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A health worker with an IRC mobile health clinic measures a child for signs of malnutrition in a remote mountain village in Yemen as other children look on.
International Rescue Committee

Who we are

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) works in more than 40 countries and over 20 U.S. cities to help people affected by humanitarian crises to survive, recover and rebuild their lives.

Watch our video10 reasons to give to the IRC

What is the IRC?

The International Rescue Committee responds to the world's worst humanitarian crises, including the conflict in Ukraine and the crisis in Afghanistan.

We help to restore health, safety, education, economic wellbeing and power to people devastated by conflict and disaster. And we are proud to fight for a world where women and girls have an equal chance to succeed.

Learn more about the IRC’s work from IRC Ambassadors including Rami Malek, Kingsley Ben-Adir, Morena Baccarin, Sepideh Moafi and Ebony Obsidian.

The IRC at a glance

100andChange MacArthur grant winner

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100&Change Winners

The IRC & Sesame Street: Rescuing children's futures

The IRC: Eight decades of history

The International Rescue Committee was founded in 1933 at the call of physicist, humanitarian—and refugee—Albert Einstein. See a timeline of the IRC's rich history.

  • At the end of World War II, the IRC initiated emergency relief programs, like this food distribution center in Berlin, and began refugee resettlement in Europe. Photo: IRC

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  • In 1956, the IRC began relief and resettlement efforts for thousands of Hungarian refugees who were uprooted when a revolt against Soviet rule was crushed by the Red Army. Photo: IRC

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  • In the 1960s, the IRC’s first resettlement office outside of New York opened in Miami, to assist Cuban refugees fleeing the Castro dictatorship. Photo: IRC

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  • When 200,000 Angolans escaped their country’s colonial government during the war of independence in 1962, the IRC launched its first programs in Africa. Photo: Nick Erjavec/IRC

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  • From 1954 to 1975, the IRC worked aiding Vietnamese refugees displaced by conflict. Following the Vietnam War, the IRC took a lead role in the largest refugee resettlement program in American history. Photo: IRC

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  • Within weeks of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, the IRC rushed to aid Afghan refugees who poured into Pakistan. Decades later, we continue to provide humanitarian support in a country still in crisis. Photo: IRC

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  • The IRC began work in the former Yugoslavia in 1992 following the ethnic cleansing carried out by the Serbs in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Since 1993, we’ve resettled over 20,000 refugees from the Balkans in the U.S. Photo: Elizabeth Rappaport/IRC

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  • In 1994, as a result of the Rwandan genocide and civil war, the IRC established emergency programs to aid Rwandan refugees. In the years following, the IRC helped to reunite families separated in the chaos. Photo: IRC

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  • After a tsunami hit Indonesia on December 26, 2004, our mobile relief teams arrived to provide emergency aid to those affected--including providing child friendly spaces for children displaced by the disaster. Photo: Peter Biro/IRC

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  • As the conflict in Darfur uprooted thousands, the IRC was one of the only organizations assisting refugees pouring into Chad at the beginning of the conflict. Years later, millions remain displaced. Photo: Peter Biro/IRC

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  • After an outbreak of Ebola began in 2014, the IRC was on the forefront of the fight to stem the spread of the virus in West Africa. We worked closely with local partners to help communities rebuild and recover. Photo: Peter Biro/IRC

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  • The IRC deployed an emergency team to the Greek island of Lesbos in July 2015 to aid thousands of refugees arriving to Europe from Turkey. We continue to work in Europe and in the Syrian region to assist Syrian refugees fleeing their country’s brutal civil war. Photo: Tyler Jump/IRC

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Why the IRC

[The IRC] has served the world for generations. I am a proud supporter of this splendid, hard-working, efficient, beautiful organization—and I hope that you will join me.

Meryl StreepInternational Rescue Committee supporter (Photo: Brigitte Lacombe)
Watch Meryl Streep's message
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