Red Cross law31-10-1995 Article, International Review of the Red Cross, No. 308, by Franois Bugnion Franois Bugnion, Arts graduate and Doctor of Political Science, entered the service of the ICRC in 1970. He served the institution in Israel and the occupied territories (1970-1972), in Bangladesh (1973-1974) and more briefly in Turkey and Cyprus (1974), Chad (1978), Viet Nam and Cambodia (1979). Since 1989, he has been Deputy Director on the ICRC Department for Principles, Law and Relations with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. He is the author of: Le Comit international de la Croix-Rouge et la protection des victimes de la guerre (ICRC, Geneva, 1994). 1. Introduction The International Committee is a Red Cross institution. It takes part in the deliberations of the International Conferences and other statutory bodies of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement of which it is the founder; but it may also be subject to rules laid down by those statutory bodies.1 What is the impact of the rules and resolutions adopted by the Movements statutory bodies vis-vis the ICRC, the National Societies and their Federation on the one hand, and the States party to the Geneva Conventions on the other? In any study of the formal sources of the rules applicable to the International Committee in current humanitaian law, these questions must be examined.As the Red Cross issued from a private initiative, one might see Red Cross law - meaning all the rules drawn up by the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement - as an autonomous legal system having no relevance to international law. But this would be quite wrong.Indeed, despite the essentially private origins of the Movements constituent parts - the National Societies, the ICRC and the Federation - there can be no denying that the deliberations and actions of the International Red Cross are of concern to public international law. Three points should be made:(a) The States party to the Geneva Conventions take part in the Movements International Conferences; they are represented by delegates with sufficient powers for them to participate in the debates and to vote in accordance with the instructions of their governments; these delegates therefore legitimately represent the States whose official position they put forward; the participation of government delegates gives the International Conferences an element of public authority which cannot be disregarded by international law;2 (b) the Red Cross and Red Crescent institutions are subject to rules of public international law and carry out activities that are governed by the law of nations; because of this, it may be argued that they possess some measure of international legal personality;(c) the Red Cross and Red Crescent institutions themselves contribute to the formation of international humanitarian law, both by their activities and by the drafting of legal instruments which are then submitted to diplomatic conferences.It can there fore be concluded that, although the Red Cross and Red Crescent institutions are governed essentially by private law, by virtue of their composition and their statutes, their actions, and in particular the proceedings of the International Conferences, have a certain relevance to public international law. Consequently, it must be determined what impact the actions of the Movement have on its members on the one hand and on the States party to the Geneva Conventions on the other.Before considering these questions, a reminder of the composition and attributions of the statutory bodies of the International Red Cross is in order.2. The statutory bodies of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement From the outset, the Red Cross differed from other charitable organizations that flourished during the second half of the nineteenth century in two basic respects: the permanent nature and the international aspirations of the institutions set up on the basis of the resolutions adopted at the Geneva Conference of October 1863 which gave birth to the Red Cross.In order to preserve the bonds of solidarity that united them across national borders, the Red Cross Societies were to meet regularly, as laid down by Article 9 of the 1863 resolutions: The Committees and Sections of different countries may meet in international assemblies to communicate the results of their experience and to agree on measures to be taken in the interest of the work .3 The International Committee, as promoter of the Red Cross and guardian of its Fundamental Princples, has always played an active part in such assemblies; the League, as the federation of the National Societies, took part from 1921.Moreover, from the v ery start the Red Cross has placed its work in the context of international relations and the law of nations.To achieve its aims, therefore, the Red Cross needed to associate the States with its activities. This was done at two levels: nationa