Statutes of the Movement (1986 International Conference)

The 1986 Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent adopted the current Statutes of the Movement, which became effective on November 8, 1986, replacing the 1952 Statutes. They established the framework for the Movement's organization and operation. They set the foundational rules for how the components of the Movement – the ICRC, the IFRC and National Societies – interact and work together, and define their respective responsibilities in terms of coordination among Movement components.

All the initiatives and new agreements described below are anchored in, and provide further specification to, the Statutes of the Movement which affirm that all partners shall cooperate with each other according to their roles defined by their respective mandates.

Seville Agreement (1997 Council of Delegates)

The “Agreement on the Organization of the International Activities of the Components of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement” (Seville Agreement) was adopted by the Council of Delegates in 1997 to provide predictability for structuring the Movement's response in large emergencies. Its approach was based on the assumption that an efficient response in a crisis is based on: a) having a single leader (lead agency) for the international response to a crisis; b) choosing the leader in a predictable manner to avoid competition, on the basis of the mandates of each of the components (e.g. the ICRC was to be the lead agency in armed conflict, the IFRC in natural disaster or pandemic).

The 1997 Seville Agreement also identified rules for Movement components to work together outside of emergencies, based on their expertise and mandates (Lead Role). Thus, for instances, the IFRC had a permanent lead role in such areas as developing National Societies and maintaining their integrity, while the ICRC was to have the lead role on international humanitarian law-related issues (RFL, dissemination, mine awareness) or on the Fundamental Principles.

Supplementary Measures to the Seville Agreement (2005 Council of Delegates)

The Supplementary Measures to the Seville Agreement were adopted by the Council of Delegates in 2005 to provide National Societies of the affected countries a more prominent role (the primary partner to the lead agency) – if not the Lead Agency role itself – when coordinating a Movement response. It also provided clearer responsibilities for the Lead Agency function and coordination.

The "Strengthening Movement Coordination and Cooperation" (SMCC) process (2013-2024 Council of Delegates)

The SMCC initiative launched in 2013 was the result of a joint assessment of challenges experienced in the field and a united call for stronger coordination and collaboration within the Movement. The SMCC aimed to improve the way Movement partners work together and enhance coordination and cooperation, especially in response to medium to large-scale crises and emergencies.

From 2013 to 2024, the SMCC initiative spanned four Council of Delegates resolutions (2013, 2015, 2017 and 2019), two Plans of action (2015-2017 and 2018-2019), a further development into a “SMCC 2.0” which covered the period 2020-2023, 3 progress reports and 1 final report. The SMCC decade-long experience has inspired a commitment to maximizing our collective impact, showing that enhanced coordination of Movement response is necessary, possible and achievable. It has also shown that efficient coordination is demanding, time-consuming, context-specific and incremental, requires specific skills, continuous training, monitoring and commitment, and comes with a cost.

Overall, the SMCC initiative has improved coordination between Movement components in challenging contexts. It has been instrumental in keeping the Movement components engaged in coordination at a time when the original Seville Agreement framework was contested. It allowed for the development of useful tools and promoted greater trust among Movement partners.

As a logical step after the adoption of the Seville Agreement 2.0 in 2022 (see below), the 2024 Council of Delegates brought the SMCC process to its formal end. Most of the tools developed under the SMCC have been included in the new Seville Agreement 2.0 and continue to be used to facilitate Movement coordination. The lessons learned from the SMCC process can be found in the Final report submitted to the 2024 Council of Delegates.

Seville Agreement 2.0 (2022 Council of Delegates)

The experiences of the SMCC process exposed the shortcomings of the old Seville Agreement and paved the way for the development of the Movement Coordination for Collective Impact Agreement (Seville Agreement 2.0), which was adopted by the Council of Delegates in 2022. By adopting the, Seville Agreement 2.0, the Movement reaffirmed its commitment to enhance its collective impact through a more inclusive approach to the organization of its components in situations triggering a collective response (i.e. in large-scale crises or emergencies), as well as in all areas of functional cooperation, where primary responsibilities are defined (e.g. ICRC for IHL and the Fundamental Principles, the IFRC for National Society development and integrity).

The main difference between the old Seville Agreement of 1997, with its concept of lead agency, and the new Agreement of 2022, with its revised “convener” and “co-convener” system, is that the latter places the host National Society at the centre of a collective response and promotes a collaborative and inclusive approach to Movement coordination. While the host National Society is always the convener of the Movement collective response, the ICRC or the IFRC (one per context) plays the role of co-convener (ICRC in situations of armed conflict and internal strife, and their direct results; IFRC in situations of disasters, and when relief is needed post-conflict, or when a State not party to a conflict and not affected by internal strife is affected by movement of populations).

ICRC-IFRC Co-convener Role Tabe (2024)

This table was signed by the IFRC Secretary General and the ICRC Director General on 19 September 2024. On the basis of the Seville Agreement 2.0, its objective is to ensure clarity about the responsibilities and actions of the “co-convener” in a crisis (ICRC or IFRC) and those of the institution which is not acting as co-convener. The annex to the table focuses on situations when a large-scale disaster or other crisis hits a context affected by an armed conflict or internal strife.