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This additional emblem should start to appear early in 2001.
It will make many things possible, and will correct some
problems that have been with us for many years. One of these
has been legal obstacles to the entry into the Movement of
those National Societies unable to use either the red cross or
the red crescent as their primary humanitarian emblem.
The additional emblem will remove the problem, and the
National Societies of Israel and Kazakhstan will soon be able
to take their places as full participants in our Movement.
Other countries which have difficulty using the existing
emblems will also be able to use the new one if they wish.
Most societies will, of course, want to retain the emblem they
are now using.
It will, however, be possible for countries using an
existing emblem to make temporary use of the new one. This
will usually happen when international work is being done in
places where their emblem is not well understood. This is
occurring more and more, because it is now common for
societies to have large work pro-grammes outside their own
countries, and often in places where the locally known emblem
is different from the one they carry.
So the special benefits of the additional emblem are its
capacity to be used flexibly and the achievement of true
universality, making this development one of the most striking
examples of the way our Movement is keeping pace with the
times. It is maintaining its place as the world's foremost
humanitarian network, and remaining committed to its
Fundamental Principles and humanitarian values.
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