Overview

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) is an officially recognized independent Palestinian National Society. It enjoys legal personality and is part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. The Society, which operates in Palestine and the diaspora, is guided by the Geneva Conventions and the Movement’s Fundamental Principles, i.e. Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Unity and Universality.

A Red Crescent chapter was first set up in Jerusalem, Palestine, in 1910. On December 26, 1968, PRCS was officially founded to cater to the health needs of Palestinians via a small clinic in a refugee camp in Jordan. On September 1, 1969, it was recognized as a National Society with legal personality at the sixth session of the Palestinian National Council in Cairo. Ever since, PRCS has been a key PLO actor providing healthcare and social services. It employs tens of thousands of Palestinian, Arab and foreign staff and volunteers. Its pivotal role and legal status were reaffirmed in Presidential Decrees N. 46 in 1997 and N.12 in 2006. In June 2006, a decision by the 29th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent admitted PRCS as a full-fledged member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The National Society’s mission is to provide humanitarian assistance as well as health and social services to Palestinians whenever and wherever needed. It works towards preventing and allaying human suffering, protecting life and health, ensuring the respect of human dignity, preventing disease, and promoting health, social care and volunteering both in times of peace and war as well as during emergencies, crises and disasters.