Unbeknownst to all, the International Committee of the Red Cross has been in existence as early as the laying down of the foundations of Humanitarian Law well before the First World War. From then till now, the organization has provided millions upon millions of people, assistance in terms of food, medical supplies and services from its current base in Geneva (where the convention of Humanitarian law was drafted and signed by most nations).
Anywhere there is conflict such as the current Darfur Humanitarian crisis, the Iraqi refugee crisis that has resulted from the American Invasion of the said country and many more similar incidents, the Red Cross is in the forefront for all these relief efforts. With local offices in its many member nations and along with its several arms such as the Red Crescent which handles crisis management in Muslim countries (which is necessary due to the many cultural differences in these nations) they have always provided the swiftest if not some of the first relief resources in cases of natural disasters. They conduct training of their personnel and country representatives through experts from Switzerland making them some of the most reliable and skilled response teams capable of responding to most disasters and crisis. Funds come from private and public sources mainly through contributions which can be aimed for specific crisis relief or the Red Cross organization as a whole. Switzerland has always been a neutral country ever since the First World War so it is the ideal place to have the headquarters for one of the world’s largest charitable organization.
Originally posted on February 7, 2008 @ 1:38 pm