Our world is getting smaller. We have to make sure the common problems do not get bigger.

It is not only for you, our esteemed readers, that the crises are coming thick and fast: Conflicts, earthquakes, climate catastrophe, also in Europe. "The New Normal" - that's what humanitarian organisations call it. In our globalised world, crises are getting closer, and we are feeling their effects. As the Red Cross, we have a responsibility to help even where it is not reported in the media, and to provide anticipatory disaster relief and crisis preparedness worldwide. In 2022, the armed conflict in Ukraine was the superimposing issue for us - operational challenges such as constantly changing situations, the many people affected, winter aid, the constant risk for staff, were the order of the day. And we had to face strategic challenges: public discussions about the doctrines of our work in the field of humanitarian aid, its principles, and especially neutrality, to which we are committed as the Red Cross. Therefore, we devote more space in this annual report to these fundamental questions: What does neutrality mean in the humanitarian sector, and what is its purpose? Is it even relevant or morally justifiable?

Despite the focus on Ukraine, we were able to continue and expand our assistance in other countries and with other humanitarian disasters: for example, in the famine crisis at the Horn of Africa, in Afghanistan, in the "forgotten conflict" in Syria. In our sustainable capacity-building programmes in the area of development cooperation, we are feeling the effects of the current conflicts and adapting our work accordingly: in Uganda, in the conflict in Eastern Congo, in Armenia with the resurgence of the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict or in Ethiopia in the Tigray region. Because our aid must continue to reach the people who need it.

Let me say this with a look to the future: The capacities of the Red Cross will continue to be stretched to the limit by protracted conflicts and the climate crisis. And we have all been feeling the effects of these crises for a long time. In our globalized, smaller world, we need to invest more in disaster preparedness, resilience and innovation, and help earlier, anticipatorily. Together, with the power of humanity.

Prof. DDr. Gerald Schöpfer President of the Austrian Red Cross