Press Releases
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Donor Support Group Annual Meeting
The annual meeting of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Donor Support Group, co-chaired by Japan, was held on 13-14 June at Mita Kaigisho.
- The ICRC Donor Support Group (DSG) is composed of 23 major donor countries and organizations of the ICRC and holds its annual meeting on a rotating basis. Japan hosted the annual meeting for the second time since 2012, with a total of 38 participants from 22 countries and organizations (including Japan), in addition to ICRC officials.
- In her opening remarks, YOSHIKAWA Yuumi, Parliamentary Vice-Minister for Foreign Affairs, expressed her expectation that the discussions at the annual meeting would be meaningful in providing efficient and effective assistance to people in need as the global humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate.
- The two-day annual meeting was co-chaired by ENDO Kazuya, Director-General of the Bureau for International Cooperation, and Robert Mardini, Director-General of the ICRC. In the presence of ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric Egger, the participants actively discussed the ICRC's response to the escalating humanitarian crisis and the complex challenges it faces.
The ICRC was founded in 1863 by Henri Dunant, a Swiss citizen who saw the need for an organization and a convention to protect the victims of conflict. It is the pioneer of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, whose fundamental principles include impartiality, neutrality and independence, and legally recognize and accept the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world (192 in total). It carries out relief work in conflict zones around the world, including medical assistance to victims (displaced persons, the sick and injured, prisoners of war, etc.), provision of food and other daily necessities, visits to camps, and dissemination of international humanitarian law.