I.

Introduction

Geneva Conventions, series of international agreements that created and developed international humanitarian law to protect wounded combatants and those who assist them, prisoners of war, and civilians during times of war or other conflicts. The campaign for such laws began with the publication of Un Souvenir de Solferino (A Memory of Solferino, 1862; translated 1911) by Swiss philanthropist Jean Henri Dunant. The book described the suffering of wounded soldiers at the northern Italian battlefield of Solferino in June 1859. It advocated for the creation of a relief society and the adoption of a treaty that would give protection on the battlefield to the wounded and those who assisted them. These proposals ultimately led to the adoption of the Geneva Conventions and the founding of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which later became the International Committee of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.