Ref. CD-E-00064

In order to discharge the humanitarian mission conferred on it by the international community, the ICRC needs to be able to count on a first-rate staff: its activities are carried out by over 11,000 staff members working in one of 70 field offices worldwide.

That impressive human resource figure makes the ICRC one of the biggest emergency humanitarian organizations working in areas of armed conflict and violence today. ICRC staff members have widely varying responsibilities and tasks, depending on their function and the context in which they work. They strive to provide protection and assistance to the victims of conflicts: the wounded, prisoners, the families of missing persons, displaced persons, threatened civilian populations, etc.

The expatriates

The roughly one thousand ICRC expatriates on mission throughout the world are responsible for ICRC operations in the field. Because of their origins and their expatriate status, they are not personally involved in the conflict situations in which they work. Their position as outsiders enables them to assume responsibility for ICRC activities, without encountering the difficulties - in some cases the risks - inherent in the position of delegation employees, who have local roots.

Half of all expatriates are delegates, men and women charged by the ICRC to represent the organization. They carry out the tasks stipulated in the Geneva Conventions for the protection of the victims of armed conflicts. The other expatriates - about 50% - are specialized in a technical field: they are doctors, secretaries, engineers, interpreters, administrators, etc.

Delegation employees

The expatriates work in close cooperation with delegation employees, who are hired locally. Numbering about 8,000 in all, delegation employees provide support for ICRC activities. They bring to the operation their knowledge of and the skills they have learned in the local context They work as field officers, logistics officers, programme coordinators, secretaries, interpreters, drivers, etc.