【明報專訊】On 30 October 1910 came the news of the death of Jean Henri Dunant (讓•亨利•杜南), who founded the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC, 國際紅十字會). The first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (諾貝爾和平獎), Dunant is also credited with the creation of the First Geneva Convention (日內瓦第一公約).
1. The foundation of the ICRC
Jean Henri Dunant was a Swiss businessman and social activist. During a business trip in 1859, he witnessed the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino (蘇法利諾戰役) in what is now part of Italy. As many as thirty-eight thousand soldiers, wounded, dying or dead, remained on the battlefield, with no one providing care for them.
Appalled by the scene, Dunant wrote a book about those experiences. The book, called A Memory of Solferino, was published in 1862 with Dunant's own money. It drew so much attention that a five-person committee was created to study the suggestions he made. Its first meeting took place on 17 February 1863, considered the founding date of the International Committee of the Red Cross.
2. The Geneva Conventions
The next year (1864), through the efforts of the five-person committee, the First Geneva Convention was signed by 16 countries. The event was of considerable significance. For the first time in history, countries undertook to abide by humanitarian rules designed to limit the effects of armed conflicts.
The convention has now been expanded from 10 to 64 articles. Article 12 of it mandates that wounded and sick soldiers who are off the battlefield should be humanely treated. They should not be killed, injured, tortured, or subjected to biological experimentation.
The First Geneva Convention, together with the other three Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol I, confers on the ICRC a specific mandate to act in times of international armed conflict. They also give the ICRC the right to visit prisoners of war and civilian internees.
3. ICRC today
The ICRC is now part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement (國際紅十字與紅新月運動), along with the International Federation (國際聯合會) and 186 National Societies (國家紅十字會或紅新月會).
Based in Geneva, Switzerland, the ICRC now employs about 12,000 people in 80 countries. It directs and coordinates the international activities conducted by the Movement in armed conflicts and other situations of violence. However, the ICRC remains a private organisation governed by Swiss law. It is strictly independent in its governance and operational decisions.
4. Dunant's later life
From the very beginning Dunant had been in conflict with Gustave Moynier (古斯塔夫•莫瓦尼埃), a Swiss jurist (法學家) and another member of the first International Committee of the Red Cross. Moynier sidelined Dunant, who ran into financial difficulty as he devoted most of his time to the humanitarian cause.
As Moynier dominated the operation of the ICRC, Dunant was for a long time forgotten by the public. However, in September 1895, a newspaper article about Dunant brought him back to public memory.
Jean Henri Dunant was the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, an accolade he shared with Frédéric Passy (弗雷德里克•帕西), a French pacifist.
