III.

History

Initiative for founding the Red Cross came from the 19th-century Swiss philanthropist Jean Henri Dunant. Appalled by the almost complete lack of care for wounded soldiers, he appealed to the leaders of nations to found societies devoted to the aid of the wounded in wartime. Five Swiss citizens formed a committee, which later became the ICRC, and issued a call for an international conference, which was held in Geneva in October 1863 and was attended by delegates from 16 nations. Another conference was held in Geneva the following year, and official delegates of 12 nations signed the first Geneva Convention, laying down rules for the treatment of the wounded and for the protection of medical personnel and hospitals. It was also at this meeting that the famous symbol of the movement, the white flag bearing a red cross, was adopted. This symbol was later modified in non-Christian countries, with Islamic nations substituting a crescent for a cross, and in 2006 the ICRC also adopted a third, secular symbol: a red diamond emblem known as the Red Crystal. The principles enunciated in the first Geneva Convention were subsequently revised and amended at conferences held in 1906, 1929, and 1949. In 1977 additional protocols were added to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 to protect all non-combatants in all types of conflicts, international as well as domestic.

Over the decades the ICRC and the Federation have sent representatives and aid to many countries around the world to help detainees, prisoners of war, and refugees of war, political upheaval, or civil strife. The federation also assists victims of natural and man-made disasters.

Dunant was a corecipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901. The ICRC has been awarded three Nobel Peace Prizes, in 1917, 1944, and 1963; it shared the 1963 prize with the League of Red Cross Societies.