ICRC

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an independent humanitarian organisation offering assistance to victims of armed conflict and other situations of violence. It therefore mainly operates in areas of war and conflict. Furthermore, ICRC is mandated by the international community to be the guardian of and to promote respect for international humanitarian law.

ICRC is formally recognised in the Geneva Conventions, their Additional Protocols and the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. While ICRC was established as a private association under Swiss law in 1863, its status today is equivalent to that of an international organisation.

ICRC, together with the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and the national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies all over the world, work on a number of humanitarian challenges such as protection, providing medical care, water, food and sanitation, uniting families and visiting detainees. ICRC’s reputation, independence and neutrality ensure the organization wide access, and thus ICRC is often the sole provider of assistance near the frontlines in armed conflicts.

With Headquarters in Geneva, and based in around 90 countries, the ICRC has a total staff of over 17.700, and an annual budget for 2020 of a little over 2 billion Swiss Francs or 14 billion Danish Kroner. Peter Maurer, a Swiss national and a former permanent representative of Switzerland to the United Nations in New York, has held the position of President of the ICRC since 2012. In March 2020, Robert Mardini took over the position as Director General of the ICRC.

Denmark is actively engaged in the ICRC Donor Support Group, (DSG) which consists of ICRC’s major government donors and regularly discusses the ICRC’s policies and programmes. In addition to advocating for key priorities in the DSG together with other major donors, Denmark also has a close bilateral dialogue with ICRC on a number of strategic priority areas. Denmark provides a core contribution to the ICRC of 70 million Danish Kroner or 9.9 million USD. Additionally, the ICRC receives funding from the Danish government channeled through the Danish Red Cross to various operations around the world.

For more information about the collaboration between Denmark and the ICRC, see the Strategy for Denmark’s Cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) .

For more information about ICRC, visit www.icrc.org

Edited May 2020