DAVOS (Sputnik) — The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) lacks the necessary funds for 2017 and is calling on national governments to become donors and support the organization's aid commitments this year, ICRC President Peter Maurer told Sputnik.
"Just before Christmas I signed the letter to 194 countries in the world with our budget for 2017, in which we ask for voluntary contributions. ICRC is dependent on the will of each and every country to contribute to our operations… We think that we need to be generously financed and we think that we do not have enough money for 2017," Maurer said in an interview.
The humanitarian chief stressed that the organization needs money from the governments to deal with emergency relief in conflict zones throughout Syria, Iraq, Yemen and Ukraine.
"We are encouraging, supporting, asking for support of those operations by all high-contracting parties to the Geneva conventions," he added.
The ICRC was established in the 19th century as a private humanitarian organization. The Geneva Conventions of 1949 gave the ICRC an international mandate to protect the victims of conflicts. Funding donations to the organization are voluntary.
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