Dick Lugar: “Joint Statement of Senators Lugar and Biden Today, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Relations, we have requested…”

“Joint Statement of Senators Lugar and Biden Today, on behalf of the Committee on Foreign Relations, we have requested that the Committee be discharged from further consideration of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, and relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem, which was adopted at Geneva on December 8, 2005, and signed by the United States on that date (Treaty Doc. 109-10A) (``Geneva Protocol III'' or the ``Protocol''). The Protocol creates a new distinctive emblem, a Red Crystal, that will serve the same purposes as the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems. The Red Crystal is a neutral emblem that can be used by governments and national societies that face challenges using the existing emblems or that believe this neutral emblem may offer enhanced protection in certain situations. The Protocol also paved the way for Magen David Adom, Israel's national society, to become a member of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.”