Since 1955 the ICRC manages the International Tracing Service (ITS) in Bad Arolsen which traces Nazi victims and their families. The ITS documents their fate and makes its archives available for research.

Document adopted by the ICRC Assembly on 27 April 2006.

The red cross and the red crescent have been at the service of humanity for more than a century - affording protection to those affected by conflict and to those assisting them. In December 2005, an additional emblem - the red crystal - was created alongside the red cross and the red crescent. The following document explains the history of the emblems.

Original title: "Quand le CICR sécurisait Jérusalem" - press article by Luis Lema, published in "Le Temps" (Switzerland) on 15 August 2003; in the bloody count-down to independence in Palestine, the ICRC sought to create "security zones" for civilians under threat.

Original title: "Regard sur Hiroshima, un mois après la bombe" – Press article by Richard Werly published in "Le Temps" (Switzerland) on 14 August 2003; how the ICRC, focussed on the fate of prisoners, came to learn about the atom bomb attack on Hiroshima, and the action it took.

Original title: "Les ambulances à croix rouge du CICR sous les gaz en Ethiopie" – Article by Bernard Bridel published in the Swiss daily "Le Temps" on 13 August 2003. How the ICRC witnessed atrocities during Italy’s Abyssinia campaign and became embroiled in diplomatic controversy.

Original title: "Secours en temps de paix – la famine en Russie" – Press article published in the Swiss daily "Le Temps" on 12 August 2003. How the Red Cross joined forces with governments in a desperate attempt to save millions of lives.

Original title: "En 1914, le CICR apprend à protéger les civils" – Article published in the Swiss daily "Le Temps" on 11 August 2003. How the ICRC began its work for civilians under enemy control in time of war.

Background, Facts and Figures – June 2009

François Bugnion, former ICRC director, adviser and historian, comments on the career of André Durand, who died on 7 March 2008. After being seriously injured in Palestine in 1948, Durand worked as an ICRC delegate in Asia until 1970 and then wrote a volume of the history of the ICRC.

How the ICRC is constituted, what tasks are assigned to it and what principles guide its work – these are some of the questions which the author, François Bugnion, seeks to answer, examining the tasks and role of the ICRC both from a historical and from a legal point of view.

After the relative stability of the Cold War period, the ICRC has been working since the late 1980s in an environment marked by major upheavals and conflicts whose main feature is total anarchy. The author looks at the response to this situation from various angles: those of operations (the Gulf War, Somalia, the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda), policy (the ICRC position on the "right to intervene" and on military operations undertaken on humanitarian grounds), and politics (in particular, the need for the international community to ensure greater respect for humanitarian law, and cooperation between organizations).

This book reflects the evolution of international humanitarian law and the role of visual images in humanitarian action. Based on photo reports from the time of the Crimean War up to the Second World War, the first part of the book traces the history of the Geneva Conventions. The second part draws on mostly unpublished photographs to illustrate wars since 1950 - in Korea, Vietnam, Biafra, the Middle East, Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina and elsewhere.

Its role as a neutral intermediary in armed conflicts and its activities in aid of millions of victims of war throughout the world have made the ICRC a key figure in history. These two volumes, offering a wealth of information on the late nineteenth and the first part of the twentieth century, are a must for all those who are interested in contemporary history.

The early history of most institutions has been blurred by the passage of time. Even when their initial form can be clearly discerned, it often bears little resemblance to the institution as we know it today. The Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is a striking exception - it can be traced back to a precise date, and its origins are relatively well known. This first phase is worth considering in detail, because it casts light on the entire subsequent development of the Red Cross.

A selection of photos from the book Humanity in War. These images illustrate the history of armed conflict from the second half of the 19th century to the present. They bear witness not only to the brutality of war and the suffering inflicted on combatants and civilians but also to the efforts that have been made to relieve this suffering. The photos are accompanied by an extract from the introduction to the book, written by photographer James Nachtwey.

The red cross and red crescent emblems are visible symbols of the protection afforded to war victims under the Geneva Conventions. They also stand for the neutrality of those who use them and indicate membership in the Movement. To resolve certain problems, an additional emblem known as the red crystal, has been adopted by a diplomatic conference in December 2005 in Geneva.