maldives red crescent society (9 november 2011), the cyprus red cross society, the south sudan red cross society (12 november 2013) and, the last, the tuvalu red cross society (on 1 march 2016). activities the logistics centre of the finnish red cross in tampere, finland 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 through activities such as restoring family links. 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. the russian red cross supports the organisation myvmeste, which supports the russian army with their 2022 russian invasion of ukraine through their "everything for victory" fund. history of the emblems red cross the flag of switzerland – basis of the original red cross the red cross emblem was officially approved in geneva in 1863. the red cross flag is not to be confused with the saint george's cross depicted on the flags of england, barcelona, georgia, freiburg im breisgau, 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 saint 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 the colour-switched version of the flag of switzerland, in recognition of "the pioneering work of swiss citizens in establishing internationally recognized standards for the protection of wounded combatants and military medical facilities." in 1906, to put an end to the argument of the ottoman empire that the flag took its roots from christianity, it was decided officially to promote the idea that the red cross flag had been formed by reversing the federal colours of switzerland, although no written evidence of this origin had ever been found. the 1899 convention signed at the hague extended the use of the red cross flag to naval ensigns, requiring that "all hospital ships shall make themselves known by hoisting, together with their national flag, the white flag with a red cross provided by the geneva convention." red crescent flag of the ottoman empire (later turkey) – basis of original red crescent the red crescent emblem was first used by icrc volunteers during the armed conflict of 1876–1878 between the ottoman empire and the russian empire. the symbol was officially adopted in 1929, and so far 33 states in the muslim world have recognized it. in common with the official promotion of the red cross symbol as a colour-reversal of the swiss flag (rather than a religious symbol), the red crescent is similarly presented as being derived from a colour-reversal of the flag of the ottoman empire. red crystal international emblem for magen david adom outside israel. the international committee of the red cross (icrc) was concerned with the possibility that the two previous symbols (red cross and red crescent) were conveying religious meanings which would not be compatible with, for example, a majority hindu or buddhist country from the asia-pacific region, where the majority did not associate with these symbols. therefore, in 1992, the then-president cornelio sommaruga decided that a third, more neutral symbol was required. on 8 december 2005, in response to growing pressure to accommodate magen david adom (mda), israel's national emergency medical, disaster, ambulance, and blood bank service, 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, thereby fulfilling sommaruga's call. the crystal can be found on official buildings and occasionally in the field. this symbolises equality and has no political, religious, or geographical connotations, thus allowing any country not comfortable with the symbolism of the original two flags to join the movement. red lion and sun the red lion and sun society of iran was established in 1922 and admitted to the red cross and red crescent movement in 1923. the symbol was introduced at geneva in 1864, as a counter example to the crescent and cross used by two of iran's rivals, the ottoman and the russian empires. although 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. due to the emblem's association with the iranian monarchy, the islamic republic of iran replaced the red lion and sun with the red crescent in 1980, consistent with two existing red cross and red crescent symbols. although 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. red star of david a magen david adom worker in the tel aviv civil defense, 1939 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 by magen david adom (mda), or red star of david, but it is not recognized by the geneva conventions as a protected symbol. the first use of the "magen david adom" was during the anglo boer war in south africa (1899–1902) when it was used by the ambulance corps founded by ben zion aaron in johannesburg as a first aid corps to assist the boer forces. permission was given by president paul kruger of the south african republic for the star of david to be used as its insignia, rather than the conventional red cross. 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. hostage crisis allegations the australian tv network abc and the indigenous rights group rettet die naturvölker released a documentary called blood on the cross in 1999. it alleged the involvement of the red cross with the british and indonesian military in a massacre in the southern highlands of western new guinea during the world wildlife fund's mapenduma hostage crisis of may 1996, when western and indonesian activists were held hostage by separatists. 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. piotr obuchowicz was appointed to investigate the matter. 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. perhaps the red cross logo itself was also used, although no hard evidence was found for this; that this was part of the military operation to free the hostages, but was clearly intended to achieve surprise by deceiving the local people into thinking that a red cross helicopter was landing; and that the red cross should have responded more quickly and thoroughly to investigate the allegations than it did.