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A red crescent on a white ground, protected under the Geneva Conventions.
Also known as: Red Crescent symbol
The red crescent carries exactly the same protection in law as the red cross. It was adopted so that societies in Muslim-majority states could display an emblem that did not read as a Christian cross, and the Conventions recognise the two as equals.
A protective emblem under the Geneva Conventions, of identical legal standing to the red cross.
Contexts: Medicine
Used by the Ottoman Empire from the 1870s and formally recognised in 1929, so that societies in Muslim-majority countries need not display a cross.
A crescent — a broad arc tapering to points at both ends, opening to the left — red on a plain white ground.
Identical in law; the choice between them is the displaying society's.