International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR), 19 avenue de la Paix, 1202 Genève, Switzerland

Phone : + 41 (22) 734 60 01 / Fax : + 41 (22) 733 20 57

Web site : www.icrc.org/

The ICRC is an independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and other situations of violence.

The ICRC has a legal mandate from the international community. That mandate has two sources:

• the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which task the ICRC with visiting prisoners, organizing relief operations, re-uniting separated families and similar humanitarian activities during armed conflicts;

• the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), which encourage it to undertake similar work in situations of internal violence, where the Geneva Conventions do not apply.

The Geneva Conventions are binding instruments of international law, applicable worldwide. The Statutes of the Movement are adopted at the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which takes place every four years, and at which States that are party to the Geneva Conventions take part, thereby conferring a quasi-legal or “soft law” status on the Statutes.

This is a permanent mandate under international law to take impartial action for prisoners, the wounded and sick, and civilians affected by conflict.

With its HQ in Geneva, Switzerland, the ICRC is based in around 80 countries and has a total of more than 12,000 staff.

In situations of conflict the ICRC coordinates the response by national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies and their International Federation.

The ICRC is at the origin of both the International Red Cross / Red Crescent Movement and of international humanitarian law, notably the Geneva Conventions.