1980-1988: the Iran-Iraq war

During the bloody conflict between Iraq and Iran the ICRC carried out activities on behalf of prisoners of war on both sides.

The fierce fighting prompted the ICRC on several occasions to appeal to the belligerents to respect humanitarian law.

The 1980s were also the decade in which the ICRC started its physical rehabilitation activities, in particular orthopaedic programmes, and to help provide clean water and basic sanitation.

Today

In 2012, more than 20 million people in 50 countries had drinking water and sanitation thanks to the ICRC. Our water and habitat teams worked on over 200 urban water networks and were active in over 1000 villages.

Facts and figures

  • More than 11 million Red Cross messages were exchanged between prisoners of war held by Iran and Iraq, and their families.
  • In 1979 the ICRC’s first orthopaedic centre opened its doors in Bomba Alta, Angola.
  • The ICRC started carrying out water and sanitation activities in the early 1980s, echoing the initiatives implemented in 1983 for internally displaced people in Uganda, in coordination with Oxfam and the Save the Children Fund.

  • Repatriation of prisoners

    Iran-Iraq conflict. Larnaca airport. ICRC operation to repatriate 25 seriously wounded Iranian prisoners of war.
    > Photo

  • Repatriation of prisoners of war

    Iran-Iraq War. Repatriation of 52 Iraqi prisoners of war on an ICRC-chartered plane.
    > Photo

  • Appeal on the Iran-Iraq War

    Audio document in French. Speaker: Mireille Lemaresquier, Jacques Moreillon.
    >Listen to audio