INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF RED CROSS (ICRC)

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; French: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization based in Geneva, Switzerland, and a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signatories) to the Geneva Convention of 1949 and its Additional Protocols of 1977 (Protocol I, Protocol II) and 2005 have given the ICRC a mandate to protect victims of international and internal armed conflicts. Such victims include war wounded persons, prisoners, refugees, civilians, and other non-combatants. The ICRC is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, along with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and 192 National Societies. It is the oldest and most honoured organization within the movement and one of the most widely recognized organizations in the world, having won three Nobel Peace Prizes (in 1917, 1944, and 1963). The ICRC is a neutral, impartial and independent organization. Its exclusive humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of armed conflicts and other situations of violence and to provide them with assistance. The ICRC endeavors to alleviate suffering by promoting and strengthening humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles.