In 1963, the ICRC began seeing people deprived of their liberty by the South African apartheid government. Its first visit was to Robert Sobukwe, the former President of the Pan African Congress held at Robben Island.

Over the next decades, the ICRC would support prisoners by bringing them family messages, clothes, reading materials, sports equipment and medical supplies. It also brought pressure to bear on the authorities to improve conditions at Robben Island and other detention centres.

This is how some of the veterans of the anti-apartheid movement recall the ICRC's involvement.

"The improvements in the conditions of our imprisonment at Robben Island were to a large measure due to the pressure that the mere presence of the Red Cross brought to bear on our jailer-regime. It says much for the moral weight of the Red Cross that even the apartheid regime, which was in so many other respects indifferent to world opinion, found itself cowed and pressurised by this organisation." Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa, in a speech in London, 10 July 2003.

"Once the ICRC started visiting, we had someone to listen and bear witness to our situation. Being buried up to the neck and prisoners simply vanishing from inside the prison started to become things of the past." Johnson Mlambo, imprisoned at Robben Island, 1963-1983.

"The ICRC also contributed sporting material – for boxing, table tennis, rugby – that also helped with our physical well-being. You know the rugby especially got so good, the warders used to bring their families to watch." Bishop Stanley Mogoba, imprisoned at Robben Island, 1963-1966.

"The majority of us are alive today largely because of the visits and treatment by the ICRC." Solomon Mabuse, imprisoned at Robben Island, 1963-1978.

"The work you do is as important today as it was then. This is especially true in light of the ongoing situations in Iraq and the Middle East." Philip Silwana, imprisoned at Robben Island, 1966-1976.

Read the full transcript of Nelson Mandela's speech at the British Red Cross Humanity Lecture in London on 10 July 2003.