Amphibians Temporal range: Late Devonian–present PreЄ Є O S D C P T J K Pg N
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Superclass:	Tetrapoda
Class:	Amphibia Linnaeus, 1758
Subclasses and Orders
Subclass Labyrinthodontia – extinct Subclass Lepospondyli – extinct Subclass Lissamphibia Order Anura Order Caudata Order Gymnophiona

Amphibians are members of the class Amphibia, a group of vertebrates whose living forms include frogs, toads, salamanders, newts and caecilians. They are characterized as non-amniote, ectothermic tetrapods, meaning their eggs are not surrounded by membranes, they are cold-blooded, and they have four limbs. Most amphibians lay their eggs in water and the larvae undergo metamorphosis from a juvenile form with gills to an adult air-breathing form with lungs. Some, however, are paedomorphs that retain the juvenile water-breathing form throughout life. Mudpuppies and olms are examples of this, retaining juvenile gills into adulthood. Adult amphibians also use their skin for respiration.

The three modern orders of amphibians are placed in the subclass Lissamphibia and are the Anura (frogs and toads), Caudata (salamanders and newts) and Gymnophiona (caecilians, limbless amphibians that resemble snakes). The total number of known amphibian species is approximately 7,000.^[1] They are superficially similar to reptiles, but reptiles, along with mammals and birds, are amniotes, having impervious membranes that surround the egg. Amphibians are ecological indicators,^[2] and in recent decades there has been a dramatic decline in amphibian populations around the globe. Many species are now threatened or extinct. The study of amphibians is called batrachology.

The earliest amphibians evolved in the Devonian Period from Sarcopterygians, fish that had lungs and bony fins,^[3] features that were helpful in adapting to dry land. They diversified and became dominant during the Carboniferous and Permian periods,^[4] but were later displaced by reptiles and other vertebrates. Over time, amphibians shrunk and decreased in diversity, leaving the modern orders of Lissamphibia.

Etymology[link]

Amphibian is derived from the Ancient Greek term ἀμφίβιος (amphíbios), which means "both kinds of life", amphi meaning "of both kinds" and bio meaning "life". The term was initially used generally for animals that could live on land or in water, including seals and otters. It became restricted to what we now call amphibians around 1600 and the taxon "Amphibia" was first used in scientific classification circa 1819.^[5]

Characteristics[link]

The amphibians are a class of vertebrate animals with four limbs. They are non-amniotes which means that their eggs are not surrounded by the several membranes, some impervious, which enable mammals, reptiles and birds to reproduce on land. Amphibians typically reproduce in fresh water and are not found in the sea, with the exception of one or two frogs that live in brackish water in mangrove swamps.^[6] Most amphibians lay eggs that have a gelatinous coating which swells when it comes in contact with water. The larvae that hatch from the eggs are mostly quite dissimilar to the adult form. In the case of frogs and toads they have a large head and a dorsally flattened tail and are known as tadpoles. They are vegetarians and breathe with gills. They have no limbs at first, the back limbs thrusting through then skin at a later stage, followed by the fore limbs after which the tail is reabsorbed. After this metamorphosis the juveniles look like miniature versions of the adult. Newt and salamander larvae have long bodies and feathery gills. They are carnivorous and the front legs develop before the back ones. They do not undergo metamorphosis in the same way that frogs and toads do.^[7] The caecilians either produce live young or lay eggs in damp positions in their burrows.^[8]

Amphibians are cold blooded animals and unable to maintain their body temperature above that of their surroundings. This means that they are only able to be active when the temperature is high enough. There is great variability in the sensitivity of different species to cold. Many species hibernate in winter, going into a state of torpor either in an underground chamber or underwater. In colder climates, they may be in a state of hibernation for more than half the year. In hot weather they may aestivate underground, sometimes buried in the mud of a dried up pond, reviving when cooler weather and rain restores their habitat. An advantage of being cold blooded is that little energy is required to provide body heat. This means that they can go without food for prolonged periods without coming to harm.^[7]

Anura[link]

The order Anura includes the frogs and toads. Members of this order with smooth skins are commonly referred to as frogs while those with warted skins are known as toads. There are no taxonomic differences between these two groups but members of the family Bufonidae are known as true toads. Frogs and toads have broad heads and plump bodies with short, stout fore limbs and long hind limbs that fold underneath them. Although many species are associated with water and damp habitats, some are specialised to live in trees and in deserts. They are found worldwide.^[7]

Caudata[link]

The order Caudata includes the salamanders and one of its constituent families, Salamandridae, includes the true salamanders and the newts. Salamanders and newts have pointed heads, long cylindrical bodies, four similar sized, short legs and long tails. They may be terrestrial or aquatic but many spend part of the year in each habitat. When on land, they mostly spend the day hidden under stones or logs or in dense vegetation, emerging in the evening and night to forage for worms, insects and other invertebrates. They are found in the Holarctic region of the northern hemisphere and in Central and South America north of the Amazon Basin.^[7]

Gymnophiona[link]

The order Gymnophiona includes the caecilians. These are long, cylindrical, limbless animals that resemble snakes or worms. Their skin has circular folds which enhances their similarity to the segments of earthworms. Some are aquatic but most live underground in burrows they hollow out. Many caecilians give birth to live young, and in the animals that do not do this, the eggs may undergo metamorphosis before they hatch. Caecilians are found in tropical Africa, Asia and Central and South America.^[8]

Evolution[link]

Possible paths of Lissamphibia evolution.

The first major groups of amphibians developed in the Devonian period from lobe-finned fish similar to the modern coelacanth and lungfish,^[3] which had evolved multi-jointed leg-like fins with digits that enabled them to crawl along the sea bottom. Some fish had developed primitive lungs to help them breathe air when the stagnant pools of the Devonian swamps were lacking in oxygen. They could also use their strong fins to hoist themselves out of the water and onto dry land if circumstances required it. Eventually, their bony fins would evolve into limbs and they would become the ancestors to all tetrapods, including amphibians, reptiles, birds, and mammals. Despite being able to crawl on land, many of these prehistoric tetrapodomorph fish still spent most of their time in the water. Ichthyostega was one of these tetrapods and had four sturdy limbs, a neck, a tail with fins and a skull very similar to the lobe-finned fish, Eusthenopteron.^[3] Amphibians evolved adaptations which allowed them to stay out of the water for longer periods. However, they never developed the amniotic egg which prevented the developing embryo from drying out and which allowed early reptiles to move on to the land to reproduce. They still need to return to water or find a damp place to lay their shell-less eggs and most have a fully aquatic larval stage.^[3]

There are large gaps in the fossil record but the discovery of a batrachian from the Early Permian in Texas in 2008 provided a missing link with a lot of the characteristics of modern frogs. Molecular analysis suggests that the frog–salamander divergence took place considerably earlier than the palaeontological evidence indicates. However the date of the divergence of the caecilians deduced by molecular phylogenetics agrees with the fossil record.^[9]

The first true amphibians appeared in the Carboniferous Period, by which time they were already moving up the food chain and occupying the ecological position currently claimed by such animals as crocodiles. Amphibians were once the top land predators, sometimes reaching several meters in length, preying on the large insects on land and many types of fish in the water. During the Triassic Period, the better-adapted reptiles began to compete with amphibians, leading to the reduction of their size and importance in the biosphere. Lissamphibia, which includes all modern amphibians and is the only surviving lineage of amphibians left, could have branched off from the extinct groups Temnospondyli and/or Lepospondyli at some time between the Late Carboniferous and the Early Triassic according to the fossil record. The relative scarcity of fossil evidence does not permit an exact date,^[4] and the most recent molecular clock study based on multi-locus data suggest a Late Carboniferous–Early Permian origin of extant amphibians.^[10]

Classification[link]

Traditionally, amphibians have included all tetrapod vertebrates that are not amniotes. They are divided into three subclasses, of which two are only known as extinct subclasses:

• Subclass Labyrinthodontia† (diverse Paleozoic and early Mesozoic group)
• Subclass Lepospondyli† (small Paleozoic group, sometimes included in the Labyrinthodontia, which may actually be more closely related to amniotes than Lissamphibia)
• Subclass Lissamphibia (frogs, toads, salamanders, newts, etc.)

Of these only the last subclass includes recent species.

With the phylogenetic classification, the taxon Labyrinthodontia has been discarded as it is a paraphyletic group without unique defining features apart from shared primitive characteristics. Classification varies according to the preferred phylogeny of the author and whether they use a stem-based or a node-based classification. Traditionally, amphibians as a class are defined as all tetrapods with a larval stage, while the group that includes the common ancestors of all living amphibians (frogs, salamanders and caecilians) and all their descendants is called Lissamphibia. The phylogeny of Paleozoic amphibians is by no means satisfactory understood, and Lissamphibia may possibly include extinct groups like the temnospondyls (traditionally placed in the subclass “Labyrinthodontia”), and the Lepospondyls, and in some analysis even the amniotes. This means that advocates of phylogenetic nomenclature have removed a large number of basal Devonian and Carboniferous amphibian-type tetrapod groups that were formerly placed in Amphibia in Linnaean taxonomy and included them elsewhere under cladistic taxonomy.^[11]

All recent amphibians are included in the subclass Lissamphibia, superorder Salientia, which is usually considered a clade (which means that it is thought that they evolved from a common ancestor apart from other extinct groups), although it has also been suggested that salamanders arose separately from a Temnospondyl-like ancestor, and even that caecilians are the sister group of the advanced reptiliomorph amphibians, and thus of amniotes.^[9][12]

Authorities also disagree as to whether Salientia is a superorder that includes the order Anura, or whether Anura is a sub-order of the order Salientia. Practical considerations seem to favor using the former arrangement. The Lissamphibia, superorder Salientia, are traditionally divided into three orders, but an extinct salamander-like family, the Albanerpetontidae, is now considered part of the Lissamphibia, besides the superorder Salientia. Furthermore, Salientia includes all three recent orders plus a single Triassic proto-frog, Triadobatrachus.

Class Amphibia

• Subclass Lissamphibia
  • Family Albanerpetontidae — Jurassic to Miocene (extinct)
  • Superorder Salientia
    • Genus Triadobatrachus — Triassic (extinct) — A stem Anuran
    • Order Anura (frogs and toads): Jurassic to recent — 5,602 recent species in 48 families
    • Order Caudata or Urodela (salamanders, newts): Jurassic to recent — 571 recent species in 10 families
    • Order Gymnophiona (caecilians): Jurassic to recent — 190 recent species in 10 families

The actual number of species partly also depends on the taxonomic classification followed, the two most common classifications being the classification of the website AmphibiaWeb, University of California (Berkeley) and the classification by herpetologist Darrel Frost and The American Museum of Natural History, available as the online reference database Amphibian Species of the World.^[13] The numbers of species cited above follow Frost.

Anatomy and physiology[link]

Integumentary system[link]

The fire salamander has brightly colored yellow spots, indicating that it secretes toxins.

Amphibian skin is permeable to water and contains many mucous glands which keep the skin from drying out. Gas exchange can take place through the skin and this allows adult amphibians to hibernate at the bottom of ponds.^[7] To compensate for their thin and delicate skin, all amphibians have evolved poison glands as a defense mechanism, although toxicity varies by species. Some amphibian toxins can be lethal to humans while others have little effect.^[14] The main poison-producing glands, the paratoids, contain the neurotoxin bufotoxin and are located behind the ears of certain frogs and toads and behind the eyes of salamanders.^[15] The integumentary structure contains some typical characteristics common to terrestrial vertebrates, such as the presence of highly cornified outer layers, renewed periodically through a molting process controlled by the pituitary and thyroid glands. Local thickenings (often called warts) are common, such as those found on toads. The outside of the skin is shed periodically more or less in one piece in contrast to mammals and birds where it is shed in flakes. Amphibians often eat the sloughed skin.^[7]

The skin color of amphibians is produced by three layers of pigment cells called chromatophores. These three cell layers consist of the melanophores (occupying the deepest layer), the guanophores (forming an intermediate layer and containing many granules, producing a blue-green color) and the lipophores (yellow, the most superficial layer). The color change experienced by many species is caused by secretions from the pituitary gland. Unlike bony fish, there is no direct control by the nervous system of the pigment cells. Therefore, the color change is slower. Bright colors usually indicate that the species produces an exceptionally toxic poison.^[16]

Skeletal system[link]

The skeletal system of amphibians is structurally homologous to other tetrapods, though with a number of variations. They possess a cranium, spine, rib cage, long bones such as the humerus and femur, and short bones such as the phalanges, metacarpals, and metatarsals. Most have four limbs except for caecilians. Bones in most amphibians are hollow and lightweight.^[17][18]

The shoulder girdle of early amphibians is almost identical to that of their predecessors the osteolepiformes, except for the presence of a new dermal bone, the interclavicular (which has been lost in modern amphibians). The pelvic girdle is much more developed. In all tetrapods it consists of three main bones: the ilium in the dorsal and ventral, the pubis in the anterior and the ischium in a posterior position. The meeting point of these three bones forms the acetabulum which articulates with the femur.

Circulatory and nervous systems[link]

Amphibians have a juvenile stage and an adult stage and the circulatory systems of the two are distinct. In the juvenile (or tadpole) stage, gills are used to oxygenate blood and movement is similar to that of fish. In the adult stage, amphibians (especially frogs) lose their gills and develop lungs. They have a heart that consists of a ventricle and two atria (it may be considered a single atrium, if not totally or partially divided) that pumps oxygenated blood through arteries and deoxygenated blood through veins to the lungs. Since amphibians are cold-blooded, they must find ways to keep their blood at a constant temperature to maintain homeostasis.^[18]

The nervous system is basically the same as in other vertebrates, with a central brain, a spinal cord, and nerves throughout the body.^[18] The amphibian brain is less developed compared to that of reptiles, birds, and mammals. It consists of a cerebrum, midbrain, and cerebellum of similar sizes. The olfactory lobe is the center of the sense of smell. The cerebrum integrates behavior and learning. The optic lobe processes information from the eyes. The cerebellum is the center of muscular coordination. The medulla oblongata controls some organ functions, such as heart rate and respiration. The brain sends signals through the spinal cord and nerves to regulate activity in the rest of the body. The pineal body, known to regulate sleep patterns in humans, is thought to produce the hormones involved in hibernation and estivation in amphibians.^[19]

Digestive and excretory systems[link]

Amphibians swallow their prey whole, with some chewing done in the oral cavities of some species, so they possess voluminous stomachs. Sphincters separate the esophagus from both the oral cavity and the stomach. The relatively short esophagus is lined with cilia that help transport food and secretions to the stomach. Mucus and pepsin, a digestive enzyme, are secreted by glands lining the esophagus. The stomach is separated from the intestine by a pyloric sphincter. The duodenum controls the transport of food into the intestine from the stomach.^[18]

Amphibians possess a pancreas, liver and gall bladder. Like mammals, the liver functions as the central metabolic organ that regulates blood sugar, and also produces the final metabolic products and transports them through the vascular system to the kidneys, and finally to excretion. The liver in most amphibians is large with two lobes. The size of the liver is determined by its vital function as a glycogen and fat storage unit, and may change proportionally with the seasons with increasing or decreasing activity. In aquatic amphibians, the liver plays only a small role in processing nitrogen for excretion, and ammonia is diffused mainly through the skin and excretion. The liver of terrestrial amphibians converts ammonia to urea, a less toxic, water soluble nitrogenous compound, as a means of water conservation. In some species, urea is further converted into uric acid. The liver secretions from the liver collect in the gall bladder, and flow into the small intestine. Salamanders lack a valve separating the small intestine from the large intestine. In the small intestine, enzymes digest carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. Salt and water absorption occur in the large intestine, as well as mucous secretion to aid in the transport of fecal matter, which is passed out through the cloaca. Amphibians have two kidneys located dorsally, near the roof of the body cavity. Their job is to filter the blood of waste and transport it to the urinary bladder where it passes out of the cloacal vent.^[18]

Respiratory system[link]

The lungs in amphibians are primitive compared to those of amniotes, possessing few internal septa and large alveoli and consequently having a comparatively slow diffusion rate for oxygen entering the blood. Ventilation is accomplished by buccal pumping. Most amphibians, however, are able to exchange gases with the water or air via their skin. To enable sufficient cutaneous respiration, the surface of their highly vascularized skin must remain moist in order to allow the oxygen to diffuse at a sufficiently high rate.^[18] Because oxygen concentration in the water increases at both low temperatures and high flow rates, aquatic amphibians in these situations can rely primarily on cutaneous respiration, as in the Titicaca water frog and the hellbender salamander. In air, where oxygen is more concentrated, some small species can rely solely on cutaneous gas exchange, most famously the plethodontid salamanders, which have neither lungs nor gills. Many aquatic salamanders and all tadpoles have gills in their larval stage, with some (such as the axolotl) retaining gills as aquatic adults.^[18]

Sensory systems[link]

The eyes of amphibians have lids and associated glands and ducts. They are an improvement on invertebrate eyes and were a first step in the development of more advanced vertebrate eyes. They allow colour vision and depth of focus. In the retinas are green rods which are receptive to a wide range of wave lengths.^[20]

The tympani, or eardrums, of many frogs are external and lie just behind the eyes. There is also a patch of papilla amphibiorum in the ear which is unique to amphibians and which can detect low frequency sounds. Another unique feature is the columella-opercular complex, adjoining the auditory capsule, which is involved in the transmission of both airborne and seismic signals. The ears of salamanders and caecilians are less highly developed as they do not normally communicate with each other by sound.^[20]

Reproduction[link]

Frogspawn

For the purpose of reproduction most amphibians require fresh water. A few (e.g. Fejervarya raja) can inhabit brackish water and even survive (though not thrive) in seawater, but there are no true marine amphibians. However, there are reports of particular amphibian populations invading marine waters where their species is normally unable to survive. Such is the case with the Black Sea invasion of the natural hybrid Pelophylax esculentus reported in 2010.^[21]

Several hundred frog species in adaptive radiations (e.g., Eleutherodactylus, the Pacific Platymantines, the Australo-Papuan microhylids, and many other tropical frogs), however, do not need any water for breeding in the wild. They reproduce via direct development, an ecological and evolutionary adaptation that has allowed them to be completely independent from free-standing water. Almost all of these frogs live in wet tropical rainforests and their eggs hatch directly into miniature versions of the adult, passing through the tadpole stage within the egg. Reproductive success of many amphibians is dependent not only on the quantity of rainfall, but the seasonal timing.^[22]

Many amphibians exhibit different kinds of parenting behaviour. After their hatching, the tadpoles of different species of poison dart frogs (family Dendrobatidae) are carried by the adults to a suitable place where they can pass metamorphosis. Such places are the rosettes of many bromeliads in which water is gathered and used by the plant. The Surinam toad raises its young in pores at its back and after enough time they appear out of these pores fully developed. The ringed caecilian (Siphonops annulatus) has developed a unique adaptation for the purposes of reproduction. The progeny feeds on a skin layer that is specially developed by the adult. This phenomenon is known as maternal dermatophagy.

Several species have also adapted to arid and semi-arid environments, but most of them still need water to lay their eggs. Symbiosis with single celled algae that lives in the jelly-like layer of the eggs has evolved several times. The larvae of frogs (tadpoles or polliwogs) breathe with exterior gills at the start, but soon a pouch is formed that covers the gills and the front legs. Lungs are also formed quite early to assist in breathing. Newt larvae have large external gills that gradually disappear and the larvae of newts are quite similar to the adult form from an early age.

Growth and development[link]

Tadpoles

Most amphibians go through metamorphosis, a process of significant morphological change after birth. In typical amphibian development, eggs are laid in water and larvae are adapted to an aquatic lifestyle. Frogs, toads and salamanders all hatch from the egg as larvae with external gills. Metamorphosis in amphibians is regulated by thyroxin concentration in the blood, which stimulates metamorphosis, and prolactin, which counteracts its effect. Specific events are dependent on threshold values for different tissues.^[23] Because most embryonic development is outside the parental body, development is subject to many adaptations due to specific ecological circumstances. For this reason tadpoles can have horny ridges for teeth, whiskers and fins. They also make use of the lateral line organ. After metamorphosis, these organs become redundant and will be reabsorbed by controlled cell death, called apoptosis. The extent of adaptations to specific ecological circumstances among amphibians is remarkable, with many discoveries still being made.^[24]

Frogs and toads[link]

Life cycle of a typical frog

With frogs and toads, the external gills of the newly hatched tadpole are covered with a gill sac after a few days, and lungs are quickly formed. Front legs are formed under the gill sac, and hind legs are visible a few days later. Following that there is usually a longer stage during which the tadpole has a vegetarian diet, scraping algae off plant surfaces with their horny tooth ridges. Tadpoles have a relatively long, spiral-shaped gut to enable them to digest this diet.^[25]

Rapid changes in the body can then be observed as the lifestyle of the frog changes completely. The spiral‐shaped mouth with horny tooth ridges is reabsorbed together with the spiral gut. The animal develops a big jaw, and its gills disappear along with its gill sac. Eyes and legs grow quickly, a tongue is formed, and all this is accompanied by associated changes in the neural networks (development of stereoscopic vision, loss of the lateral line system, etc.) All this can happen in about a day, so it is truly a metamorphosis. It isn't until a few days later that the tail is reabsorbed, due to the higher thyroxin concentrations required for tail resorption.^[25]

Newts and salamanders[link]

In newts and salamanders, there is no true metamorphosis because the larvae already feed as predators and continue doing so as adults. Their gills are never covered by a gill sac and will be reabsorbed only just before the animal leaves the water. Just as in tadpoles, their lungs are functional early, but the larvae don't make as much use of them as tadpoles do. They often have an aquatic phase in spring and summer, and a land phase in winter. For adaptation to a water phase, prolactin is the required hormone, and for adaptation to the land phase, thyroxin. External gills do not return in subsequent aquatic phases because these are completely absorbed upon leaving the water for the first time.^[26]

Caecilians[link]

Most caecilians lay eggs in burrows formed in moist soil close to water. The eggs are watched over by the female and, on hatching, the young make their way into the adjoining pond or stream. They have gill slits but no external gills. In some species, the young are produced by vivipary. Up to four eggs begin their development in the oviduct. When their yolk has been consumed, the developing larvae feed on maternal secretions and on the cells lining the oviduct, scraping them off with their deciduous teeth.^[27]

Diet[link]

Adult amphibians are predators, feeding mainly on live invertebrates. The diet mostly consists of small items of prey that do not move too fast such as beetles, caterpillars, earthworms and spiders. Many amphibians have extensible tongues with sticky tips which can be flicked forward to catch the prey. They usually swallow the food whole but may chew it lightly first in order to subdue it.^[7] The larvae of frogs and toads have a mostly vegetarian diet, using their specialised mouthparts, consisting of a horny beak edged by several rows of labial teeth, to feed on aquatic plants.^[7]

Vocalization[link]

The noises made by newts, salamanders and caecilians are limited to occasional soft squeaks, grunts or hisses. Frogs and toads however use their voice in the breeding season to attract mates. Each call is characteristic of the species, the presence of which in an area may be easier to detect by its voice than by a fleeting glimpse of the animal itself. In ponds where more than one species breed, it is important for the female to be attracted to the correct partner as male frogs, in their ardour, have been known to attempt to mate with other males, females of the wrong species or inanimate objects.^[7] Besides the attracting call, another vocalization is a release call, used by a frog suffering in this way from advances by the wrong frog. Calling bears the risk of attracting predators. Some males do not call at all but station themselves near others that are calling, with the intention of intercepting a female attracted to the sound. Although calling mainly occurs in the breeding season, sporadic calls may be heard at other times of year in some species.^[7]

The calls are made by vibrations of the larynx but are often amplified by vocal sacs which act as resonators. Sometimes these are fairly small air-filled pouches inside the mouth but in other species they are much larger and cause a ballooning of the elastic skin of the throat and are known as external vocal sacs. Many species have single sacs but members of the family Ranidae have two, one on each side of the mouth.^[7]

Defense mechanisms[link]

Amphibians have soft bodies and are relatively helpless. They are eaten by reptiles, birds and mammals when on land and by fish when in the water. Many are nocturnal and hide during the day, thereby avoiding predators that hunt by sight, apart from owls which are also nocturnal. Other amphibians use camouflage to avoid being detected. They have various colorings such as mottled browns, greys and olives to make themselves inconspicuous so that they blend into the background. Other species contain poison glands and use bright colours to warn potential predators of their toxicity. These are mostly black and yellow or black and red, like the fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra). Once a predator has tried eating one of these, it is likely to remember the coloration next time it encounters one. In some species, such as the fire-bellied toad (Bombina spp.), the warning coloration is on the belly and these animals adopt a defensive pose when attacked to exhibit the bright colors to the attacker. A few salamanders will autotomise their tails when attacked, sacrificing this part of their body to enable the main part to escape. The tail is regenerated later. Some frogs and toads inflate themselves to make themselves look large and fierce, and some spadefoot toads (Pelobates spp) scream and leap towards the attacker.^[7]

Conservation[link]

The golden toad of Monteverde, Costa Rica, was among the first casualties of amphibian declines. Formerly abundant, it was last seen in 1989.

Dramatic declines in amphibian populations, including population crashes and mass localized extinction, have been noted in the past two decades from locations all over the world, and amphibian declines are thus perceived as one of the most critical threats to global biodiversity.^[28] A number of causes are believed to be involved, including habitat destruction and modification, over-exploitation, pollution, introduced species, climate change, endocrine-disrupting pollutants, destruction of the ozone layer (ultraviolet radiation has shown to be especially damaging to the skin, eyes, and eggs of amphibians), and diseases like chytridiomycosis. However, many of the causes of amphibian declines are still poorly understood, and are a topic of ongoing discussion.^[29]

A global strategy to stem the crisis has been released in the form of the Amphibian Conservation Action Plan. Developed by over 80 leading experts in the field, this call to action details what would be required to curtail amphibian declines and extinctions over the next 5 years—and how much this would cost. The Amphibian Specialist Group of the World Conservation Union (IUCN) is spearheading efforts to implement a comprehensive global strategy for amphibian conservation.^[30] Amphibian Ark is an organization that was formed to implement the ex-situ conservation recommendations of this plan, and they have been working with zoos and aquaria around the world encouraging them to create assurance colonies of threatened amphibians.^[30] One such project is the Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project that built on existing conservation efforts in Panama to create a country-wide response to the threat of chytridiomycosis rapidly spreading into eastern Panama.^[31]

On January 21, 2008, Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE),^[32] in a statement made by chief Helen Meredith, identified nature's most endangered species: "The EDGE amphibians are amongst the most remarkable and unusual species on the planet and yet an alarming 85% of the top 100 are receiving little or no conservation attention." The top 10 EDGE listed species include the Chinese giant salamander, a distant relative of the newt, the tiny Gardiner's Seychelles, the limbless Sagalla caecilian, South African ghost frogs, lungless Mexican salamanders, the Malagasy rainbow frog, Chile's Darwin frog (Rhinoderma rufum) and the Betic Midwife Toad.^{[33][34][35][36]}

See also[link]

• Vegetal rotation
• List of amphibians

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Carroll, Robert L. (1988). Vertebrate Paleontology and Evolution. New York: W.H. Freeman & Co.. 
• Carroll, Robert L. (2009). The Rise of Amphibians: 365 Million Years of Evolution. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-9140-3. 

• Duellman, William E.; Linda Trueb (1994). Biology of Amphibians. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-4780-6. 
• Frost, Darrel R.; Taran Grant, Julián Faivovich, Raoul H. Bain, Alexander Haas, Célio F.B. Haddad, Rafael O. De Sá, Alan Channing, Mark Wilkinson, Stephen C. Donnellan, Christopher J. Raxworthy, Jonathan A. Campbell, Boris L. Blotto, Paul Moler, Robert C. Drewes, Ronald A. Nussbaum, John D. Lynch, David M. Green, Ward C. Wheeler (March 2006). "The Amphibian Tree of Life". Bulletin of the American Museum of Natural History 297: 1–291. DOI:10.1206/0003-0090(2006)297[0001:TATOL]2.0.CO;2. hdl:2246/5781. 
• Pounds, J. Alan; Martín R. Bustamante, Luis A. Coloma, Jamie A. Consuegra, Michael P. L. Fogden, Pru N. Foster, Enrique La Marca, Karen L. Masters, Andrés Merino-Viteri, Robert Puschendorf, Santiago R. Ron, G. Arturo Sánchez-Azofeifa, Christopher J. Still and Bruce E. Young (January 2006). "Widespread amphibian extinctions from epidemic disease driven by global warming". Nature 439 (7073): 161–167. DOI:10.1038/nature04246. PMID 16407945. http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v439/n7073/full/nature04246.html. 
• San Mauro, Diego; Miguel Vences, Marina Alcobendas, Rafael Zardoya and Axel Meyer (May 2005). "Initial diversification of living amphibians predated the breakup of Pangaea". American Naturalist 165 (5): 590–599. DOI:10.1086/429523. PMID 15795855. 
• San Mauro, Diego (2010). "A multilocus timescale for the origin of extant amphibians". Molecular Phylogenetics and Evolution 56 (2): 554–561. DOI:10.1016/j.ympev.2010.04.019. PMID 20399871. 
• Solomon Berg Martin, Biology
• Stuart, Simon N.; Janice S. Chanson, Neil A. Cox, Bruce E. Young, Ana S. L. Rodrigues, Debra L. Fischman, Robert W. Waller (December 2004). "Status and trends of amphibian declines and extinctions worldwide". Science 306 (5702): 1783–1786. DOI:10.1126/science.1103538. PMID 15486254. http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/full/306/5702/1783. 
• S.N.Stuart, M.Hoffmann, J.S.Chanson, N.A.Cox, R.J.Berridge, P.Ramani, B.E. Young (editors), Collective work (September 2008). Threatened Amphibians of the World. Published by Lynx Edicions, in association with IUCN-The World Conservation Union, Conservation International and NatureServe.. ISBN 978-84-96553-41-5. http://www.hbw.com/lynx/en/lynx-edicions/portada-lynx/MON0017-threatened-amphibians-world.html.  776 pages

External links[link]

Wikispecies has information related to: Amphibia

The Wikibook Dichotomous Key has a page on the topic of Amphibia

• Save the Frogs!
• Amphibian Specialist Group
• AmphibiaWebEcuador
• Amphibians photos Brazil
• Amphibian Ark
• AmphibiaWeb
• EDGE
• Global Amphibian Assessment
• Amphibians of central Europe
• USGS—Online Guide for the Identification of Amphibians in North America north of Mexico
• General amphibian biology information - Living UnderWorld
• Panama Amphibian Rescue and Conservation Project
• Atlanta Botanical Garden Amphibian Conservation Program
• Amphibian vocalisations on Archival Sound Recordings
• Froglife (British conservation charity)
• Salamandridae
• A guide to Amphibians

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

The Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems, the symbols from which the movement derives its name.
Founder(s)	Henry Dunant
Type	Non-governmental organization
Founded	1863
Location	Geneva, Switzerland
Area served	Worldwide
Focus	Humanitarian
Method	Aid
Revenue	US$ 3.6 billion (2010)[1]
Volunteers	97 million
Website	redcross.int

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide^[2] which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, sex, religious beliefs, class or political opinions^{[citation needed]}.

The movement consists of several distinct organizations that are legally independent from each other, but are united within the movement through common basic principles, objectives, symbols, statutes and governing organisations. The movement's parts are:

• The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a private humanitarian institution founded in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland, by Henry Dunant. Its 25-member committee has a unique authority under international humanitarian law to protect the life and dignity of the victims of international and internal armed conflicts. The ICRC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on three occasions (in 1917, 1944 and 1963).^[3]
• The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was founded in 1919 and today it coordinates activities between the 187 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies within the Movement. On an international level, the Federation leads and organizes, in close cooperation with the National Societies, relief assistance missions responding to large-scale emergencies. The International Federation Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1963, the Federation (then known as the League of Red Cross Societies) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the ICRC.^[3]
• National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Currently 186 National Societies are recognized by the ICRC and admitted as full members of the Federation. Each entity works in its home country according to the principles of international humanitarian law and the statutes of the international Movement. Depending on their specific circumstances and capacities, National Societies can take on additional humanitarian tasks that are not directly defined by international humanitarian law or the mandates of the international Movement. In many countries, they are tightly linked to the respective national health care system by providing emergency medical services.

History of Movement[link]

The International Committee of the Red Cross[link]

Solferino, Jean-Henri Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC[link]

Jean-Henri Dunant, author of "A Memory of Solferino"

Until the middle of the 19th century, there were no organized and/or well-established army nursing systems for casualties and no safe and protected institutions to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. In June 1859, the Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dunant traveled to Italy to meet French emperor Napoléon III with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in Algeria, at that time occupied by France. When he arrived in the small town of Solferino on the evening of June 24, he witnessed the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Austro-Sardinian War. In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. Jean-Henri Dunant was a shocked by the terrible aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers, and the near-total lack of medical attendance and basic care. He completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. He succeeded in organizing an overwhelming level of relief assistance by motivating the local villagers to aid without discrimination.

Original document of the First Geneva Convention, 1864

Back in his home in Geneva, he decided to write a book entitled A Memory of Solferino which he published with his own money in 1862. He sent copies of the book to leading political and military figures throughout Europe. In addition to penning a vivid description of his experiences in Solferino in 1859, he explicitly advocated the formation of national voluntary relief organizations to help nurse wounded soldiers in the case of war. In addition, he called for the development of international treaties to guarantee the protection of neutral medics and field hospitals for soldiers wounded on the battlefield.

On February 9, 1863, in Geneva, Jean-Henri Dunant founded the "Committee of the Five" (together with four other leading figures from well-known Geneva families) as an investigatory commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare. Their aim was to examine the feasibility of Dunant's ideas and to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, aside from Dunant himself, were Gustave Moynier, lawyer and chairman of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare; physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss Army general of great renown. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded". In October (26–29) 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battlefield. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from other non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were:

Among the proposals written in the final resolutions of the conference, adopted on October 29, 1863, were:

• The foundation of national relief societies for wounded soldiers;
• Neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers;
• The utilization of volunteer forces for relief assistance on the battlefield;
• The organization of additional conferences to enact these concepts in legally binding international treaties;
• The introduction of a common distinctive protection symbol for medical personnel in the field, namely a white armlet bearing a red cross.

Memorial commemorating the first use of the Red Cross symbol in an armed conflict during the Battle of Dybbøl (Denmark) in 1864; jointly erected in 1989 by the national Red Cross societies of Denmark and Germany.

A Red Cross nurse. (Theodor Grust, late 19th / early 20th century)

Only one year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On August 22, 1864, the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention: Baden, Belgium, Denmark, France, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Switzerland, Spain, and Württemberg. The convention contained ten articles, establishing for the first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict. Furthermore, the convention defined two specific requirements for recognition of a national relief society by the International Committee:

• The national society must be recognized by its own national government as a relief society according to the convention,
• The national government of the respective country must be a state party to the Geneva Convention.

Directly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies were founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg. Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde, a captain of the Dutch Army, became the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict. Three years later in 1867, the first International Conference of National Aid Societies for the Nursing of the War Wounded was convened.

Also in 1867, Jean-Henri Dunant was forced to declare bankruptcy due to business failures in Algeria, partly because he had neglected his business interests during his tireless activities for the International Committee. Controversy surrounding Dunant's business dealings and the resulting negative public opinion, combined with an ongoing conflict with Gustave Moynier, led to Dunant's expulsion from his position as a member and secretary. He was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy and a warrant for his arrest was issued. Thus, he was forced to leave Geneva and never returned to his home city. In the following years, national societies were founded in nearly every country in Europe. In 1876, the committee adopted the name "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC), which is still its official designation today. Five years later, the American Red Cross was founded through the efforts of Clara Barton. More and more countries signed the Geneva Convention and began to respect it in practice during armed conflicts. In a rather short period of time, the Red Cross gained huge momentum as an internationally respected movement, and the national societies became increasingly popular as a venue for volunteer work.

When the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Jean-Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist. More significant than the honor of the prize itself, the official congratulation from the International Committee of the Red Cross marked the overdue rehabilitation of Jean-Henri Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross. Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of Heiden. Only two months earlier his long-standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving a mark in the history of the Committee as its longest-serving president ever.

In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time. One year later, the Hague Convention X, adopted at the Second International Peace Conference in The Hague, extended the scope of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare. Shortly before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, 50 years after the foundation of the ICRC and the adoption of the first Geneva Convention, there were already 45 national relief societies throughout the world. The movement had extended itself beyond Europe and North America to Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela), Asia (the Republic of China, Japan, Korea, Siam), and Africa (Union of South Africa).

The ICRC during World War I[link]

French postcard celebrating the role of Red Cross nurses during the First World War, 1915

Ernest Hemingway in uniform as a Red Cross ambulance driver

With the outbreak of World War I, the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges that it could handle only by working closely with the national Red Cross societies. Red Cross nurses from around the world, including the United States and Japan, came to support the medical services of the armed forces of the European countries involved in the war. On October 15, 1914, immediately after the start of the war, the ICRC set up its International Prisoners-of-War (POW) Agency, which had about 1,200 mostly volunteer staff members by the end of 1914. By the end of the war, the Agency had transferred about 20 million letters and messages, 1.9 million parcels, and about 18 million Swiss francs in monetary donations to POWs of all affected countries. Furthermore, due to the intervention of the Agency, about 200,000 prisoners were exchanged between the warring parties, released from captivity and returned to their home country. The organizational card index of the Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923, each card representing an individual prisoner or missing person. The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families. The complete index is on loan today from the ICRC to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. The right to access the index is still strictly restricted to the ICRC.

French war casualty wearing a prosthetic mask provided by the American Red Cross, 1918

The same man without his mask

During the entire war, the ICRC monitored warring parties’ compliance with the Geneva Conventions of the 1907 revision and forwarded complaints about violations to the respective country. When chemical weapons were used in this war for the first time in history, the ICRC vigorously protested against this new type of warfare. Even without having a mandate from the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC tried to ameliorate the suffering of civil populations. In territories that were officially designated as "occupied territories," the ICRC could assist the civilian population on the basis of the Hague Convention's "Laws and Customs of War on Land" of 1907. This convention was also the legal basis for the ICRC's work for prisoners of war. In addition to the work of the International Prisoner-of-War Agency as described above this included inspection visits to POW camps. A total of 524 camps throughout Europe were visited by 41 delegates from the ICRC until the end of the war.

Between 1916 and 1918, the ICRC published a number of postcards with scenes from the POW camps. The pictures showed the prisoners in day-to-day activities such as the distribution of letters from home. The intention of the ICRC was to provide the families of the prisoners with some hope and solace and to alleviate their uncertainties about the fate of their loved ones. After the end of the war, the ICRC organized the return of about 420,000 prisoners to their home countries. In 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded League of Nations, which appointed the Norwegian diplomat and scientist Fridtjof Nansen as its "High Commissioner for Repatriation of the War Prisoners." His legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of the League of Nations "High Commissioner for Refugees." Nansen, who invented the Nansen passport for stateless refugees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the ICRC as his deputies.

A year before the end of the war, the ICRC received the 1917 Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding wartime work. It was the only Nobel Peace Prize awarded in the period from 1914 to 1918. In 1923, the International Committee of the Red Cross adopted a change in its policy regarding the selection of new members. Until then, only citizens from the city of Geneva could serve in the Committee. This limitation was expanded to include Swiss citizens. As a direct consequence of World War I, an additional protocol to the Geneva Convention was adopted in 1925 which outlawed the use of suffocating or poisonous gases and biological agents as weapons. Four years later, the original Convention was revised and the second Geneva Convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" was established. The events of World War I and the respective activities of the ICRC significantly increased the reputation and authority of the Committee among the international community and led to an extension of its competencies.

As early as in 1934, a draft proposal for an additional convention for the protection of the civil population during an armed conflict was adopted by the International Red Cross Conference. Unfortunately, most governments had little interest in implementing this convention, and it was thus prevented from entering into force before the beginning of World War II.

The ICRC and World War II[link]

Red Cross message from Łódź, Poland, 1940.

The legal basis of the work of the ICRC during World War II were the Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision. The activities of the Committee were similar to those during World War I: visiting and monitoring POW camps, organizing relief assistance for civilian populations, and administering the exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing persons. By the end of the war, 179 delegates had conducted 12,750 visits to POW camps in 41 countries. The Central Information Agency on Prisoners-of-War (Zentralauskunftsstelle für Kriegsgefangene) had a staff of 3,000, the card index tracking prisoners contained 45 million cards, and 120 million messages were exchanged by the Agency. One major obstacle was that the Nazi-controlled German Red Cross refused to cooperate with the Geneva statutes including blatant violations such as the deportation of Jews from Germany and the mass murders conducted in the Nazi concentration camps. Moreover, two other main parties to the conflict, the Soviet Union and Japan, were not party to the 1929 Geneva Conventions and were not legally required to follow the rules of the conventions.

During the war, the ICRC was unable to obtain an agreement with Nazi Germany about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps, and it eventually abandoned applying pressure in order to avoid disrupting its work with POWs. The ICRC was also unable to obtain a response to reliable information about the extermination camps and the mass killing of European Jews, Roma, et al. After November 1943, the ICRC achieved permission to send parcels to concentration camp detainees with known names and locations. Because the notices of receipt for these parcels were often signed by other inmates, the ICRC managed to register the identities of about 105,000 detainees in the concentration camps and delivered about 1.1 million parcels, primarily to the camps Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen.

It is known that Swiss army officer Maurice Rossel during World War II had been sent to Berlin as a delegate of the International Red Cross, as such he visited Auschwitz 1943 and Theresienstadt 1944. Claude Lanzmann recorded his experiences in 1979, producing a documentary entitled Visitor from the living.^[4]

Marcel Junod, delegate of the ICRC, visiting POWs in Germany.
(© Benoit Junod, Switzerland)

On March 12, 1945, ICRC president Jacob Burckhardt received a message from SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner accepting the ICRC's demand to allow delegates to visit the concentration camps. This agreement was bound by the condition that these delegates would have to stay in the camps until the end of the war. Ten delegates, among them Louis Haefliger (Camp Mauthausen), Paul Dunant (Camp Theresienstadt) and Victor Maurer (Camp Dachau), accepted the assignment and visited the camps. Louis Haefliger prevented the forceful eviction or blasting of Mauthausen-Gusen by alerting American troops, thereby saving the lives of about 60,000 inmates. His actions were condemned by the ICRC because they were deemed as acting unduly on his own authority and risking the ICRC's neutrality. Only in 1990, his reputation was finally rehabilitated by ICRC president Cornelio Sommaruga.

Another example of great humanitarian spirit was Friedrich Born (1903–1963), an ICRC delegate in Budapest who saved the lives of about 11,000 to 15,000 Jewish people in Hungary. Marcel Junod (1904–1961), a physician from Geneva, was another famous delegate during the Second World War. An account of his experiences, which included being one of the first foreigners to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped, can be found in the book Warrior without Weapons.

In 1944, the ICRC received its second Nobel Peace Prize. As in World War I, it received the only Peace Prize awarded during the main period of war, 1939 to 1945. At the end of the war, the ICRC worked with national Red Cross societies to organize relief assistance to those countries most severely affected. In 1948, the Committee published a report reviewing its war-era activities from September 1, 1939 to June 30, 1947. Since January 1996, the ICRC archive for this period has been open to academic and public research.

The ICRC after the Second World War[link]

The ICRC Headquarters in Geneva

On August 12, 1949, further revisions to the existing two Geneva Conventions were adopted. An additional convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea", now called the second Geneva Convention, was brought under the Geneva Convention umbrella as a successor to the 1907 Hague Convention X. The 1929 Geneva convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" may have been the second Geneva Convention from a historical point of view (because it was actually formulated in Geneva), but after 1949 it came to be called the third Convention because it came later chronologically than the Hague Convention. Reacting to the experience of World War II, the Fourth Geneva Convention, a new Convention "relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War," was established. Also, the additional protocols of June 8, 1977 were intended to make the conventions apply to internal conflicts such as civil wars. Today, the four conventions and their added protocols contain more than 600 articles, a remarkable expansion when compared to the mere 10 articles in the first 1864 convention.

In celebration of its centennial in 1963, the ICRC, together with the League of Red Cross Societies, received its third Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1993, non-Swiss individuals have been allowed to serve as Committee delegates abroad, a task which was previously restricted to Swiss citizens. Indeed, since then, the share of staff without Swiss citizenship has increased to about 35%.

On October 16, 1990, the UN General Assembly decided to grant the ICRC observer status for its assembly sessions and sub-committee meetings, the first observer status given to a private organization. The resolution was jointly proposed by 138 member states and introduced by the Italian ambassador, Vieri Traxler, in memory of the organization's origins in the Battle of Solferino. An agreement with the Swiss government signed on March 19, 1993, affirmed the already long-standing policy of full independence of the Committee from any possible interference by Switzerland. The agreement protects the full sanctity of all ICRC property in Switzerland including its headquarters and archive, grants members and staff legal immunity, exempts the ICRC from all taxes and fees, guarantees the protected and duty-free transfer of goods, services, and money, provides the ICRC with secure communication privileges at the same level as foreign embassies, and simplifies Committee travel in and out of Switzerland.

At the end of the Cold War, the ICRC's work actually became more dangerous. In the 1990s, more delegates lost their lives than at any point in its history, especially when working in local and internal armed conflicts. These incidents often demonstrated a lack of respect for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Among the slain delegates were:

• Frédéric Maurice. He died on May 19, 1992 at the age of 39, one day after a Red Cross transport he was escorting was attacked in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo.
• Fernanda Calado (Spain), Ingeborg Foss (Norway), Nancy Malloy (Canada), Gunnhild Myklebust (Norway), Sheryl Thayer (New Zealand), and Hans Elkerbout (Netherlands). They were murdered at point-blank range while sleeping in the early hours of December 17, 1996 in the ICRC field hospital in the Chechen city of Nowije Atagi near Grozny. Their murderers have never been caught and there was no apparent motive for the killings.
• Rita Fox (Switzerland), Véronique Saro (Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire), Julio Delgado (Colombia), Unen Ufoirworth (DR Congo), Aduwe Boboli (DR Congo), and Jean Molokabonge (DR Congo). On April 26, 2001, they were en route with two cars on a relief mission in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo when they came under fatal fire from unknown attackers.
• Ricardo Munguia (El Salvador). He was working as a water engineer in Afghanistan and travelling with local colleagues when their car on March 27, 2003 was stopped by unknown armed men. He was killed execution-style at point-blank range while his colleagues were allowed to escape. He died at the age of 39.
• Vatche Arslanian (Canada). Since 2001, he worked as a logistics coordinator for the ICRC mission in Iraq. He died when he was travelling through Baghdad together with members of the Iraqi Red Crescent. On April 8, 2003 their car accidentally came into the cross fire of fighting in the city.
• Nadisha Yasassri Ranmuthu (Sri Lanka). He was killed by unknown attackers on July 22, 2003 when his car was fired upon near the city of Hilla in the south of Baghdad.
• Emmerich Pregetter (Austria). He was an ICRC Logistics Specialist who was killed by a swarm of killer bees on August 11, 2008 while travelling with a convoy of ICRC trucks carrying construction material for rehabilitation of a surgical health clinic in the area of Jebel Marra, West Darfur, Sudan.

Afghanistan[link]

ICRC is active in the Afghanistan conflict areas and has set up six physical rehabilitation centers to help landmine victims. Their support extends to the national and international armed forces, civilians and the armed opposition. They regularly visit detainees under the custody of the Afghan government and the international armed forces, but have also occasionally had access since 2009 to people detained by the Taliban. ^[5] They have provided basic first aid training and aid kits to both the Afghan security forces and Taliban members because, according to an ICRC spokesperson, "ICRC's constitution stipulates that all parties harmed by warfare will be treated as fairly as possible".^[6]

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)[link]

History[link]

Henry Davison, Founding father of the League of Red Cross societies.
(Picture from: www.redcross.int)

In 1919, representatives from the national Red Cross societies of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the US came together in Paris to found the "League of Red Cross Societies". The original idea was Henry Davison's, then president of the American Red Cross. This move, led by the American Red Cross, expanded the international activities of the Red Cross movement beyond the strict mission of the ICRC to include relief assistance in response to emergency situations which were not caused by war (such as man-made or natural disasters). The ARC already had great disaster relief mission experience extending back to its foundation.

The formation of the League, as an additional international Red Cross organization alongside the ICRC, was not without controversy for a number of reasons. The ICRC had, to some extent, valid concerns about a possible rivalry between both organizations. The foundation of the League was seen as an attempt to undermine the leadership position of the ICRC within the movement and to gradually transfer most of its tasks and competencies to a multilateral institution. In addition to that, all founding members of the League were national societies from countries of the Entente or from associated partners of the Entente. The original statutes of the League from May 1919 contained further regulations which gave the five founding societies a privileged status and, due to the efforts of Henry P. Davison, the right to permanently exclude the national Red Cross societies from the countries of the Central Powers, namely Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, and in addition to that the national Red Cross society of Russia. These rules were contrary to the Red Cross principles of universality and equality among all national societies, a situation which furthered the concerns of the ICRC.

The first relief assistance mission organized by the League was an aid mission for the victims of a famine and subsequent typhus epidemic in Poland. Only five years after its foundation, the League had already issued 47 donation appeals for missions in 34 countries, an impressive indication of the need for this type of Red Cross work. The total sum raised by these appeals reached 685 million Swiss Francs, which were used to bring emergency supplies to the victims of famines in Russia, Germany, and Albania; earthquakes in Chile, Persia, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Turkey; and refugee flows in Greece and Turkey. The first large-scale disaster mission of the League came after the 1923 earthquake in Japan which killed about 200,000 people and left countless more wounded and without shelter. Due to the League's coordination, the Red Cross society of Japan received goods from its sister societies reaching a total worth of about $100 million. Another important new field initiated by the League was the creation of youth Red Cross organizations within the national societies.

A stamp from Turkey to support the Red Crescent, 1938.

A joint mission of the ICRC and the League in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922 marked the first time the movement was involved in an internal conflict, although still without an explicit mandate from the Geneva Conventions. The League, with support from more than 25 national societies, organized assistance missions and the distribution of food and other aid goods for civil populations affected by hunger and disease. The ICRC worked with the Russian Red Cross society and later the society of the Soviet Union, constantly emphasizing the ICRC's neutrality. In 1928, the "International Council" was founded to coordinate cooperation between the ICRC and the League, a task which was later taken over by the "Standing Commission". In the same year, a common statute for the movement was adopted for the first time, defining the respective roles of the ICRC and the League within the movement.

During the Abyssinian war between Ethiopia and Italy from 1935 to 1936, the League contributed aid supplies worth about 1.7 million Swiss Francs. Because the Italian fascist regime under Benito Mussolini refused any cooperation with the Red Cross, these goods were delivered solely to Ethiopia. During the war, an estimated 29 people lost their lives while being under explicit protection of the Red Cross symbol, most of them due to attacks by the Italian Army. During the Civil War in Spain from 1936 to 1939 the League once again joined forces with the ICRC with the support of 41 national societies. In 1939 on the brink of the Second World War, the League relocated its headquarters from Paris to Geneva to take advantage of Swiss neutrality.

Peace Nobel Prize ceremony in 1963; From left to right: Crown Prince Harald of Norway, King Olav of Norway, ICRC President Leopold Boissier, League Chairman John A. MacAulay.
(Picture from: www.redcross.int)

In 1952, the 1928 common statute of the movement was revised for the first time. Also, the period of decolonization from 1960 to 1970 was marked by a huge jump in the number of recognized national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. By the end of the 1960s, there were more than 100 societies around the world. On December 10, 1963, the Federation and the ICRC received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1983, the League was renamed to the "League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies" to reflect the growing number of national societies operating under the Red Crescent symbol. Three years later, the seven basic principles of the movement as adopted in 1965 were incorporated into its statutes. The name of the League was changed again in 1991 to its current official designation the "International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies". In 1997, the ICRC and the IFRC signed the Seville Agreement which further defined the responsibilities of both organizations within the movement. In 2004, the IFRC began its largest mission to date after the tsunami disaster in South Asia. More than 40 national societies have worked with more than 22,000 volunteers to bring relief to the countless victims left without food and shelter and endangered by the risk of epidemics.

Presidents of the IFRC[link]

As of November 2009, the president of the IFRC is Tadateru Konoe (Japanese Red Cross). The vice presidents are Paul Bierch (Kenya), Jaslin Uriah Salmon (Jamaica), Mohamed El Maadid (Qatar) and Bengt Westerberg (Sweden).^{[citation needed]}

Former presidents (until 1977 titled "Chairman") have been:

Activities[link]

Organization of the Movement[link]

Entry to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva.

Altogether, there are about 97 million people worldwide who serve with the ICRC, the International Federation, and the National Societies.

The 1965 International Conference in Vienna adopted seven basic principles which should be shared by all parts of the Movement, and they were added to the official statutes of the Movement in 1986.

• Humanity
• Impartiality
• Neutrality
• Independence
• Voluntary Service
• Unity
• Universality

The International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which occurs once every four years, is the highest institutional body of the Movement. It gathers delegations from all of the national societies as well as from the ICRC, the IFRC and the signatory states to the Geneva Conventions. In between the conferences, the Standing Commission acts as the supreme body and supervises implementation of and compliance with the resolutions of the conference. In addition, the Standing Commission coordinates the cooperation between the ICRC and the IFRC. It consists of two representatives from the ICRC (including its president), two from the IFRC (including its president), and five individuals who are elected by the International Conference. The Standing Commission convenes every six months on average. Moreover, a convention of the Council of Delegates of the Movement takes place every two years in the course of the conferences of the General Assembly of the International Federation. The Council of Delegates plans and coordinates joint activities for the Movement.

Activities and Organization of the ICRC[link]

The mission of the ICRC and its responsibilities within the Movement[link]

Emblem of the ICRC

The official mission of the ICRC as an impartial, neutral, and independent organization is to stand for the protection of the life and dignity of victims of international and internal armed conflicts. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, it is the "Lead Agency" of the Movement in conflicts. The core tasks of the Committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes, are the following:

• to monitor compliance of warring parties with the Geneva Conventions
• to organize nursing and care for those who are wounded on the battlefield
• to supervise the treatment of prisoners of war
• to help with the search for missing persons in an armed conflict (tracing service)
• to organize protection and care for civil populations
• to arbitrate between warring parties in an armed conflict

Legal status and organization[link]

The ICRC is headquartered in the Swiss city of Geneva and has external offices in about 80 countries. It has about 12,000 staff members worldwide, about 800 of them working in its Geneva headquarters, 1,200 expatriates with about half of them serving as delegates managing its international missions and the other half being specialists like doctors, agronomists, engineers or interpreters, and about 10,000 members of individual national societies working on site. Contrary to popular belief, the ICRC is not a non-governmental organization in the most common sense of the term, nor is it an international organization. As it limits its members (a process called cooptation) to Swiss nationals only, it does not have a policy of open and unrestricted membership for individuals like other legally defined NGOs. The word "international" in its name does not refer to its membership but to the worldwide scope of its activities as defined by the Geneva Conventions. The ICRC has special privileges and legal immunities in many countries, based on national law in these countries or through agreements between the Committee and respective national governments. According to Swiss law, the ICRC is defined as a private association. According to its statutes it consists of 15 to 25 Swiss-citizen members, which it coopts for a period of four years. There is no limit to the number of terms an individual member can have although a three-quarters majority of all members is required for re-election after the third term.

The leading organs of the ICRC are the Directorate and the Assembly. The Directorate is the executive body of the Committee. It consists of a General Director and five directors in the areas of "Operations", "Human Resources", "Resources and Operational Support", "Communication", and "International Law and Cooperation within the Movement". The members of the Directorate are appointed by the Assembly to serve for four years. The Assembly, consisting of all of the members of the Committee, convenes on a regular basis and is responsible for defining aims, guidelines, and strategies and for supervising the financial matters of the Committee. The president of the Assembly is also the president of the Committee as a whole. Furthermore, the Assembly elects a five member Assembly Council which has the authority to decide on behalf of the full Assembly in some matters. The Council is also responsible for organizing the Assembly meetings and for facilitating communication between the Assembly and the Directorate.

Due to Geneva's location in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the ICRC usually acts under its French name Comité international de la Croix-Rouge (CICR). The official symbol of the ICRC is the Red Cross on white background with the words "COMITE INTERNATIONAL GENEVE" circling the cross.

Funding and financial matters[link]

The 2009 budget of the ICRC amounts more than 1 billion Swiss Francs. Most of that money comes from the States, including Switzerland in its capacity as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, from national Red Cross societies, the signatory states of the Geneva Conventions, and from international organizations like the European Union. All payments to the ICRC are voluntary and are received as donations based on two types of appeals issued by the Committee: an annual Headquarters Appeal to cover its internal costs and Emergency Appeals for its individual missions.

The ICRC is asking donors for more than 1.1 billion Swiss francs to fund its work in 2010. Afghanistan is projected to become the ICRC’s biggest humanitarian operation (at 86 million Swiss francs, an 18% increase over the initial 2009 budget), followed by Iraq (85 million francs) and Sudan (76 million francs). The initial 2010 field budget for medical activities of 132 million francs represents an increase of 12 million francs over 2009.

Activities and organization of the International Federation[link]

The Mission of the IFRC and its responsibilities within the Movement[link]

Emblem of the IFRC

The IFRC coordinates cooperation between national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world and supports the foundation of new national societies in countries where no official society exists. On the international stage, the IFRC organizes and leads relief assistance missions after emergencies such as natural disasters, manmade disasters, epidemics, mass refugee flights, and other emergencies. As per the 1997 Seville Agreement, the IFRC is the Lead Agency of the Movement in any emergency situation which does not take place as part of an armed conflict. The IFRC cooperates with the national societies of those countries affected – each called the Operating National Society (ONS) – as well as the national societies of other countries willing to offer assistance – called Participating National Societies (PNS). Among the 187 national societies admitted to the General Assembly of the International Federation as full members or observers, about 25–30 regularly work as PNS in other countries. The most active of those are the American Red Cross, the British Red Cross, the German Red Cross, and the Red Cross societies of Sweden and Norway. Another major mission of the IFRC which has gained attention in recent years is its commitment to work towards a codified, worldwide ban on the use of land mines and to bring medical, psychological, and social support for people injured by land mines.

The tasks of the IFRC can therefore be summarized as follows:

• to promote humanitarian principles and values
• to provide relief assistance in emergency situations of large magnitude, such as natural disasters
• to support the national societies with disaster preparedness through the education of voluntary members and the provision of equipment and relief supplies
• to support local health care projects
• to support the national societies with youth-related activities

Legal status and organization[link]

The IFRC has its headquarters in Geneva. It also runs five zone offices (Africa, Americas, Asia Pacific, Europe, Middle East-North Africa), 14 permanent regional offices and has about 350 delegates in more than 60 delegations around the world. The legal basis for the work of the IFRC is its constitution. The executive body of the IFRC is a secretariat, led by a Secretary General. The secretariat is supported by five divisions including "Programme Services", "Humanitarian values and humanitarian diplomacy", "National Society and Knowledge Development" and "Governance and Management Services".

The highest decision making body of the IFRC is its General Assembly, which convenes every two years with delegates from all of the national societies. Among other tasks, the General Assembly elects the Secretary General. Between the convening of General Assemblies, the Governing Board is the leading body of the IFRC. It has the authority to make decisions for the IFRC in a number of areas. The Governing Board consists of the president and the vice presidents of the IFRC, the chairpersons of the Finance and Youth Commissions, and twenty elected representatives from national societies.

The symbol of the IFRC is the combination of the Red Cross (left) and Red Crescent (right) on a white background surrounded by a red rectangular frame.

Funding and financial matters[link]

The main parts of the budget of the IFRC are funded by contributions from the national societies which are members of the IFRC and through revenues from its investments. The exact amount of contributions from each member society is established by the Finance Commission and approved by the General Assembly. Any additional funding, especially for unforeseen expenses for relief assistance missions, is raised by "appeals"^[7] published by the IFRC and comes for voluntary donations by national societies, governments, other organizations, corporations, and individuals.

National societies within the Movement[link]

Official Recognition of a national society[link]

National Red Cross and Red Crescent societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Within their home country, they take on the duties and responsibilities of a national relief society as defined by International Humanitarian Law. Within the Movement, the ICRC is responsible for legally recognizing a relief society as an official national Red Cross or Red Crescent society. The exact rules for recognition are defined in the statutes of the Movement. Article 4 of these statutes contains the "Conditions for recognition of National Societies."^[8]

In order to be recognized in terms of Article 5, paragraph 2 b) as a National Society, the Society shall meet the following conditions:

1. Be constituted on the territory of an independent State where the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field is in force.
2. Be the only National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society of the said State and be directed by a central body which shall alone be competent to represent it in its dealings with other components of the Movement.
3. Be duly recognized by the legal government of its country on the basis of the Geneva Conventions and of the national legislation as a voluntary aid society, auxiliary to the public authorities in the humanitarian field.
4. Have an autonomous status which allows it to operate in conformity with the Fundamental Principles of the Movement.
5. Use the name and emblem of the Red Cross or Red Crescent in conformity with the Geneva Conventions.
6. Be so organized as to be able to fulfill the tasks defined in its own statutes, including the preparation in peace time for its statutory tasks in case of armed conflict.
7. Extend its activities to the entire territory of the State.
8. Recruit its voluntary members and its staff without consideration of race, sex, class, religion or political opinions.
9. Adhere to the present Statutes, share in the fellowship which unites the components of the Movement and co-operate with them.
10. Respect the Fundamental Principles of the Movement and be guided in its work by the principles of international humanitarian law.

After recognition by the ICRC, a national society is admitted as a member to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. However some National Societies have severely objected to the recognition and admission process by claiming its unfair execution by ICRC and IFRC as in the process of recognition of North Cyprus Red Crescent. Although there are two national societies, namely North Cyprus Red Crescent Society and Cyrprus Red Cross, in the two countries existing in the Island and Cyprus Red Cross has no accessibility to North, ICRC declared its will to recognize Cyprus Red Cross.^[9]

Activities of national societies on a national and international stage[link]

Despite formal independence regarding its organizational structure and work, each national society is still bound by the laws of its home country. In many countries, national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies enjoy exceptional privileges due to agreements with their governments or specific "Red Cross Laws" granting full independence as required by the International Movement. The duties and responsibilities of a national society as defined by International Humanitarian Law and the statutes of the Movement include humanitarian aid in armed conflicts and emergency crises such as natural disasters. Depending on their respective human, technical, financial, and organizational resources, many national societies take on additional humanitarian tasks within their home countries such as Blood donation services or acting as civilian Emergency Medical Service (EMS) providers. The ICRC and the International Federation cooperate with the national societies in their international missions, especially with human, material, and financial resources and organizing on-site logistics.

History of the emblems[link]

Emblems in use[link]

The Red Cross[link]

The flag of Switzerland, from which the original Red Cross is said to have been derived

The Red Cross emblem was officially approved in Geneva in 1863.^[10]

The Red Cross flag is not to be confused with the St George's Cross which is on the flag of England, Barcelona, Freiburg, and several other places. In order to avoid this confusion the protected symbol is sometimes referred to as the "Greek Red Cross"; that term is also used in United States law to describe the Red Cross. The red cross of the St George cross extends to the edge of the flag, whereas the red cross on the Red Cross flag does not.

The Red Cross flag is often confused with the Flag of Switzerland which is the opposite of it. In 1906, to put an end to the argument of Turkey that the flag took its roots from Christianity, it was decided to promote officially the idea that the Red Cross flag had been formed by reversing the federal colours of Switzerland, although no clear evidence of this origin had ever been found.^[11]

The Red Crescent[link]

The Red Crescent emblem was first used by ICRC volunteers during the armed conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Russia (1877–1878). The symbol was officially adopted in 1929, and so far 33 Islamic states have recognized it.

The Red Crystal[link]

On December 8, 2005, in response to growing pressure to accommodate Magen David Adom as a full member of the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement, a new emblem (officially the Third Protocol Emblem, but more commonly known as the Red Crystal) was adopted by an amendment of the Geneva Conventions known as Protocol III.

Recognized emblems in disuse[link]

The Red Lion and Sun[link]

The Red Lion and Sun Society of Iran was established in 1922 and admitted to the Red Cross and Red Crescent movement in 1923.^[12] However, some report the symbol was introduced at Geneva in 1864^{[citation needed][13]} as a counter example to the crescent and cross used by two of Iran's rivals, the Ottoman and the Russian empires. Though that claim is inconsistent with the Red Crescent's history, that history also suggests that the Red Lion and Sun, like the Red Crescent, may have been conceived during the 1877–1878 war between Russia and Turkey.

In 1980, because of the association of the emblem with the Shah, the newly proclaimed Islamic Republic of Iran replaced the Red Lion and Sun with the Red Crescent, consistent with most other Muslim nations. Though the Red Lion and Sun has now fallen into disuse, Iran has in the past reserved the right to take it up again at any time; the Geneva Conventions continue to recognize it as an official emblem, and that status was confirmed by Protocol III in 2005 even as it added the Red Crystal.^[14]

Unrecognized emblems[link]

The Red Star of David (Magen David Adom)[link]

For over 50 years, Israel requested the addition of a red Star of David, arguing that since Christian and Muslim emblems were recognized, the corresponding Jewish emblem should be as well. This emblem has been used since 1935 by Magen David Adom (MDA), or Red Star of David, the national first-aid society of Israel, but it is still not recognized by the Geneva Conventions as a protected symbol.^[15]

The Red Cross and Red Crescent movement repeatedly rejected Israel's request over the years, stating that the Red Cross emblem was not meant to represent Christianity but was a color reversal of the Swiss flag, and also that if Jews (or another group) were to be given another emblem, there would be no end to the number of religious or other groups claiming an emblem for themselves, although the movement recognised the Muslim Red Crescent. They reasoned that a proliferation of red symbols would detract from the original intention of the Red Cross emblem, which was to be a single emblem to mark vehicles and buildings protected on humanitarian grounds.

Certain Arab nations, such as Syria, also protested the entry of MDA into the Red Cross movement, making consensus impossible for a time. However, from 2000 to 2006 the American Red Cross withheld its dues (a total of $42 million) to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) because of IFRC's refusal to admit MDA;^[16] this ultimately led to the creation of the Red Crystal emblem and the admission of MDA on June 22, 2006.

The Red Star of David is not recognized as a protected symbol outside Israel; instead the MDA uses the Red Crystal emblem during international operations in order to ensure protection. Depending on the circumstances, it may place the Red Star of David inside the Red Crystal, or use the Red Crystal alone.

Criticism[link]

The Australian TV network ABC and the indigenous rights group Friends of Peoples Close to Nature released a documentary called Blood on the Cross that alleges the involvement of the Red Cross with the British military in conducting a massacre in the Southern Highlands of West Papua in connection with the WWF^{[when defined as?] [discuss]} hostage crisis of May 1996.^[17][18] Following the broadcast of the documentary, the Red Cross announced publicly that it would appoint an individual outside the organization to investigate the allegations made in the film and any responsibility on its part. The report categorically states that the Red Cross personnel accused of involvement were proven not to have been present; that a white helicopter was probably used in a military operation, but the helicopter was not a Red Cross helicopter, and must have been painted by one of several military organizations operating in the region at the time, possibly including the British military, although no hard evidence was found for this; and that the Red Cross should have responded more quickly and thoroughly to investigate the allegations than it did.

Allegations of poor governance and concern over accountability and transparency within certain national societies have led to high profile resignations.^[19]

See also[link]

• Accountable Fundraising
• Emblems of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
• First Aid Convention Europe
• International Committee of the Red Cross
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• List of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• Red Swastika Society
• Roerich Pact

References[link]

Further reading[link]

Books[link]

• Bennett, Angela. The Geneva Convention: The Hidden Origins of the Red Cross. Sutton Publishing, Gloucestershire, England, 2005. ISBN 0-7509-4147-2
• Boissier, Pierre. History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume I: From Solferino to Tsushima. Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva, 1985. ISBN 2-88044-012-2
• Bugnion, François. The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Protection of War Victims. ICRC & Macmillan (ref. 0503), Geneva, 2003. ISBN 0-333-74771-2
• Dunant, Henry. A Memory of Solferino. ICRC, Geneva 1986. ISBN 2-88145-006-7
• Durand, André. History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume II: From Sarajevo to Hiroshima. Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva, 1984. ISBN 2-88044-009-2
• Farmborough, Florence. With the Armies of the Tsar: A Nurse at the Russian Front 1914-1918. Stein and Day, New York, 1975. ISBN 0-8128-1793-1
• Favez, Jean-Claude. The Red Cross and the Holocaust, Cambridge University Press, 1999.
• Forsythe, David P. Humanitarian Politics: The International Committee of the Red Cross. Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1978. ISBN 0-8018-1983-0
• Forsythe, David P. The Humanitarians: The International Committee of the Red Cross. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005. ISBN 0-521-61281-0
• Haug, Hans. Humanity for All: The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva in association with Paul Haupt Publishers, Bern, 1993. ISBN 3-258-04719-7
• Handbook of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. 13th edition, International Committee of the Red Cross, Geneva, 1994. ISBN 2-88145-074-1
• Hutchinson, John F. Champions of Charity: War and the Rise of the Red Cross. Westview Press, Boulder, Colorado, 1997. ISBN 0-8133-3367-9
• Moorehead, Caroline. Dunant's Dream: War, Switzerland and the History of the Red Cross. HarperCollins, London, 1998. ISBN 0-00-255141-1 (Hardcover edition); HarperCollins, London 1999, ISBN 0-00-638883-3 (Paperback edition)
• Willemin, Georges; Heacock, Roger. International Organization and the Evolution of World Society. Volume 2: The International Committee of the Red Cross. Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Boston, 1984. ISBN 90-247-3064-3

Journal articles[link]

• Bugnion, François. The emblem of the Red Cross: a brief history. ICRC (ref. 0316), Geneva, 1977.
• Bugnion, François. Towards a comprehensive Solution to the Question of the Emblem. Revised 4th edition. ICRC (ref. 0778), Geneva, 2006.
• Forsythe, David P. "The International Committee of the Red Cross and International Humanitarian Law." In: Humanitäres Völkerrecht - Informationsschriften. The Journal of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict. 2/2003, German Red Cross and Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, p. 64–77. ISSN 0937-5414
• Lavoyer, Jean-Philippe; Maresca, Louis. The Role of the ICRC in the Development of International Humanitarian Law. In: International Negotiation. 4(3)/1999. Brill Academic Publishers, p. 503–527. ISSN 1382-340X
• Walters, William C. (2004). An assessment of the capacity of the Red Cross National Societies to address the psychological and social needs of survivors of disasters and complex emergencies in Central and South America (M.S.W. thesis). Wilfrid Laurier University. 
• Wylie, Neville. The Sound of Silence: The History of the International Committee of the Red Cross as Past and Present. In: Diplomacy and Statecraft. 13(4)/2002. Routledge/ Taylor & Francis, p. 186–204, ISSN 0959-2296

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

• International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)
• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)
• Our world. Your move. (ICRC-IFRC)
• Red Cross Red Crescent, magazine of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
• Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
• International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent
• International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement in the Dodis database of the Diplomatic Documents of Switzerland

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