ABOUT UKRAINIAN RED CROSS SOCIETY
The activities of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS) are based on Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and three Additional Protocols thereto: Protocols I and II of 8 June 1977 and Protocol III of 8 December 2005. The URCS activities are regulated by the Law of Ukraine “On Ukrainian Red Cross Society” of 2014, Law of Ukraine “On Emblems of Red Cross, Red Crescent, and Red Crystal in Ukraine” of 2010, Decree of the President of Ukraine No 548/92 “On Ukrainian Red Cross Society” of 28 October 1992, as well as Charter of the Red Cross of Ukraine.
The Society was recognized by the ICRC on 29 September 1993 as well as by the Decision of the IX session of the General Assembly of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, adopted by the collective member of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
The Society’s activities are carried out with the support and cooperation of state authorities and local self-government bodies, public organisations, corporate sector, as well as partners within the International Movement: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and other National Societies.
The Ukrainian Red Cross Society always helps vulnerable groups of population, and develops community’s capability to prevent and overcome humanitarian and social crises.
The Ukrainian Red Cross Society is a powerful and socially recognized organisation that, acting together with the communities, responds to humanitarian and social challenges, turning compassion into action.
On the territory of Ukraine, the first Red Cross centre was open in November 1867 in Simferopol, the second one was open in December of the same year in Kamianets-Podilskyi. Since the 1880s, the Austrian Red Cross centres started to open in Galicia (Halychyna) and Bukovina, as well as the Hungarian Red Cross centres in Transcarpathia. As an independent national society, the Ukrainian Red Cross Society started to function right after the Founding Congress held on 15-18 April 1918 in Kyiv. Its founding parents were a group of medical public figures led by Yevmen Lukasevych and Borys Matiushenko. Upon the declaration of Ukraine’s independence in 1991, the Red Cross Society of the Ukrainian SSR gained international recognition as a completely independent and unified Ukrainian Red Cross Society.
STRUCTURE
The structure of the Society follows the administrative structure of Ukraine with its regional and local organisations throughout the country. The network of organisations, volunteers and members of the Society covers the entire country.
The Ukrainian Red Cross Society consists of organisations at the national (central), regional, local and primary levels.
National (central) level
National Committee of URCS
Executive authority of National Society.Regional level
URCS Regional Branches
Regional organisations (branches) are a constituent part of the Ukrainian Red Cross Society and are organisationally subordinate to the Society and its National Committee.Local level
City, district and city-district branches of URCS
They are a constituent part of the relevant regional branches of Ukrainian Red Cross Society (URCS), organisationally subordinated them and the National Committee.Primary level
Primary centres of URCS
The centres are created at the place of work, residence or study of citizens who are a constituent part of the relevant local branches of National Society and are organisationally subordinate to them.