The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

A staff from the Regional Delegation of the ICRC in Kuala Lumpur came down to give us a lecture on the ICRC. He shed a lot of light on what the ICRC does. Being a neutral, independent and humanitarian organisation, they work in situations of armed conflict. Their international mandate is to promote the Laws of Armed Conflict. They are a part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (But they are NOT the Red Cross / Red Crescent Societies. These guys operate in natural disaster situations). The ICRC has 3 roles mainly in the provision of assistance and protection of conflict victims, as the guardians of international humanitarian law and the official recognition of National Societies (i.e. Red Cross / Red Crescent). These guys are all over the world whenever there is armed conflict. Among other things that struck me was what he said about the Red Cross / Red Crescent. The purpose of the symbol of the Red Cross / Red Crescent is the protection of the military's medical services during armed conflict. The symbol is then adopted by each countries' Naitonal Societies for their medical services...