Seville Agreement

The Seville Agreement was an agreement drafted within the Red Cross Movement in 1997 to specify which organization within the Movement would take the lead in certain field operations. It was the latest of several "peace treaties" that sought to end turf wars between the ICRC and the Federation. Others were drafted in 1969, 1974, and 1989.

Specifically, it assigned the ICRC as lead agency in protecting persons caught in armed conflict or internal strife as well as managing the "immediate effects" of refugees or natural disasters that occur during armed conflict. The Federation takes the lead when armed conflict subsides into "reconstruction and rehabilitation," including refugees in non-warring countries. Even National Societies can become the lead agency in certain situations if both the ICRC and Federation concur.