It is to do good in war. In accordance with the Geneva Conventions, it is authorized to act as a neutral body for the protection and relief of the victims of war, to receive allegations of violations of the humanitarian conventions, and to work for the improvement and dissemination of humanitarianism. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was founded on February 9, 1863, at the initiative of Henri Dunant, a Swiss national.
It was then known as the "International Committee for the Relief of Wounded Soldiers" and changed its name to the present one in 1880. It was the first Red Cross organization in the world and a Swiss civil society organization. It is composed exclusively of Swiss citizens and is protected and bound by Swiss law, with its headquarters in Geneva.
The supreme authority is the annual general assembly, with an executive board leading day-to-day affairs during the closing period. It cooperates with interested groups in the training of medical personnel and the development of medical equipment.
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The International Committee of the Red Cross and World War I
During World War I, the ICRC - and the Red Cross in general - had had fully developed. National Red Cross societies provided first-aid team volunteers and more support on the home front on a previously unimaginable scale, while the ICRC expanded its work to include the protection of prisoners of war.
It set up the International Prisoners of War Bureau - a central clearing house for lists of internees and the supply of relief parcels. It also included the delivery of messages for civilians in its work when many were cut off behind enemy lines. The International Committee of the Red Cross launched an appeal in February 1918 calling on belligerents to stop using poisonous gases.
Delegates' Assembly: the supreme authority. It establishes the principles of work and general policy and supervises all the Commission's activities. The Congress is composed of the members of the International Committee. The members are elected from among Swiss citizens by self-selection every four years.
Executive Council: responsible for directing the day-to-day affairs and supervising the administration, the members of which are elected by the Congress.
In 2002, the Assembly decided to restructure the Steering Committee, the governing body of the ICRC consisting of the Assembly, the Council of the Assembly and the Bureau, which has full responsibility for formulating ICRC policies, strategies and resolutions concerning the development of international humanitarian law.
These bodies oversee all activities carried out by the organization, including front-line and headquarters operations and the approval of objectives and budgets. They also oversee the implementation of resolutions of the Steering Committee of the Assembly or the Assembly Council, and are assisted in this regard by the Oversight Committee and internal and external audit units.
The ICRC is governed by the Assembly (the supreme governing body), the Assembly Council (a subsidiary body of the Assembly with the function of representing the Assembly in certain respects) and the Steering Committee (the executive body).*** On July 1, 2012, the ICRC's new President, Peter Maurer, officially took office. His predecessor, Mr. Jakob Kellenberger, held the post of President of the ICRC from January 2000 to June 2012.
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