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Members of the International Red Cross movement work together to relieve human suffering; to protect life and health; to ensure respect for the human being, particularly in times of armed conflict and natural disaster; to help prevent disease; to promote health and social welfare; and to encourage voluntary service. The IRC movement includes the International Committee of the Red Cross, International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent, the American National Red Cross, and Magen David Adom.
International Tracing and Messages
Through a comprehensive global communications network, the Red Cross helps to locate, reunite, and exchange Red Cross messages between people separated from their loved ones because of war, civil disturbance, or natural disaster. Whether missing since World War II or from a more recent conflict, we can help.
Humanitarian Law
The 1949 Geneva Conventions and 1977 Additional Protocols are the principal legal documents that define international humanitarian law. Within those constructs, they define fundamental rights for civilians and combatants removed from fighting due to injury, illness, or capture. The Geneva Conventions mandate that anyone not actively taking part in an armed conflict must be protected and their rights respected.
Emergency Disaster Response
Through the generosity of the American people, the American Red Cross responds with personnel, financial aid, and gifts of goods or services to appeals for assistance to victims of international disasters and armed conflicts. Each year, the Red Cross brings emergency food assistance to millions of disaster victims around the world. We are committed to improving availability, access, and appropriate long-term use (nutrition) of food resources for the world’s most vulnerable people.
Primary Health Care Programs
Each year millions of vulnerable people, especially children, die unnecessarily of disease and malnutrition because they lack access to basic healthcare and nutrition. The American Red Cross is focusing its health response to these crises in three areas: Combating Emerging and Re-emerging Diseases (HIV/AIDS and Tuberculosis), Maternal and Child Health, and Emergency Health.
Holocaust and War Victims Tracing and Information Center
More than 50 years after World War II, the pain of family separation still weighs heavily in the hearts of families directly affected by the Nazi regime’s program of forced labor and concentration camps. If you are one of the survivors of that profoundly historical time, or want to know the fate of someone you knew, the American Red Cross can help.
Other Services
A variety of other American Red Cross International Services are carried out by your local Red Cross chapter and in hundreds of communities across our nation. These projects include youth programs, friendship boxes, and capacity building projects with the Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies in other countries.
If you would like to learn more, please call us at (360) 733-3290.
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