ICRC Annual Report 2024

We engaged in confidential dialogue with parties to conflicts to reinforce the importance of fulfilling their obligations under IHL to spare civilians and essential services from attack, and to facilitate access to humanitarian assistance. 

Around the world, we played a crucial role as a neutral intermediary, reuniting separated families, facilitating safe passage for civilians and critically needed medical equipment, and supporting efforts to clarify the fate of missing people.

We sought to foster an environment conducive to respect for human life and dignity, sharing our expertise in IHL and working to make it a top global priority. Together with six states, we launched the Global Initiative on IHL, aiming to galvanize political will and strengthen respect for IHL across the international community.

We registered over 56,000 new tracing requests from people searching for missing loved ones – more than four times the number of cases we registered a decade ago. We worked tirelessly with our partners in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement to bring answers to their families and alleviate these families’ pain.

We visited 678 places of detention/internment holding over 737,000 people to help ensure that they were being treated humanely. 

We supported over 700 hospitals, many of them in conflict zones. The number of surgical admissions for weapon wounds recorded at ICRC-supported hospitals in 2024 increased by almost 50% compared to the previous year, illustrating the tremendous human cost of today’s conflicts.

90% Governments and European Commission

9% Private and public sources

1% International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

1% Supranational organizations and international institutions