Skip to main content
Home International Committee of the Red Cross
Find help Donate
Back
  • Happening now
    Happening now

    Discover what’s new

    Stay updated with the latest news and ongoing initiatives of the ICRC.

    Latest operations

    Featured

    • A community kitchen in Myanmar
      Myanmar: One month on, earthquake survivors face continuing challenges
    • Red Cross Field Hospital aerial shot
      The Red Cross Field Hospital one year on: A lifeline and a stark reminder in Ga…
    • Red Cross staff at a water distribution
      Every attack on a humanitarian is an attack on the community they served. A sta…
  • Who we are
    Who we are

    We are the International Committee of the Red Cross

    Neutral, impartial, and independent. Discover our values and mission.

    Discover who we are
    • About us
      Our rich history, our mandate and mission, and our Fundamental Principles are behind the work we do to protect and save lives.
    • How we are run
      Our President and leadership, our finances and our accountability ensure the integrity of our humanitarian operations.
    • International Red Cross & Red Crescent Movement
      The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is the largest humanitarian network in the world.
  • What we do
    What we do

    Our work to protect people affected by conflict

    The ICRC responds quickly and efficiently to help people affected by armed conflict.

    All our activities

    In focus

    • ICRC working with the Myanmar Red Cross Society to support people displaced by violence in Pin Laung and Hsi Hseng, to provide emergency aid. Photographer: Thang Khan Sian Khai
      Protection: Upholding the rights of people in conflict
    • Reconnecting families: Preventing separation, searching for the missing, reunit…
    • Helping detainees: Protecting and assisting people deprived of their liberty
  • Where we work
    Where we work

    Explore our global reach

    We have offices in over 90 countries around the world, providing assistance and protection to people affected by conflict.

    ICRC around the world

    Key operations

    • Democratic Republic of the Congo
    • Ethiopia
    • Israel and the occupied territories
    • Lebanon
    • Myanmar
    • Sudan
    • Syria
    • Ukraine
    • Yemen
  • Law & Policy
    Law & Policy

    Law & Policy

    Gain insights into the ICRC's role in developing and promoting international humanitarian law and policy.

    Discover more
    • Geneva Conventions and the law
      Even wars have rules. The Geneva Conventions are at the core of international humanitarian law.
    • Topics, debates and disarmament
      Weapons and disarmament, protected persons and other contemporary challenges for international humanitarian law.
    • Teaching IHL, research, Advisory Service and other resources
      We support the teaching, learning and implementation of humanitarian law principles.
  • Support us
    Support us

    Partner with us

    We invite organizations, institutions and philanthropists to join us in our mission to alleviate the suffering of those affected by armed conflict.

    How to partner with us

    Support us

    Find out how you as an individual can contribute to our humanitarian efforts to help people suffering because of armed conflict.

    How to support us
    • Ukraine: the crisis continues
    • Urgent: Israel-Gaza emergency appeal
    • Myanmar_Red Cross earthquake
      Urgent help needed: Myanmar earthquakes
  • Find help
  • Donate
  • Events
  • Contact us
  • Report an incident of misconduct
  • Work with us
  • FAQ
ICRC Websites
Photo gallery
08-02-2013

The ICRC: 150 years of humanitarian action

  • Our history

Share

  • Share on X
  • Share on LinkedIn
  • Share on Facebook
© ICRC / hist-00113

The five founders of the ICRC: Gustave Moynier (top left), Louis Appia (bottom left), Guillaume-Henri Dufour (centre), Henry Dunant (top right), and Théodore Maunoir (bottom right). The ICRC was founded on 17 February 1863 in Geneva.

© Photothèque CICR / hist-00317-46

Danish military ambulance, 1878. The 1864 Geneva Convention established a unique distinctive emblem (a red cross on a white background) for ambulances, hospitals and medical personnel. Other emblems were introduced at a later date, in particular the red crescent on a white background.

© Photothèque CICR / W. Speiser / hist-03512-24

The Spanish-American War of 1898. A surgeon from the United States army medical service (recognizable by his red cross) treats a wounded soldier in a field hospital.

© ICRC / F. Boissonnas / hist-00571-09

First World War, 1914-1918: Rath Museum, Geneva, 1949. International Prisoner-of-War Agency. The Agency was set up by the ICRC to record the details of prisoners of war, trace their families and enable them to exchange news.

© ICRC / hist-01527

Second World War, 1939-1945. Germany. An ICRC delegate visits a prisoner-of-war camp. The ICRC made more than 11,000 such visits during and immediately following the war.

© Photothèque CICR / hist-00992-54

ICRC accompanies 300 survivors of Ravensbrück concentration camp to Switzerland. The ICRC, and the international community as a whole, failed to take sufficient and timely action in the face of mass civilian deportations to Nazi concentration camps.

© ICRC / J. de Palézieux / ye-n-00025-29

Yemen Civil War, 1962-1970. 1965. Egyptian prisoners of war are repatriated under the auspices of the ICRC. Alongside its usual activities to help prisoners of war, the ICRC also provided health care for civilians, such as by setting up a field hospital and fully equipped operating theatre in the middle of the desert in Uqd.

© ICRC / H. D. Fink / ng-n-00030-29

Nigerian Civil War, 1967-1970. Umuosu, September-October 1968. Food distribution in a feeding centre. During the Nigerian Civil War, also known as the Biafran War, the ICRC conducted one of its biggest civilian relief operations.

© ICRC / vn-d-00001-07

Vietnam War, 1964-1975. Saigon, 1969. An ICRC doctor visits an orphanage. Throughout the war, the ICRC was only able to work in the Republic of Vietnam (or South Vietnam), despite repeated appeals to the North Vietnamese government.

© ICRC / T. Gassmann / lb-d-00186

Lebanese Civil War, 1975-1990. Zahra hospital, southern Beirut, 1984. An ICRC surgical team operates on a war-wounded patient. From the 1970s, war surgery became one of the ICRC's main activities.

© ICRC / C. Fedele / ni-n-00049-15

Contras rebellion, 1979-1990. Juigalpa prison, Nicaragua, 1990. An ICRC delegate talks to security detainees. The ICRC started working in Nicaragua in the summer of 1978. The Managua delegation closed its doors in December 1991, after calm was restored to the country.

© ICRC / A. Feric / yu-n-00082-05

Bosnian War, 1992-1995. Poculica, Bosnia, 1993. The ICRC evacuates former detainees, women and children from Zenica. In the first half of the 1990s the ICRC carried out one of its biggest operations in response to the conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.

© ICRC / P. Fuller / rw-n-00077-02

Rwandan genocide, 1994. An ICRC medical unit in a camp for displaced people in Cyangugu. ICRC staff were present in the country during the massacre of 800,000 people and tried to help the people targeted by the killings or forced to flee their homes.

© ICRC / T. Gassmann / cer-n-00316-28

ICRC headquarters. Geneva, 20 December 1996. Silent walk in memory of six ICRC delegates murdered on 17 December 1996 in Novye Atagi hospital, Chechnya.

© ICRC / J. Nachtwey / af-e-00749

Afghanistan Civil War, 1992-1996. Wazir Akbar Khan hospital, Kabul, 1996. ICRC-supported physical rehabilitation centre. Since the early 1970s, the ICRC has been running physical rehabilitation programmes for civilians wounded in the fighting or by anti-personnel mines.

© ICRC / J. Björgvinsson / lk-e-00018

Sri Lankan Civil War, 1983-2009. Pandiruppu, near Kalmunai, 2004. An ICRC delegate visits a family in which two sons are missing in connection with the conflict. Ascertaining the fate of missing persons, offering material and psychosocial support to their families, and identifying remains are all part of the ICRC's work, especially in post-conflict situations.

© ICRC / B. Heger / sd-e-00579

Civil war in the Darfur region of Sudan, 2003 to present. Gereida camp for displaced people, 2006. People wait in line for water distributed by the ICRC. There are more than 90,000 people in the camp. The ICRC provides water and relief items, as well as running a field hospital.

© ICRC / il-e-01600

Gaza, 20 January 2009. ICRC delegates assess the damage and gather residents' accounts of the Israeli military offensive. On the basis of this information, the ICRC then embarked on bilateral discussions about the conduct of hostilities with both the Israeli authorities and Hamas.

© ICRC / J. Torgovnik

Democratic Republic of the Congo, 2011. With the help of the ICRC, a nine-year-old girl is reunited with her uncle. She became separated from her family in the wake of the intercommunal violence in 2009 in the Dongo region, which drove 165,000 people from their homes.

© SARC, I. Malla / sy-e-00102

Syrian conflict, 2011 to present. The Al-Ghuta neighbourhood of Homs, 15 February 2012. Volunteers from the Syrian Arab Red Crescent and local residents unload food supplies. The ICRC often works closely with the National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society of the country in which it is operating.

For 150 years the ICRC has been striving to alleviate the suffering of victims of war and violence, wherever they may be. Initially restricted to caring for sick and wounded soldiers on the battlefield, the scope of the ICRC's work quickly grew to include other groups caught up in war and its consequences. The constantly changing nature of war and other violence has continually thrown up new challenges for humanitarian action. Throughout this time, the ICRC has tirelessly adapted to the latest developments, with the sole aim of protecting and assisting people affected by armed conflict.

Related articles

Photo gallery
13-02-2018

The sad story of Sana’a

Photo gallery
29-01-2018

A look back at First World War's most vulnerable

Photo gallery
10-07-2015

Remembering Srebrenica, 20 years on

More photo galleries

Topic-dedicated ICRC websites

Explore our blogs, apps, reviews and other resources dedicated to humanitarian impact, insight, law and policy.

ICRC Websites

Direct access

  • Find help
  • Donate
  • Events
  • Contact us
  • Report an incident of misconduct
  • Work with us
  • FAQ

Newsletter

Fields marked with * are required
To learn how we process your data, visit our Privacy Notice.
  • Accessibility
  • Copyright
  • Privacy policy
  • Tax deduction
  • Privacy Settings
  • Community guidelines

Terms and conditions - ICRC ©2025 - All right reserved