Memorial Events
Event
ICRC Remembrance Day 2014
Siradjou Mamadou, Michael Greub and Laurent Du Pasquier. On 17 December we remembered them and all our colleagues who have died while carrying out their mission, or lost their lives to accidents, disease or other tragic events.

2014 has been a dark year for the institution: Siradjou was killed in March by armed men in N’Dele, in north-eastern Central African Republic; Michael was murdered in Sirte, Libya, in June; and Laurent was killed by shellfire in October just outside our sub-delegation in Donetsk, Ukraine.
At headquarters, President Peter Maurer hosted a private ceremony for the families of Michael and Laurent where he presented them with an ICRC medal.
ICRC representatives travelled from the Central African Republic to Cameroon to present a medal to the family of Siradjou.
“The award of a medal is a mark of the ICRC’s profound recognition for personal commitment and dedication to humanitarian action,” said Peter Maurer.
“No medal can bring someone back to life; no medal can relieve the grief of a loved one. This award is no more than a symbolic gesture by which the ICRC recognizes the loss of our colleagues.”
 

Event
ICRC Remembrance day 2010
17 December - the anniversary of the killing of six ICRC delegates in Novye Atagi, Chechnya, in 1996 - has become a day of remembrance for our colleagues and friends who have died in the service of the ICRC, or who have died as a result of accidents, illness or other tragic events.

It is a time for reflection and remembrance.  

At headquarters, we gather as we do every year in the 'Garden of Remembrance' to light a candle and share a moment of silent reflection or prayer.

Many delegations have their own ritual to honor the memory of our deceased.
May the memory of our dear colleagues be present in our hearts!

Caroline Welch-Ballentine

Director of Human Resources

Yves Daccord

General Manager

 

Event
Remembrance 10th year Novye Atagi assassination
Novye Atagi village. Ceremony to mark the 10th anniversary of the murder of six ICRC delegates

Remembrance

Event
Memorial ceremony to Nadisha
Memorial ceremony to Nadisha Yasassri Ranmuthu

Geneva International Conference Centre. Memorial ceremony to Nadisha Yasassri Ranmuthu, killed on July 22nd 2003 in Iraq.

Baghdad, ICRC delegation. Mourning following the killing of Nadisha Ranmuthu on Hilla-Baghdad road.

Event
Memorial ceremony for Ricardo
Memorial ceremony for Ricardo Munguía

Geneva International Conference Centre. Memorial ceremony for Ricardo Munguía killed on 27 March 2003 in Afghanistan.

Event
Inauguration of the Garden of Remembrance
The garden of Remembrance was inaugurated on the 8 May 1998

Extract from the speech by Cornelio Sommaruga, president of the ICRC, at the inauguration of the Garden on 8 May 1998.


When we at the ICRC decided to create this place of remembrance, we had just said goodbye to the year 1996, a year which will forever be marked with a black stone in the history of the Red Cross, a year whose painful memory will remain closely linked to the fatal names of Mugina and Novye Atagy.

The shock, the emotion and the deep sadness that these two tragedies provoked in us, when the very foundation of our mission was attacked, were undoubtedly the trigger that allowed an idea to take shape, that of honoring the memory of all those who lost their lives in the exercise of their humanitarian commitment. 

Event
Silent march 1996
Silent march on the 20 December 1996 in Geneva

Geneva. Silent march in memory of the six delegates murdered in Novye Atagi in Chechnya