This World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day, we celebrate the unwavering commitment of millions of volunteers and staff worldwide while also raising awareness of the seven Fundamental Principles that guide our work. No matter where, no matter when, the volunteers and staff of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement are always there.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent network is the largest humanitarian network in the world, making up three parts of the global Red Cross network. They all have one central purpose: to help those who suffer, without discrimination, whether during conflict, in response to natural or man-made disasters, or due to conditions of chronic poverty.

The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), founded in 1919, is the coalition of individual Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies that coordinates peacetime humanitarian relief efforts worldwide.

The IFRC works to alleviate suffering through activities such as organizing and coordinating international disaster relief operations, providing assistance to refugees outside conflict areas, promoting national disaster preparedness programs, and helping national societies to improve the services they deliver to vulnerable people in their local communities.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), founded in 1863, protects and assists victims of armed conflict while promoting understanding and respect for international humanitarian law.

As an independent, neutral organization, the ICRC has a permanent mandate under international law to visit prisoners of war and civilian detainees to monitor their treatment and conditions, educating military personnel and armed groups about their obligations under international humanitarian law, exchanging messages between members of families separated by armed conflict, helping discover the fate of missing family members, providing medical assistance for war-wounded, displaced people, and others, as well as providing emergency relief such as water, sanitation, food, and shelter.

As the Global Red Cross Red Crescent Network, these organizations are the individual societies of nearly every independent country, chartered by their respective governments, tasking themselves to relieving human suffering around the world and within their borders.

Join our mission! Visit our website to learn more.

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- Written by Samantha Munro