC during World War II was the
During the war, the ICRC failed to obtain an agreement with Nazi Germany about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps, and it eventually abandoned applying pressure to avoid disrupting its work with POWs. There was no public condemnation of treatment in concentration camps, and a proposed 1942 appeal on the conduct of hostilities was abandoned.[20] In addition, the ICRC failed to develop a response to reliable information about the extermination camps and the mass killing of European Jews. This is still considered the greatest failure of the ICRC in its history.[by whom?] After November 1943, the ICRC achieved permission to send parcels to concentration camp detainees with known names and locations. Because the notices of receipt for these parcels were often signed by other inmates, the ICRC managed to register the identities of about 105,000 detainees in the concentration camps and delivered about 1.1 million parcels, primarily to the camps
Swiss historian Jean-Claude Favez, who conducted an 8-year review of the Red Cross records, says that even though the Red Cross knew by November 1942 about the Nazi's annihilation plans for the Jews – and even discussed it with U.S. officials – the group did nothing to inform the public, maintaining silence even in the face of pleas by Jewish groups.[22]
Because the Red Cross was based in Geneva and largely funded by the Swiss government, it was very sensitive to Swiss wartime attitudes and policies. In October 1942, the Swiss government and the Red Cross' board of members vetoed a proposal by several Red Cross board members to condemn the persecution of civilians by the Nazis. For the rest of the war, the Red Cross took its cues from Switzerland in avoiding acts of opposition or confrontation with the Nazis.[23]
On 12 March 1945, ICRC President Jacob Burckhardt received a message from SS General
In 1944, the ICRC received its second Nobel Peace Prize. As in World War I, it received the only Peace Prize awarded during the main period of war, 1939 to 1945. At the end of the war, the ICRC worked with national Red Cross societies to organize relief assistance to those countries most severely affected. In 1948, the Committee published a report reviewing its war-era activities from 1 September 1939 to 30 June 1947. Since January 1996, the ICRC archive for this period has been open to academic and public research.
Rest of the 20th century
In December 1948 the ICRC was invited, along with the
On 12 August 1949, further revisions to the existing two Geneva Conventions were adopted. An additional convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea", now called the second Geneva Convention, was brought under the Geneva Convention umbrella as a successor to the
In celebration of its centennial in 1963, the ICRC, together with the League of Red Cross Societies, received its third Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1993, non-Swiss individuals have been allowed to serve as Committee delegates abroad, a task which was previously restricted to Swiss citizens. Indeed, since then, the share of staff without Swiss citizenship has increased to about 35%.
On 16 October 1990, the
The ICRC continued its activities throughout the 1990s. It broke its customary media silence when it denounced the Rwandan genocide in 1994. It struggled to prevent the crimes that happened in and around Srebrenica in 1995 but admitted, "We must acknowledge that despite our efforts to help thousands of civilians forcibly expelled from the town and despite the dedication of our colleagues on the spot, the ICRC's impact on the unfolding of the tragedy was extremely limited."[26] It went public once again in 2007 to decry "major human rights abuses" by Burma's military government including forced labour, starvation, and murder of men, women, and children.[27]
The Holocaust memorial
By taking part in the 1995 ceremony to commemorate the liberation of the Auschwitz concentration camp, the President of the ICRC, Cornelio Sommaruga, sought to show that the organization was fully aware of the gravity of The Holocaust and the need to keep the memory of it alive, so as to prevent any repetition of it. He paid tribute to all those who had suffered or lost their lives during the war and publicly regretted the past mistakes and shortcomings of the Red Cross with regard to the victims of the concentration camps.[28]
In 2002, an ICRC official outlined some of the lessons the organization has learned from the failure:
- from a legal point of view, the work that led to the adoption of the Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war;
- from an ethical point of view, the adoption of the declaration of the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, building on the distinguished work of Hitlerrose to power in 1933;
- on a political level, the ICRC's relationship with Switzerland was redesigned to ensure its independence;
- with a view to keeping memories alive, the ICRC accepted, in 1955, to take over the direction of the International Tracing Servicewhere records from concentration camps are maintained;
- finally, to establish the historical facts of the case, the ICRC invited Jean-Claude Favez to carry out an independent investigation of its activities on behalf of the victims of Nazi persecution, and gave him unfettered access to the ICRC archives relating to this period; out of concern for transparency, the ICRC also decided to give all other historians access to its archives dating back more than 50 years; having gone over the conclusions of Favez's work, the ICRC acknowledged its past failings and expressed its regrets in this regard.[29]
In an official statement made on 27 January 2005, the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, the ICRC stated:
Auschwitz also represents the greatest failure in the history of the ICRC, aggravated by its lack of decisiveness in taking steps to aid the victims of Nazi persecution. This failure will remain part of the ICRC's memory, as will the courageous acts of individual ICRC delegates at the time.[30]
Rules for cyberwarfare
On 4 October 2023 the committee issued a set of rules for civilian hackers to abide by.[31][32]
Staff fatalities
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:
- Richard Heider. He was killed on 9 June 1942 in Greece.
- Matthaeus Vischer. He was killed on 20 December 1943 in Indonesia.
- Johann Jovanovits. He was killed on 4 February 1946 in Germany.
- Otto Anderegg. He was killed on 16 May 1946 in Indonesia.
- Charles Huber. He was killed on 19 November 1946 in Germany.
- Georges Olivet. He was killed on 13 December 1961 in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
- Robert Carlsson. He was killed on 30 July 1968 in Nigeria.
- Dragan Hercog. He was killed on 30 July 1968 in Nigeria.
- Jacob Sturzenegger. He was killed on 12 March 1975 in Vietnam.
- Louis Gaulis. He was killed on 29 March 1978 in Lebanon.
- Alain Bieri, André Tieche, Charles Chatora. They were killed on 18 March 1978 in Zimbabwe.
- Christine Rieben. She was killed on 17 January 1980 in Uganda.
- Jürg Baumann. He was killed on 21 September 1980 in Sudan.
- André Redard. He was killed on 12 May 1982 in Angola.
- Alain Jossi. He was killed on 28 October 1984 in Ethiopia.
- Michel Zufferey. He was killed on 5 January 1985 in Sudan.
- Marc Blaser. He was killed on 16 December 1985 in Angola.
- Catherine Chappuis, Nuno Ferreira. They were killed on 14 October 1987 in Angola.
- Pernette Zehnder. She was killed on 18 October 1987 in Lebanon.
- Juanito Patong, Walter Berweger. They were killed on 19 January 1990 in the Philippines.
- Mohammad Zamany. He was killed on 16 August 1990 in Afghanistan.
- Yar Faqir. He was killed on 1 September 1990 in Afghanistan.
- Peter Altwegg. He was killed on 6 October 1990 in Somalia.
- Rais Khan, Mostu Khan. They were killed on 9 July 1991 in Afghanistan.
- Anthony Arulanthu. He was killed on 24 October 1991 in Sri Lanka.
- Wim Van-Boxelaere. He was killed on 14 December 1991 in Somalia.
- Jón Karlsson. He was killed on 22 April 1992 in Afghanistan.
- Frédéric Maurice. He died on 19 May 1992 at the age of 39, one day after a Red Cross transport he was escorting was attacked in the former Yugoslavian city of Sarajevo.
- Solomon Jarboe. He was killed on 26 August 1992 in Liberia.
- Kurt Lustenberger. He was killed on 14 January 1993 in Somalia.
- Sarah Leomy, Suzanne Buser. They were killed on 27 August 1993 in Sierra Leone.
- Michel Kuhn. He was killed on 28 August 1993 in Tajikistan.
- Antoine Munderere. He was killed on 13 October 1993 in Rwanda.
- Angela Gago-Gallego, Julia Narrea. They were killed on 25 February 1994 in Peru.
- Kiew Sambath. He was killed on 11 April 1994 in Cambodia.
- Rodrigues Cambiote. He was killed on 13 August 1994 in Angola.
- Fernanda Calado (Spain), Ingeborg Foss (Norway), Nancy Malloy (Canada), Gunnhild Myklebust (Norway), Sheryl Thayer (New Zealand), and Hans Elkerbout (Netherlands). They were shot at point-blank range while sleeping in the early hours of 17 December 1996 in the ICRC field hospital in the
- Rita Fox (Switzerland), Véronique Saro (Democratic Republic of Congowhen they came under fatal fire from unknown attackers.
- Tirin Kot with local colleagues on 27 March 2003 when their car was stopped by unknown armed men. He was killed execution-style at point-blank range while his colleagues were allowed to escape. He was 39 years old. The killing prompted the ICRC to temporarily suspend operations across Afghanistan.[34] Thereby the assumption that ICRC's reputation for neutrality and effective work in Afghanistan over the past thirty years would protect its delegates was shattered.[35]
- Vatche Arslanian (Canada). Since 2001, he worked as a logistics coordinator for the ICRC mission in Iraq. He died when he was travelling through Baghdad together with members of the Iraqi Red Crescent. Their car accidentally came into the crossfire of fighting in the city.
- Nadisha Yasassri Ranmuthu (Sri Lanka). He was killed by unknown attackers on 22 July 2003, when his car was fired upon near the city of Hilla in the south of Baghdad.
- Emmerich Pregetter (Austria). He was an ICRC Logistics Specialist who was killed by a swarm of bees on 11 August 2008. Emmerich was participating in a field trip along with the ICRC Water and Habitat team on a convoy which was delivering construction material for reconstruction of a rural surgical health clinic in the area of Jebel Marra, West Darfur, Sudan.
- Kristofer Scott. He was killed on 25 January 2011 in Liberia.
- Khalil Dale. He was killed on 29 April 2012 in Pakistan.
- Hussein Saleh. He was killed on 20 June 2012 in Yemen.
- Abdul Bashir-Khan. He was killed on 29 May 2013 in Afghanistan.
- Dieudonné Ruhamanyi, Pascal Barholere. They were killed on 20 November 2013 in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
- Siradjou Mamadou. He was killed on 8 March 2014 in the Central African Republic.
- Michael Greub. He was killed on 4 June 2014 in Libya.
- Laurent Du Pasquier (Switzerland). He was an Administration and Finance Manager in the city of Donetsk in Eastern Ukraine. He was killed by a shell which landed close to the ICRC's office on 2 October 2014. He was 38 years old.
- Hamadoun Daou. He was killed on 30 March 2015 in Mali.
- Mohammed Al-Hakami, Abdulkarem Ghazi. They were killed on 2 September 2015 in Yemen.
- Alexis Marboua. He was killed on 12 October 2016 in the Central African Republic.
- Emmanuel Lukudu, Ghulam Maqsood, Ghulam Rasoul, Ghulam Mortaza, Ahmad Khalid, Najibullah Sahebzada, Sayed Shah-Agha. They were killed on 8 February 2017 in Afghanistan.
- Lorena Enebral-Perez. She was a physiotherapy specialist and requested a mission in Afghanistan where she could focus on children with disabilities. On 11 September 2017, while working at the ICRC's physical rehabilitation centre in Mazar-i-Sharif, Lorena was shot by a patient in a wheelchair. She was 38 years old.
- Atteyipe Youssouf. He was killed on 4 November 2017 in the Central African Republic.
- Hanna Lahoud. He was killed on 21 April 2018 in Yemen.
- Saifura Hussaini. She was killed on 16 September 2019 in Nigeria.
- Hauwa Liman. She was killed on 16 October 2019 in Nigeria.
- Saidi Kayiranga, Ahmed Wazir, Hamid Al-Qadami, John Kaka. They were killed on 20 March 2020 in South Sudan.
- Diomede Nzobambona. He was killed on 23 August 2021 in Cameroon.
In 2011, ICRC launched the Health Care In Danger campaign to highlight risks to humanitarian healthcare workers.[36]
Characteristics
The original motto of the International Committee of the Red Cross was Inter Arma Caritas ("Amidst War, Charity"). It has preserved this motto while other Red Cross organizations have adopted others. Due to Geneva's location in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the ICRC is also known under its initial French name Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR). However, the ICRC has three official languages (English, French and Spanish). The official symbol of the ICRC is the Red Cross on white background (the inverse of the Swiss flag) with the words "COMITE INTERNATIONAL GENEVE" circling the cross.
Under the Geneva Convention, the red cross, red crescent and red crystal emblems provide protection for military medical services and relief workers in armed conflicts and is to be placed on humanitarian and medical vehicles and buildings. The original emblem that has a red cross on a white background is the exact reverse of the flag of neutral Switzerland. It was later supplemented by two others which are the
Mission
The official mission statement says that: "The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose exclusively 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.[38] The core tasks of the committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes[39] are:
- to monitor compliance of warring parties with the Geneva Conventions
- to organize nursing and care for those who are wounded on the battlefield
- to supervise the treatment of prisoners of war and make confidential interventions with detaining authorities
- to help with the search for missing persons in an armed conflict (tracing service)
- to organize protection and care for civil populations
- to act as a neutral intermediary between warring parties
The ICRC drew up seven fundamental principles in 1965 that were adopted by the entire Red Cross Movement.[40] They are humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, volunteerism, unity, and universality.[41]
Legal status
The ICRC is the only institution explicitly named in international humanitarian law as a controlling authority. The legal mandate of the ICRC stems from the four Geneva Conventions of 1949, as well as its own Statutes. The ICRC also undertakes tasks that are not specifically mandated by law, such as visiting political prisoners outside of conflict and providing relief in natural disasters.
The ICRC is a private Swiss association that has enjoyed various degrees of special privileges and legal immunities within the territory of Switzerland for many years.[when?] On 19 March 1993, a legal foundation for this special treatment was created by a formal agreement between the Swiss government and the ICRC. This agreement protects the full sanctity of all ICRC property in Switzerland including its headquarters and archive, grants members and staff legal immunity, exempts the ICRC from all taxes and fees, guarantees protected and duty-free transfer of goods, services, and money, provides the ICRC with secure communication privileges at the same level as foreign embassies, and simplifies Committee travel in and out of Switzerland. On the other hand, Switzerland does not recognize ICRC-issued passports.[42]
Contrary to popular belief, the ICRC is not a sovereign entity like the
Legal basis
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.[43]
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. The Third Geneva Convention concerns the treatment of prisoners of war. The Fourth Geneva Convention concerns the protection of civilians in time of war. In addition, there are many more customary international laws that come into effect when necessary.
Funding and financial matters
The 2023 budget of the ICRC amounts to 2.5 billion Swiss francs. Most of that money comes from states, including Switzerland in its capacity as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, from national Red Cross societies, the signatory states of the Geneva Conventions, and from international organizations like the European Union. All payments to the ICRC are voluntary and are received as donations based on two types of appeals issued by the committee: an annual Headquarters Appeal to cover its internal costs and Emergency Appeals for its individual missions. In 2023, Ukraine is the ICRC's biggest humanitarian operation (at 316.5 million Swiss francs), followed by Afghanistan (218 million francs) and Syria (171.7 million francs).[citation needed]
In 2021, the top donors (>10 million Swiss Francs) to the ICRC were: the United States (544) followed by Germany (247), Switzerland (156), the United Kingdom (153), the European Commission (129), Sweden (93), Norway (87), Canada (66), Japan (51), the Netherlands (46), France (45), Australia (35), Denmark (26), Belgium (25), Ireland (18), Austria (17), Luxembourg (14), Finland (13), Spain (12), Italy (12), and New Zealand (10). The ICRC budget is becoming increasingly fragile due to its over-reliance on European and North American governments, little private contributions and very little funding from BRICS countries. By way of example, in 2021, the United States provided the ICRC over 544 million Swiss Francs, while the Russian Federation provided 1 million, China 710,000, South Africa 225,106 and Brasil made no contribution.[44]
In March 2023, the ICRC had reported a serious decline in contributions and announced cuts of CHF430 million for 2023 and 2024 with a resulting lay-off of 1,800 jobs at the headquarters and in delegations worldwide. The overall budget has almost doubled in ten years from CHF1.18 billion in 2012. But fewer donations in 2022 had put serious financial pressures on the world's leading international NGO that also supports the fair treatment of POWs during global conflicts. The recent overrepresentation of the Ukrainian conflict in the international press had reduced the influx of donations to the international Red Cross. In May 2023, with a generous support by the Canton of Geneva, the ICRC is receiving 40 million CHF in additional donations to support its crucial and life-saving activities on all continents.[45]
Responsibilities within the movement
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. National societies will be given the lead especially when a conflict is happening within their own country.
Organization
The ICRC is headquartered in the Swiss city of
The organizational structure of the ICRC is not well understood by outsiders. This is partly because of organizational secrecy, but also because the structure itself has been prone to frequent change.[citation needed]The Assembly and Presidency are two long-standing institutions, but the Assembly Council and Directorate were created only in the latter part of the twentieth century. Decisions are often made in a collective way, so authority and power relationships are not set in stone. Today, the leading organs are the Directorate and the Assembly.[citation needed]
Directorate
The Directorate is the executive body of the ICRC. It attends to the daily management of the ICRC, whereas the Assembly sets policy. The Directorate consists of a Director-General and five directors in the areas of "Operations", "Human Resources", "Financial Resources and Logistics ", "Communication and Information Management", and "International Law and Cooperation within the Movement". The members of the Directorate are appointed by the Assembly to serve for four years. The Director-General has assumed more personal responsibility in recent years, much like a CEO, where he was formerly more of a first among equals at the Directorate.[47]
Assembly
The Assembly (also called the committee) convenes on a regular basis and is responsible for defining aims, guidelines, and strategies and for supervising the financial matters of the committee. The Assembly has a membership of a maximum of twenty-five Swiss citizens. Members must speak the house language of French, but many also speak English and German as well. These Assembly members are co-opted for a period of four years, and there is no limit to the number of terms an individual member can serve. A three-quarters majority vote from all members is required for re-election after the third term, which acts as a motivation for members to remain active and productive.
In the early years, every Committee member was Genevan, Protestant, white, and male. The first woman, the historian and legal scholar Renée-Marguerite Cramer (1887-1963), was co-opted in 1918, but resigned already in 1922 when she moved to Germany. She was succeeded by the nurse and suffragette Pauline Chaponnière-Chaix (1850-1934). The third female member was the music educator Suzanne Ferrière (1886-1970) in 1925, followed by the nurses Lucie Odier (1886-1984) in 1930 and Renée Bordier (1902-2000) in 1938.
In recent decades, several women have attained the Vice Presidency, and the female proportion after the Cold War has been about 15%. The first non-Genevans were admitted in 1923, and one Jew has served in the Assembly.[48]
While the rest of the Red Cross Movement may be multi-national, the Committee believes that its mono-national nature is an asset because the nationality in question is Swiss. Thanks to permanent Swiss neutrality, conflicting parties can be sure that no one from "the enemy" will be setting policy in Geneva.[49] 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.[50]
Assembly Council
Furthermore, the Assembly elects a five-member Assembly Council that constitutes an especially active core of the Assembly. The Council meets at least ten times per year and has the authority to decide on behalf of the full Assembly in some matters. The council is also responsible for organizing the Assembly meetings and for facilitating communication between the Assembly and the Directorate. The Assembly Council normally includes the President, two Vice Presidents and two elected members. While one of the Vice Presidents is elected for a four-year term, the other is appointed permanently, his tenure ending by retirement from the vice presidency or from the committee. Currently[when?] Olivier Vodoz and Christine Beerli[51] are the Vice Presidents.[52]
In 2019, Christine Beerli retired and Gilles Carbonnier was appointed vice-president.
The President
The Assembly also selects, for a term of four years, one individual to act as President of the ICRC. The President is both a member of the Assembly and the leader of the ICRC, and has always been included on the Council since its formation. The President automatically becomes a member of both the Council and the Assembly, but does not necessarily come from within the ICRC. There is a strong faction within the Assembly that wants to reach outside the organization to select a President from Swiss government or professional circles (such as banking or medicine).[53] In fact, the four most recent Presidents were all previously officials for the Swiss government. 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.[54] 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.[55]
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger took over the office from Peter Maurer on 1 October 2022, becoming the first woman to serve in this position.[56][57][58]
The Presidents of the ICRC have been:
- 1863–1864: Henri Dufour
- 1864–1910: Gustave Moynier
- 1910–1928: Gustave Ador
- 1928–1944: Max Huber
- 1945–1948: Carl Jacob Burckhardt
- 1948–1955: Paul Ruegger
- 1955–1964: Leopold Boissier
- 1964–1969: Samuel Gonard
- 1969–1973: Marcel Naville
- 1973–1976: Eric Martin (physician)
- 1976–1987: Alexandre Hay
- 1987–1999: Cornelio Sommaruga
- 2000–2012: Jakob Kellenberger
- 2012–2022: Peter Maurer
- 2022–present: Mirjana Spoljaric Egger
-
Guillaume Dufour,
(1787-1875) -
Gustave Moynier,
(1826-1910) -
Gustave Ador,
(1845-1928) -
Max Huber,
(1874-1960) -
Carl Burckhardt,
(1891-1974) -
Alexandre Hay,
(1919-1991) -
Cornelio Sommaruga,
(1932-2024) -
Jakob Kellenberger,
(1944- ) -
Peter Maurer,
(1956- ) -
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger,
(1972- )
Staff
As the ICRC has grown and become more directly involved in conflicts, it has seen an increase in professional staff rather than volunteers over the years. The ICRC had only twelve employees in 1914[59] and 1,900 in the Second World War complemented its 1,800 volunteers.[60] The number of paid staff dropped off after both wars, but has increased once again in the last few decades, averaging 500 field staff in the 1980s and over a thousand in the 1990s. Beginning in the 1970s, the ICRC became more systematic in training to develop a more professional staff.[61] The ICRC offers attractive careers for university graduates, especially in Switzerland,[62] but the workload as an ICRC employee is demanding. 15% of the staff leaves each year and 75% of employees stay less than three years.[63] 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 15,000 national employees hired in the countries where the delegations are based.
The ICRC worldwide
The ICRC operates in over 80 countries with a total number of 18,000 employed people worldwide. The extensive network of ICRC missions and delegations can help to relieve nations affected by conflict and violence. Over the past few years, the ICRC's largest operations have typically been in Yemen, Syria, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan, Iraq and more recently, Ethiopia.
Relationships within the movement
By virtue of its age and its special position under
In 1997, the ICRC and the IFRC signed the Seville Agreement which further defined the responsibilities of both organizations within the movement. According to the agreement, the Federation is the lead agency of the movement in any emergency situation which does not take place as part of an armed conflict.
Acceptance of Magen David Adom
From its inception in 1930 until 2006, the Magen David Adom organization, the Israeli equivalent to the Red Cross, was not accepted as part of the Federation, as it used the Star of David, which the ICRC refused to recognize as an acceptable symbol. This meant that although Arab ambulances would be protected by the ICRC, Israeli ambulances would not. In May 2000, Bernadine Healy, the President of the American Red Cross, wrote: "The international committee's feared proliferation of symbols is a pitiful fig leaf, used for decades as the reason for excluding the Magen David Adom – the Shield (or Star) of David." In protest over the ICRC's perceived anti-Israel discrimination, the ARC withdrew its financial support. In 2005, at a meeting of nations party to the Geneva convention, the ICRC adopted the new Red Crystal. Magen David Adom then centred the Star of David sign inside the newly accepted signage, and in 2006 was accepted as a full member. Yonatan Yagodovsky, director of MDA's fundraising department, said in an article published in October 2011 that "MDA will continue to use its emblem and logo, and no one ever asked us to take it off."[67]
Criticism
The ICRC has been criticized for bias and for a perceived lack of initiative when carrying out its duties.
As mentioned
The ICRC has also been criticized for impotence and a lack of initiative during conflicts. In the ongoing Gaza–Israel conflict, the ICRC has been described as an "Uber service" for hostages,[68][69] and not attempting to pressure parties to provide access to hostages and prisoners. Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, has also criticized the Committee for not providing care to Ukrainian prisoners of war,[70] even though the ICRC's mandate does not include providing treatment or care where the state is capable of doing so.[71]
In 2023, ICRC was criticised in Israel for facilitating payments from the Palestinian Authority Martyrs Fund to Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons.[72]
International relationships
The ICRC prefers to engage
When granted only partial access, the ICRC takes what it can get and keeps discreetly lobbying for greater access. In the era of
The presence of respectable
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Bibliography
Books
- Forsythe, David P. and B. Rieffer-Flanagan. The International Committee of the Red Cross- A Neutral Humanitarian Actor (Routledge, 2007)
- Forsythe, David P. The Humanitarians. The International Committee of the Red Cross. (2nd ed. Cambridge UP, 2005), ISBN 0-521-61281-0
- Dunant, Henry. A Memory of Solferino. ICRC, Geneva 1986, ISBN 2-88145-006-7
- Haug, Hans. Humanity for all: the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva in association with Paul Haupt Publishers, Bern 1993, ISBN 3-258-04719-7
- Willemin, Georges and Roger Heacock: International Organization and the Evolution of World Society. Volume 2: The International Committee of the Red Cross. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Boston 1984, ISBN 90-247-3064-3
- Pierre Boissier: History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume I: From Solferino to Tsushima. Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva 1985, ISBN 2-88044-012-2
- André Durand: History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume II: From Sarajevo to Hiroshima. Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva 1984, ISBN 2-88044-009-2
- International Committee of the Red Cross: Handbook of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. 13th edition, ICRC, Geneva 1994, ISBN 2-88145-074-1
- Hutchinson, John F. Champions of Charity: War and the Rise of the Red Cross. Westview Press, Boulder 1997, ISBN 0-8133-3367-9
- Moorehead, Caroline. Dunant's dream: War, Switzerland and the history of the Red Cross. HarperCollins, London 1998, ISBN 0-00-638883-3(Paperback edition)
- François Bugnion: The International Committee of the Red Cross and the protection of war victims. ICRC & Macmillan (ref. 0503), Geneva 2003, ISBN 0-333-74771-2
- Angela Bennett: The Geneva Convention: The Hidden Origins of the Red Cross. Sutton Publishing, Gloucestershire 2005, ISBN 0-7509-4147-2
- Favez, Jean-Claude (1999). The Red Cross and the Holocaust. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-41587-3.
- Dominique-D. Junod : "The Imperiled Red Cross and the Palestine Eretz Yisrael Conflict: The Influence of Institutional Concerns on A Humanitarian Operation." 344 pages. Kegan Paul International. @ The Graduate Institute of International Studies Geneva. ISBN 0-7103-0519-2, 1995.
- Dromi, Shai M. Above the Fray: The Red Cross and the Making of the Humanitarian NGO Sector (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2020) ISBN 9780226680248.
Articles
- François Bugnion: The emblem of the Red Cross: a brief history. ICRC (ref. 0316), Geneva 1977
- Jean-Philippe Lavoyer, Louis Maresca: The Role of the ICRC in the Development of International Humanitarian Law. In: International Negotiation. 4(3)/1999. Brill Academic Publishers, p. 503–527, ISSN 1382-340X
- Neville Wylie: The Sound of Silence: The History of the International Committee of the Red Cross as Past and Present. In: Diplomacy and Statecraft. 13(4)/2002. Routledge/ Taylor & Francis, p. 186–204, ISSN 0959-2296
- David P. Forsythe: "The International Committee of the Red Cross and International Humanitarian Law." In: Humanitäres Völkerrecht – Informationsschriften. The Journal of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict. 2/2003, German Red Cross and Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, p. 64–77, ISSN 0937-5414
- François Bugnion: Towards a comprehensive Solution to the Question of the Emblem. Revised third edition. ICRC (ref. 0778), Geneva 2005
- International Committee of the Red Cross: "Discover the ICRC", ICRC, Geneva, 2007, 2nd edition, 53 pp. Archived 29 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine
- International Review of the Red Cross An unrivalled source of international research, analysis and debate on all aspects of humanitarian law, in armed conflict and other situations of collective violence.
External links
- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
- Rules of war (in a nutshell)- vidéo
- Legacy Dr. Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the ICRC from 1987 to 1999, donated four hours of high-definition audiovisual life story interviews to Legacy. The ICRC audiovisual library houses copies of these interviews.
- Works by International Committee of the Red Cross at Project Gutenberg
- Works by or about International Committee of the Red Cross at Internet Archive
- International Committee of the Red Cross on Nobelprize.org