International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

Poverty would not immediately seem to be the focus of the International Red Cross. However, addressing poverty’s causes is directly linked to the Red Cross’s mission of responding to natural or human-made calamity. Human need in time of catastrophe is the primary focus of the [Page 824]183 national Red Cross organizations within the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, which claims to be the world’s largest humanitarian organization. The only larger worldwide organizations of national entities are the United Nations, with 191 member nations, and the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the international soccer governing body, with 207 national member societies. The focus of the various international Red Cross societies worldwide has expanded over the years, and some of the locally ...