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International Committee of the Red Cross
From SourceWatch
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is "a Swiss-based humanitarian organization working globally and enjoying international legal status; neutral, impartial and independent, working in armed conflicts and other situations of violence; guardian of international humanitarian law (Geneva Conventions); and is the founding body of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (1863)." [1] Member of the Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response.
The ICRC has a staff of over 12,000 in around 80 countries. [1]
Contents |
Overview
The ICRC website describes its history as "Growing from one man's spontaneous gesture to help wounded soldiers, to become an organization reaching out to millions of war victims around the world, the ICRC has worked in most of the major crises of the past 140 years. Hand in hand with its operational activities have been its efforts to develop the laws governing armed conflicts, so as to ensure greater protection for those who do not, or who no longer, take part in fighting; the ICRC and the Geneva Conventions are inextricably linked." [2]
It goes on to state, "The idea that mankind must be protected against the scourge of war can be found among all the peoples of Antiquity. It was only in the nineteenth century, however, that considerable efforts were undertaken to make war more humane. The decisive events were the creation of the ICRC in February 1863 and the signature, in August 1864, of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, which signalled the birth of international humanitarian law." [3]
The ICRC was the winner of the 1917, 1944 and 1963 Nobel Peace Prize's [4]
Funding
Funding comes from countries that are a "party to the Geneva Conventions (governments); national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies; supranational organizations (such as the European Commission); and public and private sources. All funding is voluntary." its website states.
"The ICRC does not wait to receive funds before it responds to urgent needs in the field, and counts on the goodwill of its contributors to provide the funds as quickly as possible. At the end of each year the ICRC launches two budget appeals, for headquarters and the field, to cover the coming year." [5]
Staff
Presidency: [6]
- Jakob Kellenberger, President, former Swiss Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs (1999)
- Olivier Vodoz, Vice-President, former Deputy in the Geneva Grand Conseil and former President of the Conseil d'État of the Republic and Canton of Geneva
- Christine Beerli, permanent Vice-President, former Managing director of Department of Technique and Information Technology of Bernese University of Applied Sciences, former Senator (Swiss Council of States)
Directorate: [7]
- Angelo Gnaedinger, Director-General, served as examining magistrate in the Swiss canton of Schaffhausen before joining the ICRC in 1984
- Pierre Kraehenbuehl, Director of Operations
- Jacques Stroun, Director of Human Resources, is a medical doctor and has trained in the fields of management and human resources
- Doris Pfister, Director of Resources and Operational Support
- Yves Daccord, Director of Communication
- Philip Spoerri, Director for International Law and Cooperation within the Movement
Assembly: [6]
- Paolo Bernasconi, Professor of fiscal law and economic criminal law at the Universities of St. Gallen, Zurich and Milan (Bocconi), former Public Prosecutor in Lugano
- Jacques Forster, former Professor at the Graduate Institute of Development Studies in Geneva, former permanent Vice-President of the ICRC 1999-2007
- Jacques Moreillon, former Secretary General of the World Organization of the Scout Movement, former Director General at the ICRC
- Daniel Thürer, Professor at the University of Zurich
- Andre von Moos, former Chairman of the von Moos Group, industrialist
- Gabrielle Nanchen, former Member of the Swiss National Council
- Jean de Courten
- Jean-Philippe Assal, former head of the Division for Instruction in the Treatment of Chronic Diseases at the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Geneva
- Jean Abt, Lieutenant-General of the Swiss Army (Retd.)
- Yves Sandoz, Lecturer at the University of Geneva
- Claude Le Coultre, Professor at the faculty of medicine of the University of Geneva
- Paola Ghillani, Pharmacist from the University of Lausanne, former director general of the Max Havelaar Foundation (Switzerland)
- Jenö C.A. Staehelin, former Swiss Ambassador in Japan and former Permanent Representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York
- Christiane Augsburger, Nurse,
- Anne de Boccard, chief executive officer of Citadel Finance in Geneva
Contact details
International Committee of the Red Cross
19 avenue de la Paix
CH 1202 Geneva
Switzerland
Phone: ++ 41 (22) 734 60 01
Fax: ICRC general: ++ 41 (22) 733 20 57
Fax: Production, Marketing, Distribution Division: ++ 41 (22) 730 27 68
Web: http://www.icrc.org/eng
Resources
Related Sourcewatch articles
References
- ↑ Discover the ICRC, ICRC, accessed March 2008.
- ↑ History of the International Committee of the Red Cross, ICRC, accessed March 2008.
- ↑ History of international humanitarian law, ICRC, accessed March 2008.
- ↑ All Nobel Peace Prize Laureates, Nobel Prize, accessed September 17, 2007.
- ↑ Financing and budget, ICRC, accessed March 2008.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 ICRC decision-making structures, ICRC, accessed March 2008.
- ↑ Directorate, ICRC, accessed March 2008.
External articles
- Henry Feingold, The Politics of Rescue: The Roosevelt Administration and the Holocaust, 1938-1945 (Rutgers University Press, 1970).
- Rafeef Ziadah, "Protecting Torture: The Red Cross' Deadly Silence", Left Turn, No Date.
External resources
- Home page American Red Cross, accessed March 2008.
