HENRI DUNANT
ARCHITECT OF THE GENEVA CONVENTION & FOUNDER OF THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS 1828-1910
Although he was a civilian, Henri Dunant made an invaluable contribution to humanitarian aid and ethical standards in modern warfare. He was born into a religious family in Geneva and worked as a businessman in North Africa and Italy. While he was organising a financial scheme with Napoleon III of France in 1859, Dunant travelled to directly visit the emperor on campaign. He subsequently witnessed the Battle of Solferino and what he saw horrified him.
Tens of thousands of soldiers were lying dead, dying or wounded on the battlefield and Dunant organised assistance to help the troops. This experience played heavily on his conscience and he published a famous book of this event called
A Memory Of Solferino. The book proposed the formation of voluntary relief societies to prevent and alleviate suffering in war and peace, regardless of race or religion.
In 1863 Dunant joined a committee of five at the Geneva Society for Public Welfare to put these proposals into action. This was the effective foundation of the International Red Cross, and Dunant travelled across Europe to persuade governments to send representatives. A subsequent conference saw 12 nations sign an international treaty, which became known as the Geneva Convention.
The convention guaranteed neutrality towards aid personnel, to provide supplies for their use and adopted the famous Red Cross on a field of white as an identifying symbol. Dunant subsequently expanded the scope of Red Cross activities to cover naval personnel in wartime and natural catastrophes in peacetime. The Geneva Convention was also expanded to cover the handling of prisoners of war and the settling of international disputes by peaceful courts of arbitration.
Despite these herculean achievements, Dunant’s humanitarian efforts bankrupted him and he became a recluse for decades. Nevertheless, his work was finally recognised in the 1890s and he was jointly awarded the first Nobel Peace Prize with French pacifist Frédéric Passy in 1901.