The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) with a functional organization based on a structure of national societies and committees that independently represent it and carry out its work in numerous countries around the world. An essential element of this NGO’s functions, which are indeed very special, is the emblem that marks all of the activities the organization carries out, a symbol that is truly known in every corner of the globe. Given the organization’s prestige and everything its emblem represents, the need to protect this symbol arises in all contexts where it might be used, whether by the ICRC itself or by third parties, with or without authorization. This article reviews the numerous international, national, and internal rules that seek to regulate this emblem and its protection in all such models of its potential use.

This article explores whether the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) enjoys testimonial privilege before Canadian courts. The authors argue that there is strong evidence to suggest that customary international law requires that the ICRC be granted a privilege not to testify or disclose confidential information in domestic court proceedings. Such a privilege, they argue, is entailed by the ICRC’s mandate to engage in international humanitarian law protection activities using confidential means. Given that customary international law forms part of the common law in Canada, the authors argue that this privilege should be recognized by Canadian courts despite its potentially uneasy fit with traditional Canadian evidence law.