Up until the middle of the 19
th century, there were no organized and well-established
army nursing systems for casualties and no safe and protected institutions to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. In June 1859, the Swiss businessman
Henry Dunant traveled to
Italy to meet French emperor
Napoléon III with the intention of discussing difficulties in conducting business in
Algeria, at that time occupied by
France. When he arrived in the small town of
Solferino on the evening of June 24, he witnessed the
Battle of Solferino, an engagement in the
Austro-Sardinian War. In a single day, about 40,000 soldiers on both sides died or were left wounded on the field. Henry Dunant was shocked by the terrible aftermath of the battle, the suffering of the wounded soldiers, and the near-total lack of medical attendance and basic care. He completely abandoned the original intent of his trip and for several days he devoted himself to helping with the treatment and care for the wounded. He succeeded in organizing an overwhelming level of relief assistance by motivating the local population to aid without discrimination. Back in his home in
Geneva, he decided to write a book entitled
A Memory of Solferino which he published with his own money in 1862. He sent copies of the book to leading political and military figures throughout
Europe. In addition to penning a vivid description of his experiences in Solferino in 1859, he explicitly advocated the formation of national voluntary relief organizations to help nurse wounded soldiers in the case of war. In addition, he called for the development of international treaties to guarantee the neutrality and protection of those wounded on the battlefield as well as medics and field hospitals.
When the first
Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901, the
Norwegian Nobel Committee opted to give it jointly to Henry Dunant and
Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist. More significant than the honor of the prize itself, the official congratulation from the International Committee of the Red Cross marked the overdue rehabilitation of Henry Dunant and represented a tribute to his key role in the formation of the Red Cross. Dunant died nine years later in the small Swiss health resort of
Heiden. Only two months earlier his long-standing adversary Gustave Moynier had also died, leaving a mark in the history of the Committee as its longest-serving president ever.
In 1906, the 1864 Geneva Convention was revised for the first time. One year later, the
Hague Convention X, adopted at the Second International Peace Conference in
The Hague, extended the scope of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare. Shortly before the beginning of the
First World War in 1914, 50 years after the foundation of the ICRC and the adoption of the first Geneva Convention, there were already 45 national relief societies throughout the world. The movement had extended itself beyond Europe and North America to Central and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Mexico, Peru, El Salvador, Uruguay, Venezuela), Asia (the Republic of China, Japan, Korea, Siam), and Africa (Republic of South Africa).
At the end of the
Cold War, the ICRC's work actually became more dangerous. In the 1990s, more delegates lost their lives than at any point in its history, especially when working in local and internal armed conflicts. These incidents often demonstrated a lack of respect for the rules of the Geneva Conventions and their protection symbols. Among the slain delegates were:
- Frédéric Maurice. He died on May 19, 1992 at the age of 39, one day after a Red Cross transport he was escorting was attacked in the former Yugoslavian city of Sarajevo.
- Fernanda Calado (Spain), Ingeborg Foss (Norway), Nancy Malloy (Canada), Gunnhild Myklebust (Norway), Sheryl Thayer (New Zealand), and Hans Elkerbout (Netherlands). They were murdered at point-blank range while sleeping in the early hours of December 17, 1996 in the ICRC field hospital in the Chechen city of Nowije Atagi near Grozny. Their murderers have never been caught and there was no apparent motive for the killings.
- Rita Fox (Switzerland), Véronique Saro (Democratic Republic of Congo, formerly Zaire), Julio Delgado (Colombia), Unen Ufoirworth (DR Congo), Aduwe Boboli (DR Congo), and Jean Molokabonge (DR Congo). On April 26, 2001, they were en route with two cars on a relief mission in the northeast of the Democratic Republic of Congo when they came under fatal fire from unknown attackers.
- Ricardo Munguia (El Salvador). He was working as a water engineer in Afghanistan and travelling with local colleagues when their car was stopped by unknown armed men. He was killed execution-style at point-blank range while his colleagues were allowed to escape. He died at the age of 39.
- Vatche Arslanian (Canada). Since 2001, he worked as a logistics coordinator for the ICRC mission in Iraq. He died when he was travelling through Baghdad together with members of the Iraqi Red Crescent. Their car accidentally came into the crossfire of fighting in the city.
- Nadisha Yasassri Ranmuthu (Sri Lanka). He was killed by unknown attackers on July 22, 2003, when his car was fired upon near the city of Hilla in the south of Baghdad.
The official mission statement says that: "The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is an impartial, neutral, and independent organization whose exclusively humanitarian mission is to protect the lives and dignity of victims of war and internal violence and to provide them with assistance." It also directs and coordinates international relief and works to promote and strengthen
humanitarian law and universal humanitarian principles.
The core tasks of the Committee, which are derived from the Geneva Conventions and its own statutes are the following:
- to monitor compliance of warring parties with the Geneva Conventions
- to organize nursing and care for those who are wounded on the battlefield
- to supervise the treatment of prisoners of war and make confidential interventions with detaining authorities
- to help with the search for missing persons in an armed conflict (tracing service)
- to organize protection and care for civil populations
- to act as a neutral intermediary between warring parties
The ICRC drew up seven fundamental principles in 1965 that were adopted by the entire Red Cross Movement.
They are humanity, impartiality, neutrality, independence, volunteerism, unity, and universality.
The ICRC is one of the largest and most respected
humanitarian and
non-state actors in the
international system. Its efforts have provided
aid and protection to victims of armed struggle in numerous conflicts for over a century.
The ICRC prefers to engage
states directly and relies on low-key and confidential negotiations
to lobby for access to
prisoners of war and improvement in their treatment. Its findings are not available to the general public but are shared only with the relevant government. This is in contrast to related organizations like
Doctors Without Borders and
Amnesty International who are more willing to expose abuses and apply public pressure to governments. The ICRC reasons that this approach allows it greater access and cooperation from governments in the long run.
When granted only partial access, the ICRC takes what it can get and keeps discreetly lobbying for greater access. In the era of
apartheid South Africa, it was granted access to prisoners like
Nelson Mandela serving sentences, but not to those under
interrogation and awaiting trial.
After his release, Mandela publicly praised the Red Cross.
Some governments use the ICRC as a tool to promote their own ends. The presence of respectable
aid organizations can make weak
regimes appear more
legitimate. Fiona Terry contends that "this is particularly true of ICRC, whose mandate, reputation, and discretion imbue its presence with a particularly affirming quality."
Recognizing this power, the ICRC can pressure weak governments to change their behavior by threatening to withdraw. As mentioned above, Nelson Mandela acknowledged that the ICRC compelled better treatment of prisoners
and had leverage over his South African captors because "avoiding international condemnation was the authorities' main goal."
In a controversial move demonstrating the ICRC's committment to neutrality, three officials from the
Hamas terror group have been living at the International Red Cross office in
Jerusalem. Israel believes that these three Hamas legislators had a role in the 2006 kidnapping of Israeli soldier
Gilad Shalit, and has a deportation order set for them. Red Cross spokesperson Cecilia Goin, in speaking with
CBN News said that hosting the wanted Hamas officials is in line with the organization's humanitarian mission.
