International Rescue Committee

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The International Rescue Committee (IRC), a non-profit, non-sectarian, voluntary agency, was founded in 1933 "at the request of Albert Einstein to assist opponents of Adolf Hitler. The IRC helps people fleeing racial, religious and ethnic persecution, as well as those uprooted by war and violence."[1]

History

In 1933, the American branch of the European-based International Relief Association (IRA) was founded "to assist Germans suffering under Hitler. Refugees from Benito Mussolini's Italy and Franco's Spain were later assisted."[2]

In 1940, the "Emergency Rescue Committee (ERC) was formed to aid European refugees trapped in Vichy France, with over 2,000 political, cultural, union and academic leaders rescued in 13 months." In 1942, the IRA and ERC joined forces "under the name International Relief and Rescue Committee, later shortened to the International Rescue Committee."[3]

Member of InterAction.

  • George C. Biddle is Senior Vice President of the International Rescue Committee. [4]
  • Anne C. Richard is Vice President, Government Relations & Advocacy, for the International Rescue Committee. [5]

Board of Directors

Accessed May 2010: [1]

Chairs, Emeriti

Board of Directors

Board of Directors (2008 and earlier)

Accessed August 2008: [2]

Senior Staff

Accessed August 2008: [3]

Headquarters - New York

Headquarters - Europe

Board of Overseers (as of November 2006)

Madeleine Albright, Alan R. Batkin, F. William Barnett, Georgette F. Bennett, W. Michael Blumenthal, Jennifer Brokaw, Glenda Burkhart, Frederick Burkle, Nestor Carbonell, Robert Cotten, Robert P. De Vecchi, Robin Chandler Duke, Theodore J. Forstmann, Kenneth R. French, Maurice R. Greenberg, Andy Grove, Morton Hamburg, Karen Hein, Lucile Herbert, David Hunt, Howard Jonas, Marvin Josephson, Alton Kastner, Irena Kirkland, Henry Kissinger, Yong Kwok, Tom Lantos, Reynold Levy, Vincent Mai, John Makinson, Lucretia Martin, Roberto Martinez, Kati Marton, W. Allen Moore, Robert B. Oakley, Sadako Ogata, Catherine O'Neill, Regina S. Peruggi, Alexandra L. Peters, David N. Pincus, Colin Powell, Donald H. Putnam, Bruce Ratner, Missie Rennie, John Richardson, Felix Rohatyn, George Rupp, Jessica Seinfeld, Barbara Shailor, James T. Sherwin, Nancy Starr, H. Peter Stern, Lee Copley Thaw, John Train, Georgia Travers, William vanden Heuvel, Ronald Waldman, Leah Joy Zell, Daniel Weiner, Randi Weingarten, Edwin Wesely, Anne Whitehead, Elie Wiesel, Jonathan L. Wiesner, James Wolfensohn, Guy P. Wyser-Pratte. Source

Funding

Has received funding from the NED for their work in Afghanistan in:

  • 1993: "To enable the Afghan Information Center in Peshawar, Pakistan to publish a quarterly journal in Pashtu-Dari to promote open discourse and the concepts of human rights, freedom and democracy among Afghanis living inside Afghanistan and abroad."
  • 1995: "The International Rescue Committee received renewed Endowment support for the Peshawar-based Afghan Information Center (AIC) to publish a quarterly magazine, Afghanistan, dedicated to the promotion of open discourse and the concept of democracy, conciliation, and human rights among Afghans living inside Afghanistan and abroad. AIC will continue to collect objective information about new developments in Afghanistan and publish it in Pashto and Dari. Two-thousand copies of each issue will be published and mailed free of charge to Afghans and those interested in the politics of Afghanistan in Europe, the United States, and Australia." [6]

In 1990 they also received a massive $ 995,700 grant from the NED "To provide medical and diagnostic equipment and urgently needed pharmaceuticals for a program of the Solidarity Social Fund."

Related SourceWatch Resources

Contact

IRC Headquarters
122 East 42nd Street
New York, NY 10168
Phone 212 551 3000
Email info@theirc.org


Resources and articles

Related Sourcewatch articles

References

  1. Directors, International Rescue Committee, accessed May 11, 2010.
  2. Directors, International Rescue Committee, accessed August 20, 2008.
  3. Senior Staff, International Rescue Committee, accessed August 20, 2008.

External links