ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) includes the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), and the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. All these organizations are legally independent of each other and are linked within the movement by common principles, goals, symbols, statutes and bodies. The movement’s mission – independent of state institutions and on the basis of voluntary aid – is to protect the life, health and dignity and reduce the suffering of people in need, irrespective of nationality or descent or religious, ideological or political views of those affected or providing aid.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), founded on the initiative of Henry Dunant in 1863, consists of up to 25 Swiss citizens, is the oldest international medical aid organization and the only organization covered by international humanitarian law and named as its controlling body. It is the oldest organization of the movement and, in addition to the Holy See and the Sovereign Order of Malta, one of the few original non-state subjects of international law. Its exclusively humanitarian mission, based on the principles of impartiality, neutrality and independence, is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of wars and internal conflicts.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the successor organization of the League of Red Cross Societies, which was formed in 1919, coordinates the cooperation between the national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies within the movement and provides support for the construction of new national societies. At the international level, it leads and organises, in cooperation with national societies, relief missions after non-war emergency situations such as natural disasters and epidemics.

The National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are organizations in almost all countries of the world, each working in their home country in accordance with international humanitarian law and the Statutes of the International Movement and supporting the work of the ICRC and the Federation. Their main tasks in their home countries are disaster relief and the dissemination of the Geneva Conventions. Within their means, they can also perform other social and humanitarian tasks that are not directly prescribed by international law provisions or the principles of the movement. In many countries, this includes, for example, the blood donation system and the rescue service