The First “Prisoners of War Agency” Geneva 1914–1918

1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (75) ◽  
pp. 291-299
Author(s):  
Jacques Chenevière
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross

On the morning of September 12th, 1914, I presented myself at 3, rue de l'Athénée, the surprisingly modest headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Gustave Moynier, who was then unknown to me, one of the founders of this Genevese institution fifty years earlier, of which he had been President until 1910, said that he was also its door-keeper, because it was he who had the keys to the small, three roomed flat. It was there where the Committee's as yet by no means very considerable records were kept.

International Committee for the Red Cross: Status of Four Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols I and II

1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 553-560
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Geneva Conventions

The four 1949 Geneva Conventions (for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick in armed forces in the field, for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, and relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war) can be found at 6 UST 3114, 3217, 3316, 3516 and 75 UNTS 31, 85, 135, 287. The two 1977 Protocols (I – relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts and II – relating to the protection of victims of noninternational armed conflicts) appear respectively at 16 I.L.M. 1391 and 1442 (1977).

“How to Free Your Prisoner”

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Padraic Kenney
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
World War I ◽  
Building Blocks ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Political Prisoners ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Amnesty International ◽  
Late Twentieth

Though political prisoners are almost always incarcerated for national causes, they became the focus of international support in the twentieth century. The earliest attention was from diaspora communities of supporters, for example, among the Irish or among socialists. The International Committee of the Red Cross began with a focus on prisoners of war, expanding to political prisoners after World War I. The New York–based International Committee for Political Prisoners pioneered a nonpartisan approach to political prisoners. Like Amnesty International forty years later, it was an advocate for those who did not engage in violence. New kinds of prisoner assistance in the late twentieth century proved to be building blocks of post-transition civil society.

Q&A: The ICRC's engagement on the missing and their families

2017 ◽  
Vol 99 (905) ◽  
pp. 535-545
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Technical Standards ◽  
International Conference ◽  
Missing Persons ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shared Objective ◽  
Family Contact

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has a long history of working with missing persons and their families. Based on its statutory mandate as enshrined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions, their 1977 Additional Protocols, the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and resolutions of the International Conferences of the Red Cross and Red Crescent,1 the ICRC has worked to prevent people from going missing and has facilitated family contact and reunification. It has also worked to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons since 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, when it pioneered the compilation of lists of prisoners of war and the introduction of “the wearing of a badge so that the dead could be identified”.2The ICRC promoted and strengthened its engagement towards missing persons and their families when it organized the first ever International Conference of Governmental and Non-Governmental Experts on Missing Persons in 2003.3 Today, the ICRC carries out activities in favour of missing persons and their families in around sixty countries worldwide. In 2018, it embarked on a new project setting technical standards in relation to missing persons and their families, together with expert partners and a global community of practitioners who have a shared objective – preventing people from going missing, providing answers on the fate and whereabouts of missing persons, and responding to the specific needs of their families.This Q&A explores the ICRC's current work on the issue of the missing and will, in particular, explore the ways in which the ICRC's Missing Persons Project aims to position the missing and their families at the centre of the humanitarian agenda.

The League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (1983)

1985 ◽  
Vol 1 (S1) ◽  
pp. v-vi
Author(s):  
Andrei K. Kisselev
Keyword(s):  
Civil Wars ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
International Federation ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
The World ◽  
Three Components

The League of Red Cross Societies is the international federation of the 130 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which together have a membership of more than 230,000,000. The League is one of the three components of the International Red Cross, the others being the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the National Red Cross/Red Crescent Societies.The ICRC acts as a neutral intermediary in humanitarian matters during international conflicts, civil wars and internal disturbances, providing protection and assistance to victims, prisoners of war and civilian detainees. The League objective is to facilitate, encourage and promote the humanitarian activities of its member societies and thus contribute to the promotion of peace in the world.

A film on the International Red Cross

1966 ◽  
Vol 6 (60) ◽  
pp. 145-145
Keyword(s):  
International Institutions ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
The World

As President of the Monegasque Red Cross, Princess Grace of Monaco recently spent several days in Geneva during which she took part in a film being produced for Canadian Television. This company is in fact preparing a documentary of importance for the forthcoming World Red Cross Day, May 8,1966, on the activity of the Red Cross, in particular of the International Committee and the League of Red Cross Societies. The Princess had accepted to present and comment on the work of the two international institutions of the Red Cross. She thus divided her days between the ICRC and the League. An imposing series of “ shots ” were taken of the ICRC's Central Tracing Agency in which are classified cardindexes and archives concerning more than fifteen million prisoners of war and displaced or missing civilians during the course of armed conflicts in Europe and in the rest of the world. The Princess commented, in front of the cameras, on several cases with which the Agency had to deal and brought out the effectiveness and extent of the work carried out at ICRC headquarters on behalf of the victims of all those conflicts.

Conference of Government Experts on Weapons

1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (164) ◽  
pp. 598-598
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
World Health ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Special Committee ◽  
International Peace ◽  
Former Prisoners ◽  
Peace Research ◽  
The World ◽  
Health Organization

The Conference of Government Experts on Weapons that may Cause Unnecessary Suffering or have Indiscriminate Effects, meeting in Lucerne under the auspices of the International Committee of the Red Cross since 24 September 1974, closed on 18 October. It was attended by about 150 experts from some fifty countries, representatives of national liberation movements and of organizations such as the United Nations, the World Health Organization (WHO), National Red Cross Societies, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the International Confederation of Former Prisoners of War (ICFPW), and the NGO Special Committee on Disarmament.

India and Pakistan—Viet Nam—The President of the ICRC in the Irish Republic and in Great Britain

1965 ◽  
Vol 5 (56) ◽  
pp. 599-601
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Viet Nam ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Irish Republic ◽  
The Government

Prisoners of War. — Delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross in both India and Pakistan have been permitted to visit prisoners of war; both governments have demonstrated their intention to apply the Geneva Conventions of 1949 on the protection of victims of war. Mr. Roger Du Pasquier in India and Mr. Michel Martin in Pakistan were therefore given access to several places of internment and were authorized to interview prisoners without witnesses. The delegates' reports were conveyed each time to the Detaining Power and the government of the prisoners' country of origin. Mr. Du Pasquier was also able to see prisoners of war who had been wounded in the course of the fighting.

Fifty years ago

1967 ◽  
Vol 7 (75) ◽  
pp. 318-322
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
The Gift ◽  
High Esteem

On June 25, 1917, Romain Rolland wrote to Gustave Ador, then President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, informing him of the gift he was making to the Central Prisoners of War Agency. This gesture is worth recalling fifty years later, at a time when the fine figure of the author of Jean-Christophe is held in such high esteem.

Application in the Middle East of the 1949 Geneva Conventions

1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (155) ◽  
pp. 76-77
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Geneva Conventions

On 21 January 1974, the International Committee of the Red Cross issued the following appeal to the 135 States parties to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949:On the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East, the ICRC renewed its offer of services to the States concerned, with a view to the discharge of all the duties assigned it under the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. In so far as permitted by the competent authorities, it has been able to acquit itself of part of its mandate: several thousand prisoners of war have been visited and repatriated; casualties have been cared for; and civilian victims have been given assistance.

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