Who was the founder of the Red Cross?

Who was the founder of the Red Cross?

The Red Cross was founded by a Swiss gentleman called Jean Henri Dunant. It is an international humanitarian movement formed to protect human life and health, to ensure respect for the human being, and to prevent and alleviate human suffering, without any discrimination based on nationality, race, religious beliefs, class or political opinions.

Before the formation of the Red Cross, there were no organized and well-established Army nursing systems for casualties. Nor were there any safe and protected institutions to accommodate and treat those who were wounded on the battlefield. In 1862, Jean Henri Dunant was horrified by the scenes of wounded soldiers being left to die on the battlefield. He published a booklet urging people to set up voluntary societies that would help the sick and wounded in times of war.

As a result, an international conference was held in Geneva, in 1864 and 26 countries took part in it. This conference agreed that wounded soldiers should be respected, that military hospitals should be considered neutral, and that vehicles carrying a white flag with a red cross shout not be attacked. The agreement is known as the Geneva Convention, and the white flag with the red cross has come to be accepted world wide as a symbol of peace, compassion and ‘Charity in War’.