The International Red Cross Movement
This is an umbrella term that refers to all the organizations, national and international, allowed to use the Red Cross emblem (the Red Crescent emblem in Moslem countries) and all the activities they undertake to relieve human suffering throughout the world, whether it be in war time, in response to natural or man-made disasters, or in order to prevent disasters from occurring. The Movement is meant to transcend all political, racial, and religious boundaries and to maintain a neutral stance in conflicts.

The highest decision-making body of the Movement is the International Conference which meets on the average of every four years to ensure unity in the work of the Movement and to discuss and act upon humanitarian issues of common interest. Delegates to the International Conference are members of the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, national societies and representatives from the national governments that have ratified the treaties governing conduct during periods of armed conflict (see "Geneva Conventions" below).

In 1965, the 20th International Conference of the Red Cross proclaimed a set of Fundamental Principles as a guide to universal humanitarian conduct. They are: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Unity, and Universality. (See the end of this History Note for the full statement of the Principles.)

The International Committee of the Red Cross
This is the original Red Cross organization, a private Swiss institution that acts as a neutral intermediary in matters of human suffering related to international conflicts, civil wars, and internal social, political, and military disturbances throughout the world. It provides protection and assistance to both military and civilian victims of conflicts, including war wounded, prisoners of war, civilian and political detainees, and civilian populations in occupied and enemy territories. Among its many activities, the ICRC searches for missing persons, exchanges messages to and from members of separated families, helps establish hospital and security zones in embattled areas, organizes international aid programs and medical assistance for refugees, displaced people, and other civilian victims of armed conflicts, and promotes the application of international humanitarian law to armed conflicts. The International Committee is composed of up to 25 Swiss citizens who oversee an ICRC headquarters staff of more than 600 in Geneva, Switzerland, plus several thousand field workers deployed in troubled areas of the world.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
The Federation is a coalition of individual national societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent that coordinates relief efforts throughout the world occurring outside the theater of war and other forms of armed conflict. The Federation's activities include organizing and coordinating international natural disaster relief actions, providing assistance to refugees outside areas of conflict, promoting national disaster preparedness programs, encouraging the development of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies in all the countries of the world, and advising national societies in the development of services for their countries. The Federation is run by a General Assembly of all member societies and a Governing Board. A Secretariat with a staff of 250, also located in Geneva, conducts day-to-day business and directs the work of country and regional delegations assisting national societies in relief and development projects.

The National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
These are the individual societies of nearly every independent country in the world. Chartered, as they must be, by their respective governments, they conduct health, welfare, and safety programs within their own borders and cooperate with other national societies bilaterally, regionally, and through the Federation on relief and other projects. They also assist their own governments in carrying out each nation's humanitarian treaty obligations. Each country is allowed to charter only one Red Cross or Red Crescent society within its territory. Nearly all national societies apply for membership and are accepted into the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The American Red Cross
One of the more than 185 national societies throughout the world is our own American Red Cross, with its national headquarters in Washington, D.C. and 760 chapters throughout the country. The ARC is dedicated to helping make families and communities safe at home and around the world. A volunteer-led humanitarian service organization, it annually provides nearly half of the nation's blood supply, trains almost 12 million people in vital lifesaving skills, mobilizes relief to victims of disasters nationwide, provides direct health services to nearly 3 million people, assists international disaster and conflict victims in other countries, and transmits over a million emergency messages to members of the U.S. Armed forces and their families. The American Red Cross shares most characteristics with other national societies. It is dedicated to the Fundamental Principles of the Movement. It participates in all activities of the Movement, supports the role of the ICRC in conflict zones, and works alongside other national societies in the Federation and in bilateral arrangements on a wide variety of relief and disaster prevention activities. It also provides a major amount of financial support to the ICRC and the Federation.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement at Work
At any given moment, all the member parties of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are involved in service somewhere in the world. The ICRC is instructing parties involved in conflict of their obligations to international humanitarian law in such matters as treatment of refugees and prisoners of war, and is conducting medical, refugee, and other relief efforts of its own in or near battle zones. Members of the Federation are working together to assist national societies recover from natural disasters and take steps to prevent recurrent problems. Individual national societies are busy training for and responding to emergencies within their own borders and working with other national societies on activities of common interest.

Historical Background
A Swiss businessman, Henry Dunant, founded the worldwide Red Cross Movement. As a traveler in 1859, he witnessed a one-day battle between Austrian and French forces outside the northern Italian town of Solferino. At nightfall and to his horror, he saw 40,000 dead and wounded soldiers strewn about the battlefield who lacked any medical attention. Dunant immediately set about organizing care for the wounded with the assistance of local villagers.

Returning to Switzerland, Dunant was unable to wipe the horrible scenes he had observed from his mind. So he wrote the book A Memory of Solferino (1862) in which he described what he had seen and argued for the humane treatment of the war injured. Encouraged by the success of his book, Dunant initiated a campaign to establish a society for aid to the wounded in battle. In 1863, the Geneva Society for Public Welfare took up his cause and created a five-man committee (Dunant was a member) which formed an International Committee for Relief to the Wounded in Time of War. Representatives of sixteen European states and four philanthropic institutions attended an International Conference in 1864 at which they adopted the first "Geneva Convention," as they called it, a treaty which sought to save lives and alleviate suffering of wounded and sick military personnel. It specified that the red cross (a reversal of the Swiss national flag's white cross on a red field) would serve as a protective emblem identifying medical personnel, equipment, and facilities as neutral. It also stipulated that wounded and sick combatants were to be cared for by either side in a conflict. The group also gave itself a new name, the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The 1864 Geneva Convention became the foundation of the branch of modern law now known as "international humanitarian law" (IHL). It encompasses both humanitarian principles and international treaties that seek to save lives and alleviate suffering of both combatants and noncombatants during armed conflicts. In 1899, protection was expanded to include those affected by maritime warfare (in a treaty later known as the Second Geneva Convention). Further revisions and expansions occurred in 1906, 1907, 1929, and, again, in 1949 as protection of prisoners of war (Third Convention, 1929) and expanded protection for civilians in the time of war (Fourth Convention, 1949) were adopted. Two Protocols were added in 1977. One further expanded the protection of civilian populations and medical personnel in international armed conflicts and the other called for the protection of victims of what are termed "high-intensity, non-international armed conflicts," such as civil wars. (The United States is a party to all the Geneva Conventions but has not yet signed the 1977 Protocols.)

Clara Barton, the famous Civil War amateur nurse and advocate for aid to the wounded and victims of natural disasters, founded the American Red Cross in 1881. She and her American Association of the Red Cross, as the organization was first called, pressured President Chester Arthur into signing the first Geneva Convention in 1882, bringing the United States into compliance with Red Cross principles. In 1900 the renamed American National Red Cross received a Congressional charter establishing the organization as the nation's official relief agency for civilians and military personnel and made it accountable to-although not funded by-Congress. In 1905, the ARC received a revised charter from Congress under which it still operates. This charter expanded the organization's responsibilities and created an executive structure for a more orderly and systematic way of doing business than had occurred before. In 1919, largely at the urging of Henry P. Davison, chairman of the American Red Cross War Council during World War I, the League of Red Cross Societies was formed (it became the Federation in 1991).

In earlier times, organizations of the Movement were the primary providers of relief to the victims of war and natural disasters. Since World War II, however, the field has become crowded. Activities now must be coordinated with a host of other organizations, such as the agencies of the United Nations (the High Commissioner for Refugees, the Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the UN Development Program, and UNICEF, the Children's Fund), Oxfam, and others. Despite competition, however, the world still relies heavily on the dedicated work of the organizations of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, including the American Red Cross, to bring relief to the suffering and to advance the cause of international humanitarian law.

Principles of the International Red Cross

Humanity: The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, born of a desire to bring assistance without discrimination to the wounded on the battlefield, endeavors, in its international and national capacity, to prevent and alleviate human suffering wherever it may be found. Its purpose is to protect life and health and to ensure respect for the human being. It promotes mutual understanding, friendship, cooperation and lasting peace amongst all peoples.

Impartiality: It makes no discrimination as to nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions. It endeavors to relieve the suffering of individuals, being guided solely by their needs, and to give priority to the most urgent cases of distress.

Neutrality: In order to continue to enjoy the confidence of all, the Movement may not take sides in hostilities or engage at any time in controversies of a political, racial, religious or ideological nature.

Independence: The Movement is independent. The National Societies, while auxiliaries in the humanitarian services of their governments and subject to the laws of their respective countries, must always maintain their autonomy so that they may be able at all times to act in accordance with the principles of the Movement.

Voluntary service: It is a voluntary relief movement not prompted in any manner by desire for gain.

Unity: There can be only one Red Cross or Red Crescent Society in any one country. It must be open to all. It must carry on its humanitarian work throughout its territory.

Universality: The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, in which all Societies have equal status and share equal responsibilities and duties in helping each other, is worldwide.

For more information about the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement:

Foster Rhea Dulles, The American Red Cross. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1950. A general history of the ARC from its beginnings to mid-century. Out of print but in most libraries.

Patrick F. Gilbo, The American Red Cross: The First Century. New York: Harper and Row, 1981. An illustrated history of the first century of the ARC, 1881-1981. Out of print but in most libraries.

Michael Ignatieff, "A Reporter at Large: Unarmed Warriors," in The New Yorker, March 24, 1997. p. 54ff. A provocative account of the costs of the Red Cross Movement's neutrality stance in the face of contemporary conflicts.

Caroline Moorehead, Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross. London: Harper Collins, 1998.

Daphne A. Reid and Patrick Gilbo, Beyond Conflict: The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 1919-1994. Geneva, Switzerland: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, 1997. The authoritative history of the Federation.

Websites for the International Committee of the Red Cross [www.icrc.ch], the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies [www.ifrc.org], the American Red Cross [www.redcross.org], and other national societies.

For additional information on this and other historical topics, contact us.

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