Ukrainian Red Cross Society as an auxiliary humanitarian organization for the state

Abstract

The article analyzes the status and place of the URCS in the state and the civil society system. It is argued that the uniqueness of the URCS is determined by the simultaneous action of various normative sources that establish the organisation’s status, mandate and powers. Four types of sources have been identified that mediate the specificity of the forms and types of activities of the URCS as a humanitarian, independent, impartial international organization that assists victims of armed conflicts and humanitarian disasters in cooperation with the state and civil society, with the support of the Red Cross Movement and the international community. A general analysis of the implementation of the mandate and functions of the URCS through the prism of four directions and levels of activity is provided, focusing on the "Government" direction. Forms of cooperation of the URCS with state bodies have been singled out: participation in developing projects of normative legal acts; participation in working meetings with state bodies and local self-government bodies; involvement in working groups; involvement in advisory bodies; overcoming the consequences of emergencies. Areas of cooperation have been determined: the sphere of health care and rehabilitation; the sphere of support for socially vulnerable segments of the population; the field of overcoming the consequences of emergencies. The directions and forms of cooperation until 2014, from 2014 to 2022, and after the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, from February 24, 2022, are characterized. It was determined that the URCS is institutionally and functionally a stable, capable and developed public organization with a special status. It can effectively fulfill its mandate and auxiliary function for the state in the humanitarian sphere. The presence of the institutional and functional capacity of the URCS in such conditions is a unique phenomenon. At the same time, it reflects the general stability of Ukraine and Ukrainian society in the face of the aggressor state.