1990/05/01 by David P. Forsythe · 1 voice
Social Sciences · Arts and Humanities · #Global Peace and Security Dynamics #Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics #International Law and Human Rights
paper · doi:10.2307/762380
openalex publication_date 1990/05/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2025/11/06
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has become a unique and important actor for human rights during the past 130 years. It is in essence a private, nongovernmental organization (NGO) although it has received formal status in public international law. Despite this recognition, the ICRC remains mostly private for three reasons: (1) it makes its own policy as a Swiss private association rather than taking instructions from public bodies; (2) it presents itself frequently to public authorities as a private actor, sometimes even when operating in an armed conflict supposedly governed by public international law; and (3) it gives its detailed reports privately to the authority in question rather than publicizing them, although other information is released. Not all observers have been prone to think of the ICRC as a human rights actor. It has been traditional to view the agency as a charitable organization, perhaps even as a humanitarian do-gooder. The agency itself has historically preferred terminology related to charity and humanitarianism rather than human rights. But the ICRC has now acknowledged what others have been saying for some time: