Red Crystal emblem

How to read it

States adopted it in December 2005 in Protocol III additional to the Geneva Conventions, which came into force on 14 January 2007, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) records. It was made an emblem devoid of any national, political or religious connotation, so that a country unwilling to adopt the red cross or the red crescent could join the Movement as a full member, and so that the cross and the crescent could be used together. UK law describes it as “a red frame in the shape of a square on edge on a white ground”. Like the older emblems it has a protective use in armed conflict and an indicative use, the distinction Article 44 of the First Geneva Convention makes.

Also searched as: red crystal, red crystal symbol, red diamond emblem, third protocol emblem.

What can go inside it

The working group of states and National Societies that prepared it, the ICRC says, wanted a design into which a National Society could insert a cross or a crescent, a cross and a crescent side by side, or any other symbol already in use and communicated to Switzerland, the depositary of the Geneva Conventions, and to the ICRC. The ICRC’s archive blog adds that a National Society using the crystal may incorporate another emblem within it once that has been communicated to the other states party, and may then use that emblem’s name and display it within its own territory. UK law protects the crystal whether or not another emblem is incorporated in it.

Why a third emblem

The 1949 conference kept the other emblems for the countries that already used them and refused others, among them the red shield of David asked for by the Israeli delegation, according to the ICRC’s archive blog. Other proposals came later, among them a red palm (Syria), a red wheel (India) and a red lamb (Zaire), and all were rejected. With only the cross and the crescent recognized, the blog says, the Movement was sometimes seen as biased in favour of Christians and Muslims. In 1992 the ICRC’s president called publicly for an additional emblem with no national, political or religious connotation. The crystal was chosen for its generally positive associations, including with water, and its simple design, and the ICRC ran visibility tests with the help of the Swiss armed forces to check that it protected as well as the cross and the crescent.

The law in the United Kingdom and the United States

The UK gave effect to Protocol III in the Geneva Conventions and United Nations Personnel (Protocols) Act 2009. Its explanatory notes say the Red Crystal has the same status as the Red Cross and Red Crescent, that a grave breach of the Protocol is punishable by up to thirty years’ imprisonment, and that unauthorised use of the emblem is punishable by a fine up to level 5 on the standard scale. In the United States, 18 U.S.C. § 706a makes use of the “Third Protocol Emblem”, an imitation of it or its name an offence punishable by a fine or up to six months in prison. Uses that were lawful on or before 8 December 2005 are excepted, if they would not appear in armed conflict to claim the protection of the Geneva Conventions.