ICRC - International Committee of the Red Cross

Published purpose

March 25, 2011 - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral and independent organization that draws its mandate from the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols of 1977. The ICRC’s primary mission is to help to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence. Given its adherence to the humanitarian principles of neutrality, impartiality, independent and humanity, the ICRC is a trusted and respected organisation in the region, and is often the only organisation granted access to vulnerable and secluded populations. Populations across Latin America are regularly affected by armed conflicts or other situations of political and non-political violence. These include people affected by the conflict in Colombia, the spill-over of this conflict into the border regions of Ecuador, Panama and Venezuela. In 2011, the ICRC aims to focus on meeting the emergency needs of vulnerable populations in Latin America (including El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Brazil). Activities include: maintaining an emergency stock of water and basic household supplies to respond to emergencies; providing technical assistance, medicines and materials to basic health centres treating victims of sexual violence; providing technical assistance to National Societies to enable them to respond to the needs of targeted beneficiaries; promoting the importance of International Humanitarian Law; continuing work on an innovative experimental project on violence in urban settings; and renewing efforts to address the issue of persons unaccounted for in connection with political violence and/or natural disasters.