name	Asker
native name	Askeroni
idnumber	0220
county	Akershus
district	Viken
capital	Asker
demonym	Askerbøring
language	Bokmål
coatofarms	Asker_komm.svg
munwebpage	www.asker.kommune.no
mayor	Lene Conradi
mayor party	H
mayor as of	2007
area rank	385
area total km2	101
area land km2	97
area water percent	0.03
population as of	2007
population rank	11
population total	52210
populationpercent	1.11
population density km2	538
population increase	15.7
utm zone	32V | utm_northing 6633966 | utm_easting 0580439 | geo_cat adm2nd }}

Asker is a municipality in Akershus county, Norway. It is part of the Viken traditional region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Asker. The municipality is a suburb of Oslo, the national capital. Asker was established as a municipality on 1 January 1838 (see formannskapsdistrikt).

General information

Name

The municipality (originally the parish) is named after the old ''Asker'' farm, since the first church was built here. The name (Old Norse: ''Askar'') is the plural form of ''ask'' which means "ash tree".

Coat-of-arms

The coat-of-arms is from modern times. They were granted on 7 October 1975. The arms show a green background with three silver-colored tree trunks () and are thus canting arms. The trees are ashes, which were cropped every year to provide food for the animals. The trees thus developed after many years a very typical shape, which was characteristic for the area.

Geography

Its main parts are Asker, Gullhella, Vollen, Vettre, Blakstad, Borgen, Drengsrud, Dikemark, Vardåsen, Engelsrud, Holmen, Høn, Hvalstad, Billingstad, Nesøya, Nesbru, and Heggedal. Asker is a notably coastal place with many beautiful beaches, but it is also a place of hills and woods. The district is known for many important businesses. It is also known for gardening. The Skaugum estate, where Crown Prince Haakon of Norway lives with his family, is situated here. The first IKEA store outside of Sweden opened in Asker in 1963 .

Culture

Although Asker is principally a rural municipality, the expansion of Oslo has resulted in its becoming an affluent suburb. Thus numerous celebrities now reside in the area. According to SSB (Statistics Norway), Asker ranks as the 2nd wealthiest municipality in Norway based on median household income.

Asker is also the home of the Frisk Tigers, who won the Norwegian Hockey championship in 1975, 1979, and 2002. Asker Skiklubb is the largest sports club in Norway. It has a long history dating back to 1889. Many of Asker's famous people have been successful individuals associated with the sports club.

Asker, more notably Blakstad, was a stronghold for the Baglers, who contended with the Birkebeiners during a civil war during the Viking period.

The city is the home of Asker svømmeklubb. Asker women's football club has been home to many international players including four who played in the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China.

Politics

Asker is politically dominated by the conservatives, and the mayor is Lene Conradi who is a member of the Conservative Party of Norway ''(Høyre)''.

History

The ''Maud''

In 1916 (or 1917) the ''Maud'', which had been built in local shipyards, was launched into Oslofjord. The ship which had been constructed and built especially for Roald Amundsen and was to sail through the Northeast Passage. After being seized by creditors in Seattle, Washington, United States, she was sold to the Hudson's Bay Company as a supply vessel. After being renamed the ''Baymaud'' she sailed to Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, Canada where, in 1930, she sprung a leak and sank. In 1990, the ship was sold by the Hudson's Bay Company to the town with the expectation that she would be returned to Asker. Although a Cultural Properties Export permit was issued, the price tag to repair and move the ship was 230 million kroner ($43,200,000) and the permit expired.

Notable residents

* Haakon, Crown Prince of Norway

* Mette-Marit, Crown Princess of Norway

* Princess Ingrid Alexandra of Norway

* Prince Sverre Magnus of Norway

* Tryggve Andersen (1866–1920), writer

* Nini Roll Anker (1873–1942), writer

* Dina Aschehoug (1861–1956), painter

* Lauritz Askvold, painter

Harriet Backer (1845–1932), Artist>painter

* Arne Bendiksen (1926–2009), singer and songwriter

* Johan Bojer (1872–1959), writer

Erik Bye (1926–2004), journalist, singer, Celebrity>TV personality

* Jens Evensen (1917–2004), Norwegian lawyer, judge, politician, trade minister, international offshore rights expert, member of the International Law Commission, judge at the International Court of Justice in The Hague

* Pål Arne Fagernes (1974–2003), Javelin thrower and boxer

* Hallvard Flatland, TV-host

* Arne Garborg (1851–1924), poet, lived there for a period

* Einar Gerhardsen, prime minister in three periods, from 1945–1951, from 1955–1963 and from 1963–1965

* Erik Gjems-Onstad, Order of the British Empire

* [[Halvard Hanevold, Olympic Gold in Biathlon

* Morten Harket, singer in a-ha.

* Vigdis Hjorth, author

* Anders Jacobsen (footballer)

, politician (Founder of Progress Party (Norway)>Progress Party ''(FrP)''

* Wenche Myhre, singer

* Arild Nyquist(1938–2004), poet, painter, singer and songwriter

* Alf Prøysen (1914–1970), writer/musician, lived there for a period

Valgerd Svarstad Haugland politician, Christian Democratic Party (Norway)>Christian Democratic Party

* Dyre Vaa (1903–1980), sculptor

* Sondre Slettetveit, Professional Counter-Strike: Source Player

* Tom Hilde, ski jumper

Sister cities

The following cities are twinned with Asker: - Eslöv, Skåne County, Sweden - Garðabær, Höfuðborgarsvæðið, Iceland - Jakobstad, Länsi-Suomi, Finland - Mapo-gu, Seoul, South Korea - Rudersdal, Region Hovedstaden, Denmark - Tórshavn, Tórshavnar kommuna, Faroe Islands

References

External links

Municipal fact sheet from Statistics Norway

Asker municipality's official website Asker Museum

Asker public library

Asker skiklubb

Visit Asker - official website and visitors guide for Asker

Frisk Asker Tigers Budstikka (local newspaper for Asker and Bærum) Asker videregående skole (School for Upper Secondary Education) The Open University in Asker (Folkeuniversitetet) Church of Asker Asker Svømmeklubb

Category:Municipalities of Akershus Category:Villages in Akershus

bg:Аскер da:Asker de:Asker et:Askeri vald es:Asker fo:Asker kommuna fr:Asker gl:Asker bpy:আসকের id:Asker, Norwegia it:Asker kl:Asker lt:Askeris hu:Asker község nl:Asker ja:アスケー no:Asker nn:Asker kommune nds:Kommun Asker pl:Asker pt:Asker ro:Asker ru:Аскер sl:Asker fi:Asker sv:Asker kommun vi:Asker vo:Asker war:Asker zh:阿斯克尔

non-profit name	International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
non-profit logo	200pxThe Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems, the symbols from which the movement derives its name.
founded date	1863
founders	Henry Dunant
location	Geneva, Switzerland
area served	Worldwide
focus	Humanitarian
method	Aid
homepage	redcross.int
footnotes	}}

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is an international humanitarian movement with approximately 97 million volunteers, members and staff worldwide which was founded to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for all human beings, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, sex, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.

The movement consists of several distinct organizations that are legally independent from each other, but are united within the movement through common basic principles, objectives, symbols, statutes and governing organs. The movement's parts are:

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is a private humanitarian institution founded in 1863 in Geneva, Switzerland, by Henry Dunant. Its 25-member committee has a unique authority under international humanitarian law to protect the life and dignity of the victims of international and internal armed conflicts. The ICRC was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on three occasions (in 1917, 1944 and 1963). The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was founded in 1919 and today it coordinates activities between the 186 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies within the Movement. On an international level, the Federation leads and organizes, in close cooperation with the National Societies, relief assistance missions responding to large-scale emergencies. The International Federation Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. In 1963, the Federation (then known as the League of Red Cross Societies) was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with the ICRC.

National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Currently 186 National Societies are recognized by the ICRC and admitted as full members of the Federation. Each entity works in its home country according to the principles of international humanitarian law and the statutes of the international Movement. Depending on their specific circumstances and capacities, National Societies can take on additional humanitarian tasks that are not directly defined by international humanitarian law or the mandates of the international Movement. In many countries, they are tightly linked to the respective national health care system by providing emergency medical services.

History of Movement

The International Committee of the Red Cross

Solferino, Jean-Henri Dunant and the foundation of the ICRC

Until the middle of the 19th century, there were no organized and/or well-established army nursing systems for casualties and no safe and protected institutions to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. In June 1859, the Swiss businessman Jean-Henri Dunant traveled to Italy to meet French emperor Napoléon III with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in Algeria, at that time occupied by France. When he arrived in the small town of Solferino on the evening of June 24, he witnessed the Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the Austro-Sardinian War. In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. Jean-Henri Dunant was shocked by the terrible aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers, and the near-total lack of medical attendance and basic care. He completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. He succeeded in organizing an overwhelming level of relief assistance by motivating the local population to aid without discrimination.

Back in his home in Geneva, he decided to write a book entitled ''A Memory of Solferino'' which he published with his own money in 1862. He sent copies of the book to leading political and military figures throughout Europe. In addition to penning a vivid description of his experiences in Solferino in 1859, he explicitly advocated the formation of national voluntary relief organizations to help nurse wounded soldiers in the case of war. In addition, he called for the development of international treaties to guarantee the protection of neutral medics and field hospitals for soldiers wounded on the battlefield.

On February 9, 1863, in Geneva, Jean-Henri Dunant founded the "Committee of the Five" (together with four other leading figures from well-known Geneva families) as an investigatory commission of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare. Their aim was to examine the feasibility of Dunant's ideas and to organize an international conference about their possible implementation. The members of this committee, aside from Dunant himself, were Gustave Moynier, lawyer and chairman of the Geneva Society for Public Welfare; physician Louis Appia, who had significant experience working as a field surgeon; Appia's friend and colleague Théodore Maunoir, from the Geneva Hygiene and Health Commission; and Guillaume-Henri Dufour, a Swiss Army general of great renown. Eight days later, the five men decided to rename the committee to the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded". In October (26–29) 1863, the international conference organized by the committee was held in Geneva to develop possible measures to improve medical services on the battlefield. The conference was attended by 36 individuals: eighteen official delegates from national governments, six delegates from other non-governmental organizations, seven non-official foreign delegates, and the five members of the International Committee. The states and kingdoms represented by official delegates were:

France Hesse-Kassel Sweden-Norway

Among the proposals written in the final resolutions of the conference, adopted on October 29, 1863, were:

The foundation of national relief societies for wounded soldiers;

Neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers;

The utilization of volunteer forces for relief assistance on the battlefield;

The organization of additional conferences to enact these concepts in legally binding international treaties;

The introduction of a common distinctive protection symbol for medical personnel in the field, namely a white armlet bearing a red cross.

Only one year later, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, to attend an official diplomatic conference. Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On August 22, 1864, the conference adopted the first Geneva Convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field". Representatives of 12 states and kingdoms signed the convention: Baden, Belgium, Denmark, France, Hesse, Italy, the Netherlands, Portugal, Prussia, Switzerland, Spain, and Württemberg. The convention contained ten articles, establishing for the first time legally binding rules guaranteeing neutrality and protection for wounded soldiers, field medical personnel, and specific humanitarian institutions in an armed conflict. Furthermore, the convention defined two specific requirements for recognition of a national relief society by the International Committee:

The national society must be recognized by its own national government as a relief society according to the convention,

The national government of the respective country must be a state party to the Geneva Convention.

Directly following the establishment of the Geneva Convention, the first national societies were founded in Belgium, Denmark, France, Oldenburg, Prussia, Spain, and Württemberg. Also in 1864, Louis Appia and Charles van de Velde, a captain of the Dutch Army, became the first independent and neutral delegates to work under the symbol of the Red Cross in an armed conflict. Three years later in 1867, the first International Conference of National Aid Societies for the Nursing of the War Wounded was convened.

Also in 1867, Jean-Henri Dunant was forced to declare bankruptcy due to business failures in Algeria, partly because he had neglected his business interests during his tireless activities for the International Committee. Controversy surrounding Dunant's business dealings and the resulting negative public opinion, combined with an ongoing conflict with Gustave Moynier, led to Dunant's expulsion from his position as a member and secretary. He was charged with fraudulent bankruptcy and a warrant for his arrest was issued. Thus, he was forced to leave Geneva and never returned to his home city. In the following years, national societies were founded in nearly every country in Europe. In 1876, the committee adopted the name "International Committee of the Red Cross" (ICRC), which is still its official designation today. Five years later, the American Red Cross was founded through the efforts of Clara Barton. More and more countries signed the Geneva Convention and began to respect it in practice during armed conflicts. In a rather short period of time, the Red Cross gained huge momentum as an internationally respected movement, and the national societies became increasingly popular as a venue for volunteer work.

When the first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Jean-Henri Dunant and Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist. More significant than the honor of the prize itself, the official congratulation from the International Committee of the Red Cross marked the overdue rehabilitation of Jean-Henri Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross. Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of Heiden. Only two months earlier his long-standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving a mark in the history of the Committee as its longest-serving president ever.

In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time. One year later, the Hague Convention X, adopted at the Second International Peace Conference in The Hague, extended the scope of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare. Shortly before the beginning of the First World War in 1914, 50 years after the foundation of the ICRC and the adoption of the first Geneva Convention, there were already 45 national relief societies throughout the world. The movement had extended itself beyond Europe and North America to Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela), Asia (the Republic of China, Japan, Korea, Siam), and Africa (Union of South Africa).

The ICRC during World War I

With the outbreak of World War I, the ICRC found itself confronted with enormous challenges that it could handle only by working closely with the national Red Cross societies. Red Cross nurses from around the world, including the United States and Japan, came to support the medical services of the armed forces of the European countries involved in the war. On October 15, 1914, immediately after the start of the war, the ICRC set up its International Prisoners-of-War (POW) Agency, which had about 1,200 mostly volunteer staff members by the end of 1914. By the end of the war, the Agency had transferred about 20 million letters and messages, 1.9 million parcels, and about 18 million Swiss francs in monetary donations to POWs of all affected countries. Furthermore, due to the intervention of the Agency, about 200,000 prisoners were exchanged between the warring parties, released from captivity and returned to their home country. The organizational card index of the Agency accumulated about 7 million records from 1914 to 1923, each card representing an individual prisoner or missing person. The card index led to the identification of about 2 million POWs and the ability to contact their families. The complete index is on loan today from the ICRC to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. The right to access the index is still strictly restricted to the ICRC. During the entire war, the ICRC monitored warring parties’ compliance with the Geneva Conventions of the 1907 revision and forwarded complaints about violations to the respective country. When chemical weapons were used in this war for the first time in history, the ICRC vigorously protested against this new type of warfare. Even without having a mandate from the Geneva Conventions, the ICRC tried to ameliorate the suffering of civil populations. In territories that were officially designated as "occupied territories," the ICRC could assist the civilian population on the basis of the Hague Convention's "Laws and Customs of War on Land" of 1907. This convention was also the legal basis for the ICRC's work for prisoners of war. In addition to the work of the International Prisoner-of-War Agency as described above this included inspection visits to POW camps. A total of 524 camps throughout Europe were visited by 41 delegates from the ICRC until the end of the war.

Between 1916 and 1918, the ICRC published a number of postcards with scenes from the POW camps. The pictures showed the prisoners in day-to-day activities such as the distribution of letters from home. The intention of the ICRC was to provide the families of the prisoners with some hope and solace and to alleviate their uncertainties about the fate of their loved ones. After the end of the war, the ICRC organized the return of about 420,000 prisoners to their home countries. In 1920, the task of repatriation was handed over to the newly founded League of Nations, which appointed the Norwegian diplomat and scientist Fridtjof Nansen as its "High Commissioner for Repatriation of the War Prisoners." His legal mandate was later extended to support and care for war refugees and displaced persons when his office became that of the League of Nations "High Commissioner for Refugees." Nansen, who invented the ''Nansen passport'' for stateless refugees and was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922, appointed two delegates from the ICRC as his deputies.

A year before the end of the war, the ICRC received the 1917 Nobel Peace Prize for its outstanding wartime work. It was the only Nobel Peace Prize awarded in the period from 1914 to 1918. In 1923, the International Committee of the Red Cross adopted a change in its policy regarding the selection of new members. Until then, only citizens from the city of Geneva could serve in the Committee. This limitation was expanded to include Swiss citizens. As a direct consequence of World War I, an additional protocol to the Geneva Convention was adopted in 1925 which outlawed the use of suffocating or poisonous gases and biological agents as weapons. Four years later, the original Convention was revised and the second Geneva Convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" was established. The events of World War I and the respective activities of the ICRC significantly increased the reputation and authority of the Committee among the international community and led to an extension of its competencies.

As early as in 1934, a draft proposal for an additional convention for the protection of the civil population during an armed conflict was adopted by the International Red Cross Conference. Unfortunately, most governments had little interest in implementing this convention, and it was thus prevented from entering into force before the beginning of World War II.

The ICRC and World War II

The legal basis of the work of the ICRC during World War II were the Geneva Conventions in their 1929 revision. The activities of the Committee were similar to those during World War I: visiting and monitoring POW camps, organizing relief assistance for civilian populations, and administering the exchange of messages regarding prisoners and missing persons. By the end of the war, 179 delegates had conducted 12,750 visits to POW camps in 41 countries. The Central Information Agency on Prisoners-of-War (''Zentralauskunftsstelle für Kriegsgefangene'') had a staff of 3,000, the card index tracking prisoners contained 45 million cards, and 120 million messages were exchanged by the Agency. One major obstacle was that the Nazi-controlled German Red Cross refused to cooperate with the Geneva statutes including blatant violations such as the deportation of Jews from Germany and the mass murders conducted in the Nazi concentration camps. Moreover, two other main parties to the conflict, the Soviet Union and Japan, were not party to the 1929 Geneva Conventions and were not legally required to follow the rules of the conventions.

During the war, the ICRC was unable to obtain an agreement with Nazi Germany about the treatment of detainees in concentration camps, and it eventually abandoned applying pressure in order to avoid disrupting its work with POWs. The ICRC was also unable to obtain a response to reliable information about the extermination camps and the mass killing of European Jews, Roma, et al. After November 1943, the ICRC achieved permission to send parcels to concentration camp detainees with known names and locations. Because the notices of receipt for these parcels were often signed by other inmates, the ICRC managed to register the identities of about 105,000 detainees in the concentration camps and delivered about 1.1 million parcels, primarily to the camps Dachau, Buchenwald, Ravensbrück, and Sachsenhausen.

It is known that Swiss army officer Maurice Rossel during World War II had been sent to Berlin as a delegate of the International Red Cross, as such he visited Auschwitz 1943 and Theresienstadt 1944. Claude Lanzmann recorded his experiences in 1979, producing a documentary entitled ''Visitor from the living''.

thumb|left|Marcel Junod, delegate of the ICRC, visiting [[Prisoner of War|POWs in Germany.>(© Benoit Junod, Switzerland)]]

On March 12, 1945, ICRC president Jacob Burckhardt received a message from SS General Ernst Kaltenbrunner accepting the ICRC's demand to allow delegates to visit the concentration camps. This agreement was bound by the condition that these delegates would have to stay in the camps until the end of the war. Ten delegates, among them Louis Haefliger (Camp Mauthausen), Paul Dunant (Camp Theresienstadt) and Victor Maurer (Camp Dachau), accepted the assignment and visited the camps. Louis Haefliger prevented the forceful eviction or blasting of Mauthausen-Gusen by alerting American troops, thereby saving the lives of about 60,000 inmates. His actions were condemned by the ICRC because they were deemed as acting unduly on his own authority and risking the ICRC's neutrality. Only in 1990, his reputation was finally rehabilitated by ICRC president Cornelio Sommaruga.

Another example of great humanitarian spirit was Friedrich Born (1903–1963), an ICRC delegate in Budapest who saved the lives of about 11,000 to 15,000 Jewish people in Hungary. Marcel Junod (1904–1961), a physician from Geneva, was another famous delegate during the Second World War. An account of his experiences, which included being one of the first foreigners to visit Hiroshima after the atomic bomb was dropped, can be found in the book ''Warrior without Weapons''.

In 1944, the ICRC received its second Nobel Peace Prize. As in World War I, it received the only Peace Prize awarded during the main period of war, 1939 to 1945. At the end of the war, the ICRC worked with national Red Cross societies to organize relief assistance to those countries most severely affected. In 1948, the Committee published a report reviewing its war-era activities from September 1, 1939 to June 30, 1947. Since January 1996, the ICRC archive for this period has been open to academic and public research.

The ICRC after the Second World War

On August 12, 1949, further revisions to the existing two Geneva Conventions were adopted. An additional convention "for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea", now called the second Geneva Convention, was brought under the Geneva Convention umbrella as a successor to the 1907 Hague Convention X. The 1929 Geneva convention "relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War" may have been the second Geneva Convention from a historical point of view (because it was actually formulated in Geneva), but after 1949 it came to be called the third Convention because it came later chronologically than the Hague Convention. Reacting to the experience of World War II, the Fourth Geneva Convention, a new Convention "relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War," was established. Also, the additional protocols of June 8, 1977 were intended to make the conventions apply to internal conflicts such as civil wars. Today, the four conventions and their added protocols contain more than 600 articles, a remarkable expansion when compared to the mere 10 articles in the first 1864 convention.

In celebration of its centennial in 1963, the ICRC, together with the League of Red Cross Societies, received its third Nobel Peace Prize. Since 1993, non-Swiss individuals have been allowed to serve as Committee delegates abroad, a task which was previously restricted to Swiss citizens. Indeed, since then, the share of staff without Swiss citizenship has increased to about 35%.

On October 16, 1990, the UN General Assembly decided to grant the ICRC observer status for its assembly sessions and sub-committee meetings, the first observer status given to a private organization. The resolution was jointly proposed by 138 member states and introduced by the Italian ambassador, Vieri Traxler, in memory of the organization's origins in the Battle of Solferino. An agreement with the Swiss government signed on March 19, 1993, affirmed the already long-standing policy of full independence of the Committee from any possible interference by Switzerland. The agreement protects the full sanctity of all ICRC property in Switzerland including its headquarters and archive, grants members and staff legal immunity, exempts the ICRC from all taxes and fees, guarantees the protected and duty-free transfer of goods, services, and money, provides the ICRC with secure communication privileges at the same level as foreign embassies, and simplifies Committee travel in and out of Switzerland.

At the end of the Cold War, the ICRC's work actually became more dangerous. In the 1990s, more delegates lost their lives than at any point in its history, especially when working in local and internal armed conflicts. These incidents often demonstrated a lack of respect for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Among the slain delegates were:

Frédéric Maurice. He died on May 19, 1992 at the age of 39, one day after a Red Cross transport he was escorting was attacked in the Bosnian city of Sarajevo.

Fernanda Calado (Spain), Ingeborg Foss (Norway), Nancy Malloy (Canada), Gunnhild Myklebust (Norway), Sheryl Thayer (New Zealand), and Hans Elkerbout (Netherlands). They were murdered at point-blank range while sleeping in the early hours of December 17, 1996 in the ICRC field hospital in the Chechen city of Nowije Atagi near Grozny. Their murderers have never been caught and there was no apparent motive for the killings.

Rita Fox (Switzerland), Véronique Saro (Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire), Julio Delgado (Colombia), Unen Ufoirworth (DR Congo), Aduwe Boboli (DR Congo), and Jean Molokabonge (DR Congo). On April 26, 2001, they were en route with two cars on a relief mission in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo when they came under fatal fire from unknown attackers.

Ricardo Munguia (El Salvador). He was working as a water engineer in Afghanistan and travelling with local colleagues when their car on March 27, 2003 was stopped by unknown armed men. He was killed execution-style at point-blank range while his colleagues were allowed to escape. He died at the age of 39.

Vatche Arslanian (Canada). Since 2001, he worked as a logistics coordinator for the ICRC mission in Iraq. He died when he was travelling through Baghdad together with members of the Iraqi Red Crescent. On April 8, 2003 their car accidentally came into the cross fire of fighting in the city.

Nadisha Yasassri Ranmuthu (Sri Lanka). He was killed by unknown attackers on July 22, 2003 when his car was fired upon near the city of Hilla in the south of Baghdad.

Afghanistan

ICRC is active in the Afghanistan conflict areas and has set up six physical rehabilitation centers to help landmine victims. Their support extends to the national and international armed forces, civilians and the armed opposition. They regularly visit detainees under the custody of the Afghan government and the international armed forces, but have also occasionally had access since 2009 to people detained by the Taliban. They have provided basic first aid training and aid kits to both the Afghan security forces and Taliban members because, according to an ICRC spokesperson, "ICRC's constitution stipulates that all parties harmed by warfare will be treated as fairly as possible".

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

History

In 1919, representatives from the national Red Cross societies of Britain, France, Italy, Japan, and the US came together in Paris to found the "League of Red Cross Societies". The original idea was Henry Davison's, then president of the American Red Cross. This move, led by the American Red Cross, expanded the international activities of the Red Cross movement beyond the strict mission of the ICRC to include relief assistance in response to emergency situations which were not caused by war (such as man-made or natural disasters). The ARC already had great disaster relief mission experience extending back to its foundation.

The formation of the League, as an additional international Red Cross organization alongside the ICRC, was not without controversy for a number of reasons. The ICRC had, to some extent, valid concerns about a possible rivalry between both organizations. The foundation of the League was seen as an attempt to undermine the leadership position of the ICRC within the movement and to gradually transfer most of its tasks and competencies to a multilateral institution. In addition to that, all founding members of the League were national societies from countries of the Entente or from associated partners of the Entente. The original statutes of the League from May 1919 contained further regulations which gave the five founding societies a privileged status and, due to the efforts of Henry P. Davison, the right to permanently exclude the national Red Cross societies from the countries of the Central Powers, namely Germany, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Turkey, and in addition to that the national Red Cross society of Russia. These rules were contrary to the Red Cross principles of universality and equality among all national societies, a situation which furthered the concerns of the ICRC.

The first relief assistance mission organized by the League was an aid mission for the victims of a famine and subsequent typhus epidemic in Poland. Only five years after its foundation, the League had already issued 47 donation appeals for missions in 34 countries, an impressive indication of the need for this type of Red Cross work. The total sum raised by these appeals reached 685 million Swiss Francs, which were used to bring emergency supplies to the victims of famines in Russia, Germany, and Albania; earthquakes in Chile, Persia, Japan, Colombia, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Turkey; and refugee flows in Greece and Turkey. The first large-scale disaster mission of the League came after the 1923 earthquake in Japan which killed about 200,000 people and left countless more wounded and without shelter. Due to the League's coordination, the Red Cross society of Japan received goods from its sister societies reaching a total worth of about $100 million. Another important new field initiated by the League was the creation of youth Red Cross organizations within the national societies.

A joint mission of the ICRC and the League in the Russian Civil War from 1917 to 1922 marked the first time the movement was involved in an internal conflict, although still without an explicit mandate from the Geneva Conventions. The League, with support from more than 25 national societies, organized assistance missions and the distribution of food and other aid goods for civil populations affected by hunger and disease. The ICRC worked with the Russian Red Cross society and later the society of the Soviet Union, constantly emphasizing the ICRC's neutrality. In 1928, the "International Council" was founded to coordinate cooperation between the ICRC and the League, a task which was later taken over by the "Standing Commission". In the same year, a common statute for the movement was adopted for the first time, defining the respective roles of the ICRC and the League within the movement.

During the Abyssinian war between Ethiopia and Italy from 1935 to 1936, the League contributed aid supplies worth about 1.7 million Swiss Francs. Because the Italian fascist regime under Benito Mussolini refused any cooperation with the Red Cross, these goods were delivered solely to Ethiopia. During the war, an estimated 29 people lost their lives while being under explicit protection of the Red Cross symbol, most of them due to attacks by the Italian Army. During the Civil War in Spain from 1936 to 1939 the League once again joined forces with the ICRC with the support of 41 national societies. In 1939 on the brink of the Second World War, the League relocated its headquarters from Paris to Geneva to take advantage of Swiss neutrality.

In 1952, the 1928 common statute of the movement was revised for the first time. Also, the period of decolonization from 1960 to 1970 was marked by a huge jump in the number of recognized national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies. By the end of the 1960s, there were more than 100 societies around the world. On December 10, 1963, the Federation and the ICRC received the Nobel Peace Prize. In 1983, the League was renamed to the "League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies" to reflect the growing number of national societies operating under the Red Crescent symbol. Three years later, the seven basic principles of the movement as adopted in 1965 were incorporated into its statutes. The name of the League was changed again in 1991 to its current official designation the "International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies". In 1997, the ICRC and the Federation signed the Seville Agreement which further defined the responsibilities of both organizations within the movement. In 2004, the Federation began its largest mission to date after the tsunami disaster in South Asia. More than 40 national societies have worked with more than 22,000 volunteers to bring relief to the countless victims left without food and shelter and endangered by the risk of epidemics.

Presidents of the Federation

As of November 2009, the president of the IFRC is Tadateru Konoe (Japanese Red Cross). The vice presidents are Paul Bierch (Kenya), Jaslin Uriah Salmon (Jamaica), Mohamed El Maadid (Qatar) and Bengt Westerberg (Sweden).

Former presidents (until 1977 titled "Chairman") have been:

1919–1922: Henry Davison (United States)

1922–1935: John Barton Payne (U.S.)

1935–1938: Cary Travers Grayson (U.S.)

1938–1944: Norman Davis (U.S.)

1944–1945: Jean de Muralt (Switzerland)

1945–1950: Basil O'Connor (U.S.)

1950–1959: Emil Sandström (Sweden)

1959–1965: John MacAulay (Canada)

1965–1977: José Barroso Chávez (Mexico)

1977–1981: Adetunji Adefarasin (Nigeria)

1981–1987: Enrique de la Mata (Spain)

1987–1997: Mario Enrique Villarroel Lander (Venezuela)

1997–2000: Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg (Norway)

2001 - 2009: Juan Manuel del Toro y Rivera (Spain)

2009 - : Tadateru Konoé (Japan)

World Red Cross Red Crescent Day – 8 May

May 8, birthday of Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, is celebrated as the World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day.

World Red Cross Red Crescent Day 2010

On the occasion of the World Red Cross Red Crescent Day 2010, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement focused its attention on both the challenges and opportunities presented by urbanization. Around the world, National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies are working with city leaders and civil society to address urban challenges by aiming at their root causes. They focus on promoting diversity, opposing discrimination, and joining in efforts to provide decent social services and to ensure that adequate protection, preventive health-care, education and disaster risk reduction measures are taken.

Activities

Organization of the Movement

Altogether, there are about 97 million people worldwide who serve with the ICRC, the International Federation, and the National Societies.

The 1965 International Conference in Vienna adopted seven basic principles which should be shared by all parts of the Movement, and they were added to the official statutes of the Movement in 1986.

Humanity

Impartiality

Neutrality

Independence

Voluntary Service

Unity

Universality

The International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, which occurs once every four years, is the highest institutional body of the Movement. It gathers delegations from all of the national societies as well as from the ICRC, the Federation and the signatory states to the Geneva Conventions. In between the conferences, the Standing Commission acts as the supreme body and supervises implementation of and compliance with the resolutions of the conference. In addition, the Standing Commission coordinates the cooperation between the ICRC and the Federation. It consists of two representatives from the ICRC (including its president), two from the Federation (including its president), and five individuals who are elected by the International Conference. The Standing Commission convenes every six months on average. Moreover, a convention of the Council of Delegates of the Movement takes place every two years in the course of the conferences of the General Assemblies of the Federation. The Council of Delegates plans and coordinates joint activities for the Movement.

Activities and Organization of the ICRC

The mission of the ICRC and its responsibilities within the Movement

The official mission of the ICRC as an impartial, neutral, and independent organization is to stand for the protection of the life and dignity of victims of international and internal armed conflicts. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, it is the "Lead Agency" of the Movement in conflicts. The core tasks of the Committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes, are the following:

to monitor compliance of warring parties with the Geneva Conventions

to organize nursing and care for those who are wounded on the battlefield

to supervise the treatment of prisoners of war

to help with the search for missing persons in an armed conflict (tracing service)

to organize protection and care for civil populations

to arbitrate between warring parties in an armed conflict

Legal status and organization

The ICRC is headquartered in the Swiss city of Geneva and has external offices in about 80 countries. It has about 12,000 staff members worldwide, about 800 of them working in its Geneva headquarters, 1,200 expatriates with about half of them serving as delegates managing its international missions and the other half being specialists like doctors, agronomists, engineers or interpreters, and about 10,000 members of individual national societies working on site. Contrary to popular belief, the ICRC is not a non-governmental organization in the most common sense of the term, nor is it an international organization. As it limits its members (a process called cooptation) to Swiss nationals only, it does not have a policy of open and unrestricted membership for individuals like other legally defined NGOs. The word "international" in its name does not refer to its membership but to the worldwide scope of its activities as defined by the Geneva Conventions. The ICRC has special privileges and legal immunities in many countries, based on national law in these countries or through agreements between the Committee and respective national governments. According to Swiss law, the ICRC is defined as a private association. According to its statutes it consists of 15 to 25 Swiss-citizen members, which it coopts for a period of four years. There is no limit to the number of terms an individual member can have although a three-quarters majority of all members is required for re-election after the third term.

The leading organs of the ICRC are the Directorate and the Assembly. The Directorate is the executive body of the Committee. It consists of a General Director and five directors in the areas of "Operations", "Human Resources", "Resources and Operational Support", "Communication", and "International Law and Cooperation within the Movement". The members of the Directorate are appointed by the Assembly to serve for four years. The Assembly, consisting of all of the members of the Committee, convenes on a regular basis and is responsible for defining aims, guidelines, and strategies and for supervising the financial matters of the Committee. The president of the Assembly is also the president of the Committee as a whole. Furthermore, the Assembly elects a five member Assembly Council which has the authority to decide on behalf of the full Assembly in some matters. The Council is also responsible for organizing the Assembly meetings and for facilitating communication between the Assembly and the Directorate.

Due to Geneva's location in the French-speaking part of Switzerland, the ICRC usually acts under its French name ''Comité international de la Croix-Rouge'' (CICR). The official symbol of the ICRC is the Red Cross on white background with the words "COMITE INTERNATIONAL GENEVE" circling the cross.

Funding and financial matters

The 2009 budget of the ICRC amounts more than 1 billon Swiss Francs. Most of that money comes from the States, including Switzerland in its capacity as the depositary state of the Geneva Conventions, from national Red Cross societies, the signatory states of the Geneva Conventions, and from international organizations like the European Union. All payments to the ICRC are voluntary and are received as donations based on two types of appeals issued by the Committee: an annual ''Headquarters Appeal'' to cover its internal costs and ''Emergency Appeals'' for its individual missions.

The ICRC is asking donors for more than 1.1 billion Swiss francs to fund its work in 2010. Afghanistan is projected to become the ICRC’s biggest humanitarian operation (at 86 million Swiss francs, an 18% increase over the initial 2009 budget), followed by Iraq (85 million francs) and Sudan (76 million francs). The initial 2010 field budget for medical activities of 132 million francs represents an increase of 12 million francs over 2009.

Activities and organization of the Federation

The Mission of the Federation and its responsibilities within the Movement

The Federation coordinates cooperation between national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies throughout the world and supports the foundation of new national societies in countries where no official society exists. On the international stage, the Federation organizes and leads relief assistance missions after emergencies such as natural disasters, manmade disasters, epidemics, mass refugee flights, and other emergencies. According to the 1997 Seville Agreement, the Federation is the Lead Agency of the Movement in any emergency situation which does not take place as part of an armed conflict. The Federation cooperates with the national societies of those countries affected – each called the ''Operating National Society'' (ONS) – as well as the national societies of other countries willing to offer assistance – called ''Participating National Societies'' (PNS). Among the 187 national societies admitted to the General Assembly of the Federation as full members or observers, about 25–30 regularly work as PNS in other countries. The most active of those are the American Red Cross, the British Red Cross, the German Red Cross, and the Red Cross societies of Sweden and Norway. Another major mission of the Federation which has gained attention in recent years is its commitment to work towards a codified, worldwide ban on the use of land mines and to bring medical, psychological, and social support for people injured by land mines.

The tasks of the Federation can therefore be summarized as follows:

to promote humanitarian principles and values

to provide relief assistance in emergency situations of large magnitude

to support the national societies with disaster preparedness through the education of voluntary members and the provision of equipment and relief supplies

to support local health care projects

to support the national societies with youth-related activities

Legal status and organization

Like the ICRC, the Federation has its headquarters in Geneva. It also runs 14 permanent regional offices and has about 350 delegates in more than 60 delegations around the world. The legal basis for the work of the Federation is its constitution. The executive body of the Federation is a secretariat, led by a Secretary General. The secretariat is supported by four divisions labeled "Support Services", "National Society and Field Support", "Policy and Relations" and "Movement Cooperation". The Movement Cooperation division organizes interaction and cooperation with the ICRC. The highest body of the Federation is the General Assembly which convenes every two years with delegates from all of the national societies. Among other tasks, the General Assembly elects the Secretary General. Between the convening of General Assemblies, the Governing Board is the leading body of the Federation. It has the authority to make decisions for the Federation in a number of areas. The Governing Board consists of the president and the vice presidents of the Federation, the chairman of the Finance Commission, and twenty elected representatives from national societies. It is supported by four additional commissions: "Disaster Relief", "Youth", "Health & Community Services", and "Development".

The symbol of the Federation is the combination of the Red Cross (left) and Red Crescent (right) on a white background (surrounded by a red rectangular frame) without any additional text.

Funding and financial matters

The main parts of the budget of the Federation are funded by contributions from the national societies which are members of the Federation and through revenues from its investments. The exact amount of contributions from each member society is established by the Finance Commission and approved by the General Assembly. Any additional funding, especially for unforeseen expenses for relief assistance missions, is raised by appeals published by the Federation and comes for voluntary donations by national societies, governments, other organizations, corporations, and individuals.

National societies within the Movement

Official Recognition of a national society

National Red Cross and Red Crescent societies exist in nearly every country in the world. Within their home country, they take on the duties and responsibilities of a national relief society as defined by International Humanitarian Law. Within the Movement, the ICRC is responsible for legally recognizing a relief society as an official national Red Cross or Red Crescent society. The exact rules for recognition are defined in the statutes of the Movement. Article 4 of these statutes contains the ''"Conditions for recognition of National Societies."''

: ''In order to be recognized in terms of Article 5, paragraph 2 b) as a National Society, the Society shall meet the following conditions:''

:#''Be constituted on the territory of an independent State where the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field is in force.'' :#''Be the only National Red Cross or Red Crescent Society of the said State and be directed by a central body which shall alone be competent to represent it in its dealings with other components of the Movement.'' :#''Be duly recognized by the legal government of its country on the basis of the Geneva Conventions and of the national legislation as a voluntary aid society, auxiliary to the public authorities in the humanitarian field.'' :#''Have an autonomous status which allows it to operate in conformity with the Fundamental Principles of the Movement.'' :#''Use the name and emblem of the Red Cross or Red Crescent in conformity with the Geneva Conventions.'' :#''Be so organized as to be able to fulfill the tasks defined in its own statutes, including the preparation in peace time for its statutory tasks in case of armed conflict.'' :#''Extend its activities to the entire territory of the State.'' :#''Recruit its voluntary members and its staff without consideration of race, sex, class, religion or political opinions.'' :#''Adhere to the present Statutes, share in the fellowship which unites the components of the Movement and co-operate with them.'' :#''Respect the Fundamental Principles of the Movement and be guided in its work by the principles of international humanitarian law.''

After recognition by the ICRC, a national society is admitted as a member to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent societies.However some National Societies have severely objected to the recognition and admission process by claiming its unfair execution by ICRC and IFRC.

Activities of national societies on a national and international stage

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. 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.

History of the emblems

Emblems in use

The Red Cross

The Red Cross emblem was officially approved in Geneva in 1863.

The Red Cross flag is not to be confused with the St George's Cross which is on the flag of England, Barcelona, Freiburg, 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 St 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 often confused with the Flag of Switzerland which is the opposite of it. In 1906, to put an end to the argument of Turkey that the flag took its roots from Christianity, it was decided to promote officially the idea that the Red Cross flag had been formed by reversing the federal colours of Switzerland, although no clear evidence of this origin had ever been found.

The Red Crescent

The Red Crescent emblem was first used by ICRC volunteers during the armed conflict between the Ottoman Empire and Russia (1877–1878). The symbol was officially adopted in 1929, and so far 33 Islamic states have recognized it.

The Red Crystal

On December 8, 2005, partly in response to growing pressure to accommodate Magen David Adom 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.

Recognized emblems in disuse

The 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. However, some report 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. Though 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.

In 1980, because of the association of the emblem with the Shah, the newly proclaimed Islamic Republic of Iran replaced the Red Lion and Sun with the Red Crescent, consistent with most other Muslim nations. Though 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.

Unrecognized emblems

The Red Star of David (Magen David Adom)

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 since 1935 by Magen David Adom (MDA), or Red Star of David, the national first-aid society of Israel, but it is still not recognized by the Geneva Conventions as a protected symbol.

The Red Cross and Red Crescent movement repeatedly rejected Israel's request over the years, stating that the Red Cross emblem was not meant to represent Christianity but was a color reversal of the Swiss flag, and also that if Jews (or another group) were to be given another emblem, there would be no end to the number of religious or other groups claiming an emblem for themselves, although the movement recognised the Muslim Red Crescent. They reasoned that a proliferation of red symbols would detract from the original intention of the Red Cross emblem, which was to be a single emblem to mark vehicles and buildings protected on humanitarian grounds.

Certain Arab nations, such as Syria, also protested the entry of MDA into the Red Cross movement, making consensus impossible for a time. However, from 2000 to 2006 the American Red Cross withheld its dues (a total of $42 million) to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) because of IFRC's refusal to admit MDA; this ultimately led to the creation of the Red Crystal emblem and the admission of MDA on June 22, 2006.

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.

Criticism

The Australian TV network ABC and the indigenous rights group Friends of Peoples Close to Nature released a documentary called ''Blood on the Cross'' that alleges the involvement of the Red Cross with the British military in conducting a massacre in the Southern Highlands of West Papua in connection with the WWF hostage crisis of May 1996. 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. 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, possibly including the British military, although no hard evidence was found for this; and that the Red Cross should have responded more quickly and thoroughly to investigate the allegations than it did.

Allegations of poor governance and concern over accountability and transparency within certain national societies have led to high profile resignations.

See also

Accountable Fundraising

Algerian Red Crescent Society

Crveni Krst concentration camp, logor Crveni Krst (Red Cross Camp)

Emblems of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

First Aid Convention Europe

International Committee of the Red Cross

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

List of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Red Swastika Society

Roerich Pact

References

Further reading

Books

David P. Forsythe: ''Humanitarian Politics: The International Committee of the Red Cross.'' Johns Hopkins University Press, Baltimore 1978, ISBN 0-8018-1983-0

Henry Dunant: ''A Memory of Solferino.'' ICRC, Geneva 1986, ISBN 2-88145-006-7

Jean-Claude Favez, ''The Red Cross and the Holocaust'', Cambridge University Press 1999

Hans Haug: ''Humanity for all: the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.'' Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva in association with Paul Haupt Publishers, Bern 1993, ISBN 3-258-04719-7

Georges Willemin, Roger Heacock: ''International Organization and the Evolution of World Society. Volume 2: The International Committee of the Red Cross.'' Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Boston 1984, ISBN 90-247-3064-3

Pierre Boissier: ''History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume I: From Solferino to Tsushima.'' Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva 1985, ISBN 2-88044-012-2

André Durand: ''History of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Volume II: From Sarajevo to Hiroshima.'' Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva 1984, ISBN 2-88044-009-2

International Committee of the Red Cross: ''Handbook of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.'' 13th edition, ICRC, Geneva 1994, ISBN 2-88145-074-1

John F. Hutchinson: ''Champions of Charity: War and the Rise of the Red Cross.'' Westview Press, Boulder 1997, ISBN 0-8133-3367-9

Caroline Moorehead: ''Dunant's dream: War, Switzerland and the history of the Red Cross.'' HarperCollins, London 1998, ISBN 0-00-255141-1 (Hardcover edition); HarperCollins, London 1999, ISBN 0-00-638883-3 (Paperback edition)

François Bugnion: ''The International Committee of the Red Cross and the protection of war victims.'' ICRC & Macmillan (ref. 0503), Geneva 2003, ISBN 0-333-74771-2

Angela Bennett: ''The Geneva Convention: The Hidden Origins of the Red Cross.'' Sutton Publishing, Gloucestershire 2005, ISBN 0-7509-4147-2

David P. Forsythe: ''The Humanitarians. The International Committee of the Red Cross.'' Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2005, ISBN 0-521-61281-0

Florence Farmborough: ''With the Armies of the Tsar: A Nurse at the Russian Front 1914-1918.'' Stein and Day., New York. 1975. ISBN 0-8128-1793-1

Journal articles

François Bugnion: ''The emblem of the Red Cross: a brief history.'' ICRC (ref. 0316), Geneva 1977

Jean-Philippe Lavoyer, Louis Maresca: ''The Role of the ICRC in the Development of International Humanitarian Law.'' In: ''International Negotiation.'' 4(3)/1999. Brill Academic Publishers, p. 503–527, ISSN 1382-340X

Neville Wylie: ''The Sound of Silence: The History of the International Committee of the Red Cross as Past and Present.'' In: ''Diplomacy and Statecraft.'' 13(4)/2002. Routledge/ Taylor & Francis, p. 186–204, ISSN 0959-2296

David P. Forsythe: "The International Committee of the Red Cross and International Humanitarian Law." In: ''Humanitäres Völkerrecht - Informationsschriften. The Journal of International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict.'' 2/2003, German Red Cross and Institute for International Law of Peace and Armed Conflict, p. 64–77, ISSN 0937-5414

François Bugnion: ''Towards a comprehensive Solution to the Question of the Emblem.'' Revised 4th edition. ICRC (ref. 0778), Geneva 2006

External links

International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (magazine)

Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC)

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC)

International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent

Our world. Your move. (ICRC-IFRC)

Red Crescent and Red Cross Club

Category:1863 establishments Category:International organizations Category:Red Cross Category:International volunteer organizations Category:Missing people organizations

ab:Аџьар Ҟаҧшь ar:جمعية الصليب والهلال الأحمر an:Cruz Roya az:Beynəlxalq Qırmızı Xaç və Qırmızı Aypara Hərəkatı bn:আন্তর্জাতিক রেড ক্রস ও রেড ক্রিসেন্ট আন্দোলন be:Міжнародны рух Чырвонага Крыжа і Чырвонага Паўмесяца be-x-old:Міжнародны рух Чырвонага Крыжа і Чырвонага Паўмесяца bs:Međunarodni pokret Crveni krst i Crveni polumjesec br:Luskad Etrebroadel ar Groaz Ruz hag ar C'hreskloar Ruz bg:Червен кръст ca:Creu Roja cs:Mezinárodní červený kříž cy:Mudiad Rhyngwladol y Groes Goch a'r Cilgant Coch da:Røde Kors de:Internationale Rotkreuz- und Rothalbmond-Bewegung et:Rahvusvaheline Punane Rist el:Διεθνές Κίνημα Ερυθρού Σταυρού και Ερυθράς Ημισελήνου es:Cruz Roja eo:Ruĝa Kruco ext:Crus Colorá eu:Gurutze Gorria fa:نهضت بین‌المللی صلیب سرخ و هلال احمر hif:International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement fr:Mouvement international de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge gl:Movemento Internacional da Cruz Vermella e da Media Lúa Vermella ko:국제 적십자·적신월 운동 hi:इंटरनेशनल रेड क्रॉस एवं रेड क्रेसेन्ट मोवमेंट hr:Međunarodni Crveni križ id:Gerakan Internasional Palang Merah dan Bulan Sabit Merah is:Rauði krossinn it:Croce Rossa e Mezzaluna Rossa Internazionale he:הצלב האדום ka:წითელი ჯვრისა და წითელი ნახევარმთვარის საერთაშორისო მოძრაობა sw:Shirika za msalaba mwekundu na hilali nyekundu la:Internationalis Crucis Rubrae Falcisque Rubrae Motus lv:Starptautiskā Sarkanā Krusta un Sarkanā Pusmēness kustība lt:Tarptautinis Raudonojo Kryžiaus ir Raudonojo Pusmėnulio Judėjimas hu:Nemzetközi Vöröskereszt mk:Црвен Крст и Црвена Полумесечина ml:റെഡ്ക്രോസ് mr:आंतरराष्ट्रीय रेड क्रॉस व रेड क्रिसेंट चळवळ arz:الحركه الدوليه للصليب الاحمر و الهلال الاحمر ms:Persatuan Palang Merah dan Bulan Sabit Merah Antarabangsa my:ကမ္ဘာ့ကြက်ခြေနီနေ့ nl:Rode Kruis new:अन्तरराष्ट्रीय रेडक्रस् व रेड क्रेसेन्ट मुभमेन्ट ja:赤十字社 no:Røde Kors nn:Raudekrossen nrm:Rouoge Crouaix oc:Crotz Roja pnb:رتہ کراس pl:Międzynarodowy Ruch Czerwonego Krzyża i Czerwonego Półksiężyca pt:Movimento Internacional da Cruz Vermelha e do Crescente Vermelho ro:Mișcarea Internațională de Cruce Roșie și Semilună Roșie rue:Міджінародный рух Червеного Хреста і Червеного Півмісяця ru:Международное движение Красного Креста и Красного Полумесяца simple:International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement sk:Červený kríž sl:Rdeči križ sr:Црвени крст sh:Crveni križ fi:Punaisen Ristin ja Punaisen Puolikuun kansainvälinen liike sv:Röda Korset ta:பன்னாட்டு செஞ்சிலுவை மற்றும் செம்பிறை இயக்கம் te:రెడ్‌క్రాస్ th:กาชาด tr:Uluslararası Kızılhaç ve Kızılay Hareketi uk:Міжнародний рух Червоного Хреста і Червоного Півмісяця ur:ریڈ کراس vi:Phong trào Chữ thập đỏ và Trăng lưỡi liềm đỏ quốc tế fiu-vro:Riikevaihõlinõ Verevä Risti ja Verevä Puulkuu Liikminõ wa:Federåcion des soces del Rodje Croes et do Rodje Crexhant war:Gios Kanasoran han Pula nga Krus ngan Pula nga Bulan yi:רויטער קרייץ bat-smg:Tarptautėnis Rauduonuoje Krīžiaus ė Rauduonuoje Posmienole Jodiejėms zh:国际红十字与红新月运动

Name	Sean Combs
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Sean John Combs
Alias	DiddyP. DiddyPuff Daddy
Born	November 04, 1969New York City, New York, U.S.
Origin	Mount Vernon, New York, United States
Genre	Hip hop
Occupation	Rapper, record producer, actor, businessman
Years active	1991–present
Label	Bad Boy, Interscope
Associated acts	Diddy-Dirty Money, Faith Evans, The Neptunes, Lil' Kim, Rick Ross, Mase, The Notorious B.I.G., Usher, Jay-Z
Website	}}

Sean John Combs (born November 4, 1969), also known by his stage name Diddy or P. Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, record producer, actor, and businessman. He has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and his clothing line earned a Council of Fashion Designers of America award. He was originally known as Puff Daddy and then as P. Diddy (Puff and Puffy being often used as a nickname, but never as recording names). In August 2005, he changed his stage name to simply "Diddy", but continues to use the name P. Diddy in the United Kingdom as the result of a lawsuit. He formed and recorded with the group "Diddy - Dirty Money".

Combs was born in Harlem and grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. He worked as a talent director at Uptown Records and then founded Bad Boy Records in 1993. His business interests under the umbrella of Bad Boy Entertainment Worldwide include Bad Boy Records; the clothing lines Sean John & ''Sean by Sean Combs''; a movie production company; and two restaurants. He has taken the roles of recording executive, performer, producer of MTV's ''Making the Band'', writer, arranger, clothing designer, and Broadway actor. In 2011 Forbes estimated his net worth at $475 million, making him the richest figure in hip hop.

Early life

Sean Combs was born in a public housing project in Harlem, New York, the son of Janice, a model and teacher, and Melvin Earl Combs. He grew up in Mount Vernon, New York. When Combs was a child, his father, aged 33, an associate of Frank Lucas (the New York drug lord), was shot to death in his car at a Manhattan park after attending a party. Lucas and rival gangster Nicky Barnes both publicly state that they were close to Melvin.

Combs played football at the Roman Catholic Mount Saint Michael Academy. In 1986, his team won a division title; he graduated in 1987.

Combs says he was given the nickname "Puff" as a child because he would "huff and puff" when he was angry, and "Daddy" was another version of "playa".

Music career

Uptown Records

Combs attended Howard University in Washington, D.C., where he showed a penchant for marketing and gained a reputation as a party promoter. He eventually became an intern at New York's Uptown Records. For some time he would travel back and forth between Washington and New York, juggling his classes and his internship, before eventually dropping out of Howard when he became a talent director at Uptown. He was instrumental in developing Jodeci and signing and producing Mary J. Blige.

In 1991, Combs promoted a concert, headlined by Heavy D and held at the City College of New York gymnasium, following an AIDS charity basketball game. The event was overcrowded since it was oversold to almost twice capacity, while thousands without tickets were outside. To keep them out Combs' people shut the only door to a stairwell and put a table behind it, though the crowd jammed inside was pounding on the door and pleading for help. When the crowd outside broke several glass doors in an attempt to get in a stampede ensued inside the gymnasium in which nine people died. In a 1999 ruling, a Court of Claims judge found Puff Daddy and Heavy D. responsible for 50 percent of the incident. City College bore the rest of the responsibility in part for abandoning security responsibility to Puff Daddy though they knew the event was oversold.

Establishing Bad Boy Records

In 1993, after being fired from Uptown, Combs established Bad Boy Records, taking then-newcomer The Notorious B.I.G. with him. Both The Notorious B.I.G. and Craig Mack quickly released hit singles, followed by similarly successful LPs, particularly The Notorious B.I.G.'s ''Ready to Die''. Combs began signing more acts to Bad Boy, including Carl Thomas, Faith Evans, Father MC, 112 and Total, as well as producing for Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil' Kim, TLC, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, SWV, Aretha Franklin, and others, and forming The Hitmen, an in-house production team.

Mase and D-Block (then known as "The L.O.X.") joined Bad Boy just as a widely publicized rivalry with the West Coast's Death Row Records was beginning. Combs and The Notorious B.I.G. were criticized and parodied by Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight in songs and interviews during the mid-1990s. During 1994–1995, he also helped produce songs for TLC's ''CrazySexyCool'', which was the decade's best-selling R&B album. Songs he helped produced include "If I Was Your Girlfriend" and "Can I Get A Witness".

"Puff Daddy"

In 1997, Combs recorded his first commercial vocal as a rapper under the name "Puff Daddy." His debut single, "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" spent six weeks at #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. His debut album, ''No Way Out'' was a #1 album and won the 1998 Grammy Award for best rap album. His second single, "I'll Be Missing You", in memory of The Notorious B.I.G. debuted at #1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. He collaborated with Jimmy Page on the song "Come with Me" for the ''Godzilla'' film, an EPIC/Sony Soundtrax production. The track, approved by Page, sampled the Led Zeppelin song "Kashmir". Producer Tom Morello supplied live guitar parts, playing bass on the song. Combs and Page filmed a video for "Come with Me", which reached #2 in the UK.

In 1997, Combs was sued for landlord neglect by Inge Bongo. Combs denied the charges.

By the late 1990s, he was receiving criticism for watering down and overly commercializing hip-hop and overusing guest appearances by other artists, samples and interpolations of past hits in his own hit songs.

Club New York

In December 1999, Combs was accused of assaulting Steve Stoute of Interscope Records. Stoute was the manager for Nas. Combs had filmed a video scene earlier that year for "Hate Me Now" that featured Nas being crucified but demanded that the images be removed. Stoute's refusal led to an argument and Puff Daddy's arrest for aggravated assault. This was followed by yet more negative publicity as The Lox left Bad Boy Records and a recording session with Lil' Kim and Lil' Cease, both of The Notorious B.I.G.'s Junior M.A.F.I.A. posse, was interrupted by gunfire.

On December 27, 1999, Combs and his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez were at Club New York, a midtown Manhattan nightclub, when gunfire broke out. After a police investigation, Combs and fellow rapper Shyne were arrested for weapons violations and other charges. The New York County District Attorney's Office, led by Assistant District Attorney Matthew Bogdanos, indicted Combs after his driver, Wardel Fenderson, claimed that Combs had tried to bribe him into taking the weapon after the shooting.

With a gag order in place, the highly publicized trial began. His attorneys were Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. and Benjamin Brafman. After the trial was over, Combs was found not guilty on all charges; Shyne was convicted on the same charges and sentenced to ten years in prison. Combs and Lopez split shortly after. A lawsuit filed by Combs's driver, Fenderson, who said he suffered emotional damage after the club shooting, was settled in February 2004. Lawyers for both sides, having agreed to keep the settlement terms secret, would say only that the matter was resolved to the satisfaction of all parties.

"P. Diddy"

In 2001, after his acquittal on gun possession and bribery charges, Combs changed his stage name from "Puff Daddy" to "P. Diddy". He later appeared as a drug dealer in the film ''Made'' and starred with Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton in ''Monster's Ball''. He tried to reinvent his image, working on a gospel album, ''Thank You'', but soon faced assault charges by a Michigan television host, Dr. Roger Mills, also known as Rogelio Mills, and then was arrested for driving on a suspended license in Florida. Combs began working with a series of unusual (for him) artists. A collaboration with David Bowie appeared on the soundtrack to ''Training Day'' and he also worked with Britney Spears and 'N Sync. He signed California-based pop girl group Dream to his record label. He was also an opening act for 'N Sync on their Spring 2002 Celebrity Tour.

Later in 2002, he made his own reality show on MTV called ''Making the Band 2'', a sequel to the first ''Making the Band'', in which contestants competed to be in a new group on Bad Boy Records. Six finalists were to come up with their name, CD and video (see Da Band). The group, maligned by comics and critics and drawing a skit on ''Chappelle's Show'', was dissolved by Combs at the end of the series.

In 2003, Combs ran in the New York City Marathon and raised $2,000,000 for the educational system for the children of New York. On March 10, 2004, he appeared on ''The Oprah Winfrey Show'' to discuss the marathon, which he finished in four hours and eighteen minutes.

In 2004, Combs headed the campaign "Vote or Die" for the 2004 Presidential Election. The "Vote or Die" slogan was mocked by both ''The Daily Show'' and ''South Park'' as being too simplistic and encouraging young people to vote without knowing the issues. In a ''South Park'' episode entitled "Douche and Turd", Combs and his friends were depicted chasing Stan Marsh, one of the show's main characters, around with weapons, literally threatening to kill him if he wouldn't vote in his school election.

"Diddy"

On August 16, 2005, Combs appeared on ''Today'' and announced that he was altering his stage name yet again, dropping the "P." and referring to himself simply as "Diddy", saying that "the P was getting between me and my fans." However this upset Richard "Diddy" Dearlove, a London based musical artist & DJ, who in November 2005 sought an injunction of the Royal Courts of Justice, London but accepted an out-of-court settlement of £110,000. As a result, Combs no longer uses the name Diddy in the UK, where he is still known as P. Diddy.

Combs starred in the 2005 ''Carlito's Way: Rise to Power'', played Walter Lee Younger in the critically acclaimed 2004 Broadway revival of ''A Raisin in the Sun'' and the television adaptation which was aired in February 2008. In the same year Combs sold his record company to the Warner Music Group. Tensions still existed between him and former Warner CEOs Lyor Cohen and Kevin Liles (both formerly of Def Jam) but they arranged for his imprint to be a part of the company. In an interview with AndPOP Combs said that he was developing a line of men's suits. He later hosted the 2005 MTV Video Music Awards, and was named one of the 100 Most Influential People of 2005 by ''Time'' magazine. He even earned a mention in the world of country music: The narrator of "Play Something Country" by Brooks & Dunn and Sean Okundaye says he "didn't come to hear P Diddy", which he rhymes with "something bumpin' from the city."

In 2006, after trying to move Mase away from Bad Boy Records, 50 Cent recorded a diss song, "Hip-Hop", in which he implied that Combs knew about The Notorious B.I.G.'s murder. The feud was resolved, with both rappers appearing on MTV's ''TRL'' and ''Sucker Free'', respectively, stating that there were no longer problems.

Combs released his first album in 4 years, ''Press Play'', on October 17, 2006 on the Bad Boy Records label with guest appearances from Christina Aguilera, Keyshia Cole, Mario Winans (signed to his label 'Bad Boy Records'), Nas, Will.i.am (of The Black Eyed Peas), Mary J. Blige, Nicole Scherzinger (of the Pussycat Dolls), Jamie Foxx, Fergie, Big Boi (of Outkast), Ciara, Twista, Just Blaze, Pharrell, Brandy. The album reached number one on its first week in the charts.

It was reported that Combs would be singing on all the tracks of this album but he did not sing at all on the album's first single, "Come To Me" (featuring Nicole Scherzinger of the Pussycat Dolls), but rather did his traditional rapping. He did sing on the third single, "Last Night" (featuring Keyshia Cole). "Tell Me" (featuring Christina Aguilera) was released as the second single. He was asking fans on his MySpace page to help him choose the fourth single, which was "Through the Pain (She Told Me)" (featuring Mario Winans).

In October 2007, he was sued by hip-hop promoter James Waldon for allegedly unleashing three violent bodyguards on him in a New York nightclub. In March 2008, a source for the ''Los Angeles Times'' claimed that The Notorious B.I.G. and Combs orchestrated the '94 robbery and assassination attempt on Tupac, substantiating the claim with supposed FBI documents to that effect; the newspaper later retracted the story, acknowledging that the supporting FBI documents had been fabricated.

In June 2008, Combs' representative denied rumors of another name change. August 2008 saw Combs venture into reality television with the premiere of his VH1 series ''I Want to Work for Diddy''. After the second season finale of ''Making the Band 4'', Combs confirmed that he will be heading back into the studio to record his next album. He posted a Myspace Bulletin on February 19, 2009 that his next album is set to release in November 2009.

Combs has stated that he would like to work with Leona Lewis on his new album. In an interview with ''The Daily Mail'' he said: "I had Christina Aguilera on my last album, but its all about Leona Lewis on my next."

Under his real name of Sean Combs, he starred in two episodes of Season 7 of ''CSI: Miami''; 'Presumed Guilty' and 'Sink or Swim' in the role of the lawyer Derek Powell.

He has created a rap supergroup known as "The Dream Team". The group consists of Diddy, Rick Ross, DJ Khaled, Fat Joe, Busta Rhymes and Red Café. Fabolous is also rumored to be in the group. Since 2009 he has recorded and performed as part of the group Diddy - Dirty Money.

In June 2010, Diddy played a role (as Sean Combs) in the comedy film ''Get Him to the Greek'', as Sergio Roma, a record company executive. An ''Entourage''-series representative announced that Diddy would guest star on an episode of the upcoming season.

On Thursday, March 10, 2011 Diddy-Dirty Money performed the single "Coming Home" with singer/songwriter Skylar Grey and two female background vocalists Dawn Richard and Kalenna Harper, live on American Idol. Forty six minutes into the show, Ryan Seacrest introduced Diddy-Dirty Money featuring Skylar Grey. Grey started the performance seated at a piano singing the song's opening refrain. Diddy-Dirty Money's performance lasted four minutes.

On April 18, 2011, Diddy appeared in the 21st episode of season one of ''Hawaii Five-0'' as an undercover NYPD detective.

Business ventures

In 2002, he was featured on ''Fortune'' magazine's "40 Richest People Under 40" list and was placed number one in the list of the top ten richest people in hip-hop. In 2010 his estimated worth was US $475 million, making him the richest person in the hip hop entertainment business.

Sean John

In 1998, Combs started a clothing line, ''Sean John''. It was nominated for the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) Award for Menswear Designer of the Year in 2000, and won in 2004.

The clothing line was subject to controversy in 2003 when it was discovered that factories producing the clothing in Honduras were violating Honduran labor law. Among the accusations put forth were that workers were subjected to body searches and paid sweatshop wages. Charles Kernaghan of the National Labor Committee, who first exposed the factory, is quoted in the New York Times as saying, "Sean Puff Daddy obviously has a lot of clout, he can literally do a lot overnight to help these workers."

Combs responded that there would be a "zero tolerance" investigation at his company, Sean John. He stated to a group of reporters "I'm as pro-worker as they get." On February 14, 2004, Kernaghann announced on Pacifia station that Combs had made some "unprecedented" changes at factories including adding air conditioning and water purification systems, and allowing a union to form.

In late 2006, MSNBC reported, "Macy's has pulled from its shelves and its Web site two styles of Sean John hooded jackets, originally advertised as featuring faux fur, after an investigation by the nation's largest animal protection organization concluded that the garments were actually made from an animal called a 'raccoon dog'". Combs said he had been unaware of the material, but as soon as he knew about it, he had his clothing line stop using the material. In 2008 he appeared in a Macy's commercial.

In November 2008, Combs launched his latest men's perfume under the Sean John brand called "I Am King" dedicated to Barack Obama, Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King. In November 2008, he unveiled a new Times Square billboard for the "I Am King" line to replace his iconic Sean John ad. The giant billboard is currently the largest static ad in Times Square. Model Bar Refaeli was chosen to be the face of the fragrance.

Other ventures

In addition to his clothing line, Combs owns an upscale restaurant chain called Justin's, named after his son. The current restaurant is in Atlanta; the original New York location closed in September 2007. He is the designer of the green Dallas Mavericks alternate jersey.

On September 18, 2007, Combs teamed up with 50 Cent and Jay-Z for the "Forbes I Get Money Billion Dollar Remix." He also made appearances with Jay-Z on his ''American Gangster'' concert tour in 2007.

As of October 2007, Combs has inked a multi-year deal, in which he'll help develop the Ciroc brand, one of Diageo PLC's super-premium Vodka lines, for a share in the profits. The agreement is the latest in which a celebrity is going beyond the typical role of endorser to share in a brand's rise and fall. Diageo said the agreement could be worth more than $100 million for Combs and his company, Sean Combs Enterprises, over the course of the deal, depending on how well the brand performs. Since then, he has launched multiple ventures for Ciroc, many of which were featured during the 2008 presidential election.

Combs acquired the Enyce clothing line from Liz Claiborne for $20 million on October 21, 2008.

After a prolific Twitter campaign by comedian Chris Gethard, Combs is set to make an appearance at the comedian's live show in January 2010 at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theater in New York City. In February 2010, Combs announced on CNN to Wolf Blitzer, that he plans to open a business school in New York. He announced that he wanted a school, "that’s known for building leaders."

Personal life

Family

Combs has never married, but he is the biological father of five children and the informal stepfather of another child:

His on-again, off-again girlfriend Kimberly Porter has a son, Quincy Jones Brown (born December 1991) with 1980s New Jack Swing romantic singer/producer Al B Sure. Quincy was featured on ''My Super Sweet 16''.

Combs' first biological child is Justin Dior Combs (born December 1993), from a relationship with his high school sweetheart, designer Misa Hylton-Brim. In January 2010 it was widely reported that Combs presented his son Justin with a $360,000 Maybach car (and chauffeur) as a 16th birthday present. Justin was also featured on ''My Super Sweet 16''.

His second child is son Christian Casey Combs (born April 1998) with Kim Porter. Porter is also the mother of Combs' twin daughters, D'Lila Star Combs and Jessie James Combs (born December 2006). In July 2007 Combs and Porter ended their relationship.

In October 2007, Combs took legal responsibility for Chance, his daughter with Sarah Chapman.

Charity work and honors

On October 13, 2006, the mayor of Chicago, Richard M. Daley, gave Combs the key to the city and a pair of cufflinks to commemorate the inauguration of an annual October 13 "Diddy Day". He received the honor as a reward for certain charitable work at Chicago's City Hall.

In 2008 Combs was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Wardrobe style

In the February 2007 issue of ''Blender'' magazine, Combs spoke about his wardrobe. He describes his style in three words: "Swagger. Timeless. Diverse." On September 2, 2007, Combs held his ninth annual "White Party" in which all guests are limited to an all white dress code. The White Party, which has also been held in St. Tropez, was held in his Long Island home in East Hampton. It featured a white carpet to go along with the white dress code. Combs stated, "This party is up there with the top three that I've thrown, It's a party that has legendary status. It's hard to throw a party that lives up to its legend."

Discography

;Studio albums

1997: ''No Way Out''

1999: ''Forever''

2001: ''The Saga Continues...''

2002: ''We Invented the Remix''

2006: ''Press Play''

2010: ''Last Train to Paris''

Accolades

NAACP Image Awards

* 2009, Outstanding Actor in a Television Movie, Mini-Series or Dramatic Special, ''A Raisin in the Sun'' (Winner)

MOBO Awards

* 2007, Best International Act (Nominated)

BET Awards

* 2007, Best Male Hip Hop Artist (Nominated)

MTV Video Music Awards

* 1997, Best R&B Video: "I'll Be Missing You" (Winner)

* 1998, Viewers Choice: "It's All About The Benjamins (Rock Remix)" (Winner)

Grammy Awards {| class=wikitable |- ! Year ! Category ! Genre ! Song ! Result |- align=center | 1998 | Best New Artist | General | N/A | |- align=center | 1998 | Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group | Rap | "Can't Nobody Hold Me Down" | |- align=center | 1998 | Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group | Rap | "Mo Money Mo Problems" | |- align=center | 1998 | Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group | Rap | "I'll Be Missing You" | |- align=center | 1998 | Best Rap Album | Rap | ''No Way Out'' | |- align=center | 2000 | Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group | Rap | "Satisfy You" | |- align=center | 2002 | Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group | Rap | "Bad Boy For Life" | |- align=center | 2003 | Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group | Rap | "Pass the Courvoisier (Part 2)" | |- align=center | 2004 | Best Rap Performance By a Duo or Group | Rap | "Shake Ya Tailfeather" | |}

Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time (Albums Executive Produced by Sean Combs)

{|class=wikitable |- ! Rank ! Artist ! Album ! Year |- align=center |133 |The Notorious B.I.G. |''Ready To Die'' |1994 |- align=center |279 |Mary J. Blige |''My Life'' |1994 |- align=center |483 |The Notorious B.I.G. |''Life After Death'' |1997 |}

References

External links

Official website

Sean Combs at MTV

Category:1969 births Category:Living people Category:Actors from New York City Category:African-American businesspeople Category:African American film actors Category:African American rappers Category:African American record producers Category:American dance musicians Category:American fashion designers Category:American hip hop record producers Category:American male singers Category:American music video directors Category:American socialites Category:Bad Boy Records artists Category:Businesspeople from New York City Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Howard University alumni Category:Participants in American reality television series Category:People from Harlem Category:People from Westchester County, New York Category:Rappers from New York City

ar:شون كومز bg:Шон Комбс cs:Sean Combs da:Sean Combs de:Sean Combs es:Diddy fa:شان کامز fr:Sean J. Combs fy:Sean Combs ga:Sean Combs ko:디디 hr:Sean Combs id:Sean Combs it:Sean Combs he:שון קומבס ka:შონ კომბსი sw:Sean Combs lv:Diddy nl:Sean Combs ja:ショーン・コムズ no:Sean Combs pl:Sean Combs pt:Diddy ro:Sean Combs ru:Коумз, Шон simple:Sean Combs sl:Diddy fi:Sean Combs sv:Sean Combs th:ฌอน คอมบ์ส tr:Puff Daddy zh:尚恩·库姆斯

name	Misty May-Treanor
fullname	Misty Erie May-Treanor
nickname	The Turtle
nationality
birth date	July 30, 1977
birth place	Los Angeles, CA, USA
hometown	Costa Mesa, CA, USA
height
Currentteammate	Kerri Walsh
Currentyears	2011
years	20102001–2009
teammates	Nicole BranaghKerri Walsh
Medaltemplates	}}

}}

Misty Erie May-Treanor (born July 30, 1977) is an American professional volleyball player and actress. She has won more tournaments than any other female player with 107 career wins.

May-Treanor and teammate Kerri Walsh were the gold medalists in beach volleyball at both the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. They have been called "the greatest beach volleyball team of all time".

Early life

Misty E. May was born in Los Angeles, California, in 1977. She grew up playing beach volleyball at the Santa Monica Pier with her parents, Butch and Barbara. At age eight, she played her first volleyball tournament with her father, and played other sports like soccer and tennis, as well as participating in dance. She attended primary school at Brightwood Elementary School in Monterey Park. She also suffered from an eating disorder in her younger years.

High School

May-Treanor spent her high school years in Costa Mesa, California. She attended Newport Harbor High School from 1991 through 1995. There, she helped her team win two state championships in indoor volleyball in 1992 and 1994.

In 1993, May-Treanor was named the Division I All-CIF team Player of the Year. In 1994, she was named by USA Today as the best girl's volleyball player in the nation.

College

May-Treanor played volleyball for the Long Beach State 49ers from 1995 to 1999. The 1998 team that May-Treanor was the captain of was the first women's NCAA volleyball team to have an undefeated season. She graduated with a BA in kinesiology/fitness in 2002 and was inducted into the Long Beach State Athletics Hall of Fame in 2004.

During her tenure there, she racked up numerous Big West Conference and NCAA awards and honors.

NCAA Championship

In 1998, as the starting setter, May-Treanor led the 49ers to a 36–0 record and helped them win the Division I NCAA Women's Volleyball Championship. Long Beach State became the first team to go undefeated in Division I NCAA Women's Volleyball History. In the championship game Long Beach State played Penn State, who was also undefeated entering the title match. Long Beach State won the first two games, Penn State squeaked out victories in games 3 and 4 setting up game 5. In game 5, Penn State stormed out to a 7–2 lead, but May-Treanor orchestrated one of the best comebacks in volleyball championship history, and led Long Beach State to a 15–12 win and a National Championship. She shared the NCAA Championship Most Outstanding Player award after setting a tournament record with 20 service aces.

In both 1997 and 1998, May-Treanor was also awarded:

NCAA Division I First Team All-American

NCAA Player of the Year

She also received the Honda-Broderick Cup as the top female college athlete in 1998. May-Treanor was voted as one of the top 6 players in NCAA volleyball history in 2000, and she is one of only 3 players to win back to back Player of the Year awards.

Professional career

1998–2000: Early career with Holly McPeak

May-Treanor played her first professional match on the AVP tour in May 1999, while still a college senior.

After graduation from Long Beach State, May-Treanor joined the U.S. Women's National Volleyball Team in the summer of 1999, only to quit soon after because "volleyball was not fun anymore". Instead, she chose to pursue a beach volleyball career and teamed with Holly McPeak, a skilled beach player looking to win a medal in the 2000 Summer Olympics after a disappointing 5th in 1996 with partner Nancy Reno.

The pair played their first tournament together on the FIVB tour in Salvador, Brazil in November 1999. Seeded 22nd, McPeak/May-Treanor finished 9th.

Nearly a year behind in the Olympic qualification process, May-Treanor/McPeak found quick success in international as well as domestic play in the 2000 season. They won their first tournament together in April at a USAV event, followed by two wins on the FIVB tour, and one on the now-defunct BVA.

With three FIVB tournament wins and no finishes lower than 5th, the pair qualified for one of two US Olympic berths, paving their way to the Sydney Games. The duo, however, managed only a 5th place finish at Sydney.

2001 to Beijing 2008: Dominance with partner Kerri Walsh

After completing the 2000 season with McPeak, May-Treanor teamed up with Kerri Walsh. For two years, the pair avoided playing on the AVP tour, which had recently emerged from bankruptcy. Instead, the duo played on the international FIVB tour. They were the FIVB tour champions in 2002.

In 2003, May-Treanor and Walsh signed with the AVP. They received "Team of the Year" honors after having an undefeated season, going 39–0 in match victories with eight tournament wins.

Since teaming up, May-Treanor and Walsh have dominated both the AVP and FIVB beach volleyball tours. Before the start of the 2008 Olympics, they were riding a win streak of 101 matches and 18 tournaments that began in June 2007.

After Beijing

Following their gold medal victory at the Beijing Olympics, May-Treanor and Walsh returned to the 2008 AVP Tour. Their win streak of 112 matches was broken with an upset victory by fellow 2008 Olympians Nicole Branagh and Elaine Youngs at the AVP Shootout in Cincinnati, Ohio. May-Treanor and Walsh lost again on September 7, falling to April Ross and Jennifer Boss in the semifinals of an AVP tournament in Santa Barbara, California, marking the first time since April 2007 that the duo missed reaching an AVP tour final.

Injuries

For five years – two during college and three during her pro career – May-Treanor suffered a torn PCL that nearly led her to quit volleyball. With encouragement from her father, however, she continued playing. She actually managed to be even stronger after the recovery from the PCL reconstruction surgery. and after surgery in September 2002, has managed a complete recovery. In October 2008 May-Treanor had to prematurely exit the show ''Dancing with the Stars'' when she ruptured her achilles tendon during practice. The injury is not expected to affect her volleyball career because she was already planning to take time off.

Coaching

Since 2001, May-Treanor has worked as an assistant women's volleyball coach at Irvine Valley College in Irvine, California. She is currently a coaching staff member of the website "sportskool", where she demonstrates the proper way to block, attack, serve, and play defense in an online video.

Olympics

Sydney 2000

May finished in fifth place with her partner Holly McPeak the 2000 Sydney Olympics. May's abdominal strain likely kept the duo from winning a medal.

Athens 2004

The team of Misty May and Kerri Walsh won the gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics by defeating the Brazilian team in the finals. In the semi-final, May and Walsh beat Holly McPeak and her partner Elaine Youngs, who went on to win the bronze medal. May and Walsh did not lose a single game in their seven matches at the 2004 Olympics.

Beijing 2008

On August 21, May-Treanor and Walsh repeated as Olympic gold medalists, defeating the first-seeded Chinese team in two games. They are the only beach volleyball team to repeat as gold medalists. May-Treanor was named the Most Outstanding Player for the women’s competition.

Personal life

May-Treanor is the daughter of Bob "Butch" May, a member of the 1968 US volleyball team and prominent beach volleyball player, and Barbara May, a nationally-ranked tennis player who later transitioned to beach volleyball. Barbara died of cancer in 2002. A prominent tattoo on May-Treanor's shoulder, an angel with the initials "B.M.", is a reminder of her mother. She has a tattoo of a flower on her right wrist. She also has a tattoo of a Roman numeral five on her lower back, five being her favorite number. After NBA star Jason Kidd was spotted in the stands at the Olympics supporting the US beach volleyball players, it was alleged that the number five tattoo is a tribute to Kidd, since he wears number 5. May-Treanor wore the number five through much of her volleyball career, though, and says she and Kidd have only met once. She has reported that she has her grandmother's initials on her arm as a tribute to her.

She has two brothers, Brack and Scott, and her first cousin is tennis player Taylor Dent.

In January 2004, she began dating baseball player Matt Treanor currently a catcher for the Texas Rangers and the two were engaged in March 2004. They wed in November 2004. May-Treanor has publicly stated that she intends to start a family, but the prospect of her return is unclear. May-Treanor shares a third tattoo with her husband that is of an M-squared. May-Treanor is listed as currently residing in Coral Springs, Florida, though she and her husband also own a home in Long Beach, California. She serves as a Sports Ambassador for Special Olympics Southern California (www.sosc.org) and previously served on the Board of Governors.

Awards and honors

College

Big West Conference

May's honors in the Big West Conference include:

Big West Conference Freshman of the Year 1995

All-Big West First Team 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998

Big West Player of the Year 1996, 1997, 1998

Big West Player of the Week – 6 times

Kid's Choice Awards

Favorite Female Athlete

NCAA

NCAA Division I First Team All-American 1997, 1998

American Volleyball Coaches Association National Player of the Year 1997, 1998

Honda-Broderick Cup 1998

Professional

AVP

AVP Best Defensive Player 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005,2006, 2007, 2008

AVP Best Offensive Player 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002,2003,2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

AVP Crocs Cup Champion 2006 (Kerri Walsh), 2007 (Kerri Walsh), 2008 (Kerri Walsh)

AVP Most Valuable Player 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

AVP Team of the Year 2003 (Kerri Walsh), 2004 (Kerri Walsh), 2005 (Kerri Walsh), 2006 (Kerri Walsh), 2007 (Kerri Walsh), 2008 (Kerri Walsh)

FIVB

FIVB Best Defensive Player 2007, 2008

FIVB Best Offensive Player 2005, 2007, 2008

FIVB Best Setter 2005

FIVB Most Outstanding 2005, 2008

FIVB Sportsperson 2007, 2008

FIVB Tour Champion 2002 (Kerri Walsh)

BVA

BVA Rookie of the Year 2000

Achievements

Most women's career tournament victories: 107

Most women's career earnings: $1,751,408

Most women's international career wins: 38 2004 and 2006 — Sportswoman of the Year Award (with Kerri Walsh)

TV and film appearances

May-Treanor appeared as a Stranger on an episode of the NBC game show ''Identity'' on April 6, 2007. Her "identity" was "born in 1977".

May-Treanor competed in season 7 (2008) of the ABC series ''Dancing With the Stars''. Her partner was Maksim Chmerkovskiy. After May-Treanor ruptured her Achilles tendon during a training session, she and Chmerkovskiy were forced to withdraw from the competition. She underwent surgery on October 7, 2008. She also was a special guest star on Wizards of Waverly Place; the episode premiered March 1, 2009. The episode is called "Art Teacher". May-Treanor also appeared alongside her volleyball partner Kerri Walsh on the show Shaq Vs. in August 2009. On April 6 she co-hosted a game of BrainSurge and the episode will premiere sometime in 2010.

References

External links

Official site

AVP profile

Category:1977 births Category:American beach volleyball players Category:American volleyball coaches Category:Beach volleyball players at the 2000 Summer Olympics Category:Beach volleyball players at the 2004 Summer Olympics Category:Beach volleyball players at the 2008 Summer Olympics Category:Long Beach State 49ers athletes Category:College volleyball players in the United States Category:Living people Category:Olympic beach volleyball players of the United States Category:People from Long Beach, California Category:Olympic gold medalists for the United States Category:People from Santa Monica, California Category:People from Los Angeles, California Category:Sportspeople from Orange County, California Category:Female volleyball players Category:Olympic medalists in volleyball

ca:Misty May-Treanor da:Misty May de:Misty May-Treanor es:Misty May-Treanor fr:Misty May-Treanor it:Misty May-Treanor nl:Misty May ja:ミスティ・メイトレーナー no:Misty May-Treanor pl:Misty May-Treanor pt:Misty May-Treanor ru:Мэй-Трейнор, Мисти sv:Misty May-Treanor uk:Місті Мей zh:米斯蒂·梅-特雷纳