The Red Cross and Non-International Conflicts

In: International review of the Red Cross: humanitarian debate, law, policy, action, Band 10, Heft 113, S. 411-423

Abstract

Whilst from the outset the Red Cross was founded essentially to help the victims of conflicts between States, and the various Geneva Conventions since 1863 were relevant to conflicts of that kind, it must be recognized that internal conflicts have given rise to hundreds of thousands of victims who, all too often, could not effectively be helped due to legal or political barriers to Red Cross action.The Red Cross could not be true to its mission and at the same time indifferent to the plight of victims of such conflicts, the horror and ferocity of which frequently exceeded those of the usual international wars.