To be recognized as a National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society, and to uphold that status, the conditions stipulated in the Statutes of the Movement must be met. It must be constituted as the sole National Society and extend its activities across the entire territory of an independent state where the First Geneva Convention of 1949 is in force. It must be duly recognized by its government on the basis of the Geneva Conventions and in national legislation as an autonomous voluntary aid society, auxiliary to the public authorities in the humanitarian field. It must respect and be guided by the fundamental principles and international humanitarian law. Its activities must be carried out under the authorized name and emblem by voluntary members and staff, who are recruited without discrimination.
National Societies attract their members, volunteers and staff from diverse backgrounds that reflect the communities where they work and without consideration of gender, ethnicity, sexual preference, class, religion or political opinions. Each National Society is responsible, within its own context, for planning the scope and size of the services it can deliver on a reliable basis including specific delivery targets.
Commitment to communities
Strong and cohesive communities are the foundation for practical delivery by National Societies. This acknowledges that people themselves are the most important resource for their own progress that can only be sustained through their own leadership and ownership of the process. For us, communities are not targets but the starting point, and National Societies serve communities from the inside. In every community, capacity exists. This capacity can be mobilized and organized into National Society services to reach people who are particularly vulnerable.
The nature of communities is changing profoundly as people identify themselves in many different ways beyond the places where they live or work to the networks of common interest within which they spend most time, including “virtual communities” across the internet. We promote fresh ways of social mobilization and communication to reach these non-traditional communities.
