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The International Committee of the Red Cross in the international community

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 January 2010

André Durand
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Extract

When one examines the origins and development of the Red Cross, one cannot fail to be struck by the contrast between the modest circumstances surrounding its creation, in 1863, by five men of good will, members of the Société genevoise d'utilité publique, and the worldwide dimension it has since then acquired. Today, the Red Cross is represented in 130 countries, and there are few people who have not at one time or another availed themselves of its services, either perhaps under dramatic circumstances during a conflict or a natural disaster, or simply in the more familiar areas of social welfare and blood collection.

Type
Research Article
Information
International Review of the Red Cross (1961 - 1997) , Volume 24 , Issue 242 , October 1984 , pp. 251 - 262
Copyright
Copyright © International Committee of the Red Cross 1984

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Footnotes

1

This article appeared, in French, in the Annuaire 1983 de la Nouvelle Société Helvétique (Verlag Sauerländer, Aarau). It is reproduced here with the kind permission of the author and publishers, to whom we extend our thanks. The translation into English is by the ICRC translation service.

References

2 The red cross and the red crescent are emblems of the same concept.

3 The Netherlands National Society was the first to adopt this title, in 1867.

4 Moynier, Gustave, La Croix-Rouge, son passé et son avenir, Paris, Sandoz et Thuillier, 1882, p. 58.Google Scholar

5 “Thanks to the moral authority it enjoys, and with the tacit consent of all the National Societies, it (the ICRC) watches over the general interests of the institution, employs its influence, from time to time, to prevent its departing from its fundamental principles and, whenever necessary, issues so to speak its exequatur to the new societies applying for membership.é Moynier, Gustave, op. cit., p. 59.Google Scholar

6 Huber, Max, Principes d'action et fondement de l'œuvre du Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (1939–1946), CICR, Genève, 1947.Google Scholar

7 See Pictet, Jean S., Red Cross Principles, with a preface by Max Huber, ICRC, Geneva, 1956.Google Scholar Also by Pictet, Jean S.: The Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross, Commentary, Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva, 1979.Google Scholar

8 See Veuthey, Michel, Guérilla et droit humanitaire, Henry Dunant Institute, second ed., ICRC, Geneva, 1983.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

9 Over one hundred States sent representatives to each of the various sessions. Other groups invited to take part in the Diplomatic Conference discussions — though not entitled to vote — were those liberation movements recognized by the regional intergovernmental organizations.

10 Of the 168 States comprising the international community, 156 are to date (30 June 1984) parties to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. In addition, one State is a party to the two Geneva Conventions of 27 July 1929.

There have been to date (30 June 1984) 42 accessions to or ratifications of Protocol I, and 36 accessions to or ratifications of Protocol II.

11 The ICRC Legal Division is at present engaged in the drafting of the commentaries to the Additional Protocols.

12 “The law of war and the law of peace, international law and internal law, the scopes of which were at first clearly distinct, are today often applicable at the same time side by side. Thus, the Geneva Conventions and the human rights conventions may often be applied in cumulative fashion. » Schindler, Dietrich, «The International Committee of the Red Cross and Human Rights”, International Review of the Red Cross, 01–02 1979, No. 208, p. 9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar

13 Moyniei, Gustave, Essai sur les caractères généraux des lois de la guerre, Geneva, 1895, p. 45.Google Scholar

14 See Moreillon, Jacques, Le Comité international de la Croix-Rouge et la protection des détenus politiques, Lausanne, L'Age d'homme, 1973.Google Scholar

15 In 1982, ICRC delegates visited 523 places of detention in 30 countries, and saw 86,000 persons deprived of their liberty, of whom 55,000 weie prisoners of war in about ten countries. The largest number of the prisoners visited were those made captive in the course of the Iran/Iraq conflict (33, 710); the next largest number were those in the Falkland/Malvinas conflict (11,692, most of whom were visited on board British vessels). (From the 1982 Annual Report, ICRC, Geneva, page 73.)Google Scholar

16 Thanks to agreements concluded with the European Economic Community and the Swiss Confederation, the ICRC provided 13 countries with food aid to a total value of 31.9 million Swiss francs.

17 1982 Annual Report, pp. 69 and 70.Google Scholar

18 Personnel on mission: 411. Locally-recruited staff: 823.

19 In 1982, the Central Tracing Agency forwarded 1,352,794 family messages, registered 507,975 names, received 84,060 enquiries and filled in 65,534 capture cards. ( 1982 Annual Report, p. 77.)Google Scholar