On 17 December 1996, six ICRC delegates were murdered in the Chechen town of Novye Atagi. This date is now commemorated every year as our Remembrance Day – wTwenty years on from that unprecedented attack, this year’s Remembrance Day is dedicated to the memory of all ICRC colleagues killed in action since 1996.
To mark this anniversary, a photo exhibition entitled Ray of Hope: A Story of Commitment is on display in the Place des Nations in Geneva. It focuses on the places where our colleagues have lost their lives in the past 20 years and offers visitors the chance to appreciate the humanitarian commitment of these exceptional men and women whose lives were cut tragically short.
A Remembrance Day march will also start from the Place des Nations. All staff in Geneva are invited to take part. Former and retired staff members will also join us, as will staff from the Secretariat of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The march will follow the same route as the solidarity march that took place in 1996 after the events in Novye Atagi. It will arrive at the headquarters esplanade, where Peter will give a short speech. A moment of silence will be observed before Karim Wasfi, the conductor of the Iraqi National Symphony Orchestra, performs a composition of his choice on the cello.
The commemorations will conclude tomorrow evening at headquarters with an awards ceremony, presided over by Guillaume Barazzone, mayor of Geneva. The Genève Reconnaissante medal was founded in 1932. In awarding it to the ICRC, the City of Geneva is expressing its gratitude and paying tribute to the exemplary humanitarian commitment of every ICRC staff member. The medal will be accepted by three staff members on behalf of us all: Aina Shakhidova, Dibeh Fakhr and Antoine Balabeau. They will be accompanied by the president Peter Maurer.
hen our thoughts turn to all our colleagues killed in the line of duty or as a result of an accident, illness or other tragic event.

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.”
 

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

Remembrance

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.

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

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.