An independent, neutral organization ensuring humanitarian protection and assistance for victims of war and armed violence.

The ICRC has a legal mandate from the international community. That mandate has two sources:

- The 1949 Geneva Conventions, which task the ICRC with visiting prisoners, organizing relief operations, re-uniting separated families and similar humanitarian activities during armed conflicts;
- The Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (Movement), which encourage it to undertake similar work in situations of internal violence, where the Geneva Conventions do not apply.

The Geneva Conventions are binding instruments of international law, applicable worldwide. The Statutes of the Movement are adopted at the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which takes place every four years, and at which States that are party to the Geneva Conventions take part, thereby conferring a quasi-legal or “soft law” status on the Statutes.