The ICRC has a special job , based on the Geneva Conventions as well as other international law , to protect the victims of international and internal armed conflicts . The International Committee of the Red Cross ( ICRC ) is a private humanitarian institution based in Geneva , Switzerland . States parties ( signatories ) to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005 , have given the ICRC a mandate to protect the victims of international and internal armed conflicts .