Red Cross emblem

How to read it

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) describes two uses. The protective use, in armed conflict, marks medical services, buildings, vehicles and personnel of the armed forces and some humanitarian organizations: the emblem is red on white with nothing added, displayed large, and a deliberate attack on a person, building or equipment bearing it is a war crime under international law. The indicative use is mainly a peacetime one: National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies use the emblem as a logo to show they belong to the Movement, and in wartime that logo must stay small and off armbands and roofs.

Also searched as: red crescent, red cross symbol, red crystal.

Who may display it

In armed conflict, according to the ICRC, the protective emblem may be displayed by the armed forces’ medical staff, facilities and vehicles and their religious personnel, and by civilian hospitals and medical staff caring for the wounded and sick with the government’s permission. The ICRC and the International Federation may use it at all times. In peacetime, ambulances and first-aid stations that give free treatment may display it under national law with the express authorization of the National Society.

Misuse

The ICRC counts two kinds of misuse: displaying the emblem without the right to, and imitation, meaning any symbol whose shape and colour could be confused with it. Its examples of people who are not authorized include a health practitioner with an emblem at their clinic, a pharmacy with a red cross or red crescent on its shop sign, and a company using the emblem on a product or advertisement. The Geneva Conventions require each state party to pass national laws on the emblems’ use and misuse. In the United States, 18 U.S.C. § 706 makes it an offence for anyone other than the American Red Cross and the armed forces’ medical services to use a Greek red cross on a white ground or an imitation, punishable by a fine or up to six months in prison; uses that were lawful when the law was enacted in 1948 are excepted.

Red cross, red crescent and red crystal

The ICRC dates the first emblem to the First Geneva Convention of 1864, when governments chose a red cross on white, the reverse of the flag of neutral Switzerland. Just over a decade later, during the Russo-Turkish war, the Ottoman Empire adopted the red crescent, and Persia adopted its own sign, the red lion and sun; governments recognized all three in 1929. Iran dropped the red lion and sun for the red crescent in 1980. In 2005 governments adopted the red crystal, a further protective sign without national, political or religious connotation.