War & law

The emblems

The red cross, red crescent and red crystal emblems provide protection for military medical services and relief workers in armed conflicts. Moreover, the emblems are also used by National Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in each country for identification purposes. Read full overview

Treaty Law

Highlights

Reference documents

The history of the emblems
Emblem: relevant articles of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols
Third Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions
Commentary on the Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem (Protocol III)

International Review of the Red Cross More articles

Domestic law

Red Cross Red Crescent Magazine

A landmark for the Movement: The red Crystal conference
It wasn’t visible anywhere in the huge auditorium, but the 1,576 delegates attending the 29th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent on 20–21 June 2006 knew they were in Geneva to recognize the existence of a new emblem, the red crystal – Article published in the Red Cross Red Crescent Magazine, No 3, 2006
More
- Enter the red crystal

Publications More publications

Study on the use of the emblems

Operational and commercial and other non-operational issues
Emblems of humanity

This is a comprehensive brochure providing detailed information on the origin of all the emblems, its protective use in wartime and its indicative use in peacetime. An updated version of a previous brochure entitled The Emblem. It specifies the institutions entitled to use it and gives examples of misuse or lack of respect for the emblem.