helping each other, is worldwide. international conference and the standing commission 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 of the red cross and red crescent 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. international committee of the red cross (icrc) mission the emblem of the international committee of the red cross (french: comité international de la croix-rouge) 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. responsibilities 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 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. according to swiss law, the icrc is defined as a private association. 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 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 the 2009 budget of the icrc amounts to 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 asked donors for more than 1.1 billion swiss francs to fund its work in 2010. afghanistan was 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 represented an increase of 12 million francs over 2009. international federation of red cross and red crescent societies (ifrc) mission and responsibilities emblem of the ifrc the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies 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 van of the italian red cross 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 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" published by the ifrc and comes for voluntary donations by national societies, governments, other organizations, corporations, and individuals. national societies official recognition an ambulance owned by the mexican red cross an israeli stamp commemorating the 25th anniversary of magen david adom, issued 11 january 1955 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": in order to be recognized in terms of article 5, paragraph 2 b) as a national society, the society shall meet the following conditions: 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. be the only national red cross and-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. 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. have an autonomous status which allows it to operate in conformity with the fundamental principles of the movement. use the name and emblem of the red cross or red crescent in conformity with the geneva conventions. 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. extend its activities to the entire territory of the state. recruit its voluntary members and its staff without consideration of race, sex, class, religion or political opinions. adhere to the present statutes, share in the fellowship which unites the components of the movement and co-operate with them. respect the fundamental principles of the movement and be guided in its work by the principles of international humanitarian law. once a national society has been recognized by the icrc as a component of the international red cross and red crescent movement (the movement), it is in principle admitted to the international federation of red cross and red crescent societies in accordance with the terms defined in the constitution and rules of procedure of the international federation. today, there are 192 national societies recognized within the movement and which are members of the international federation. the most recent national societies to have been recognized within the movement are the