Red Cross began on battlefields of Europe

Press, 1 May 1984, Page 14

Red Cross began on battlefields of Europe

Horror at the plight of men wounded in a war in northern Italy inspired a Swiss businessman to found the Red Cross movement 125 years ago.

This week, many shopping malls in Christchurch are featuring displays on the work of the Red Cross to publicise the organisation’s national appeal for funds. Instruction in first aid, the provision of meals on wheels, care for the elderly and emergency care are some of the activities of the Red Cross in New Zealand today.

Thus in many different ways the Red Cross helps people who are suffering or in need.

While filling a very real need in our modern society, these activities of the Red Cross are a long way removed from the kind of suffering which aroused Henri Dunant to establish the world-wide aid organisation. Dunant was a horrified witness to the Battle of Solferino, where thousands of Austrian soldiers engaged in battle against the French. More than 300,000 men faced each other along a 10 mile front. Some of the soldiers were on horseback, and when the two armies threw themselves at each other there was a terrible sight of men and horses being trampled and mangled. About 80,000 men died from this battle, either on the scene, or later from diseases arising from neglect of wounds.

Henri Dunant organised local peasants into helping him sort the dead from the wounded. The nearby city of Castiglione was soon

jammed with badly wounded men. The local church was turned into a hospital, where hundreds of men were put on straw beds and arranged in rows. The few doctors from the surrounding area did what they could with the inadequate equipment and primitive conditions to relieve the suffering of the wounded. The part which moved Henri Dunant most was the fact that the majority of the wounded died in terrible agony because of lack of attention. If dressed and treated in time many of these wounds would have healed.

As he toiled in the nightmare of pain and filth, Henri Dunant realised that he must act, somehow, to stop what he had seen at Solferino from happening again.

Immediately after the battle he visited the French Emperor, Napoleon 111. The outcome of this meeting was a proclamation by the Emperor ordering that captured doctors should be unconditionally released.

This was the first official act recognising one of the basic principles of the Red Cross. Next Dunant wrote an account of what he had seen on the battlefield in northern Italy. His “Memory of Solferino,” published in 1862, proposed that in peace time voluntary relief societies should be set up for operation in time of war.

He wanted an organisation that was a general mobilisation of all the charities of the world, confined to no single country but which would automatically go into action in every

conflict, anywhere in the world.

The next year an international conference was held at Geneva, Switzerland. Representatives from 17 states attended and passed resolutions recommending the creation in all countries of voluntary committees for the relief of the wounded.

This unofficial agreement became official the next year when on August 22, 1864, several countries became signatories to the first Geneva Convention, or “Convention for the Welfare of Soldiers Wounded in Action.”

The basic provisions of the convention were:

All hospitals for the treatment of wounded and sick soldiers must be immune from capture and acts of destruction; this protection covers voluntary aid performed by civilians in favour of the wounded; sick and wounded soldiers must be received and treated without regard to the side on which they have fought; and the symbol of a red cross on a white background should distinguish the hospitals, ambulances, and personnel protected under the agreement.

By 1867 all the great powers had signed the Geneva Convention with the exception of the United States, which did so 15 years later.

No sooner was the Convention signed than it went into action. This was not surprising since there were many wars in Europe during the years from 1864 until the outbreak of World War I in 1914.

In the years since the original Geneva Convention was formulated, there have

been many additions to the '* original wording to cover u many different situations of conflict or tragedy which might arise. Prisoners of *•'- war and civilians in occu-.. pied countries receive protection under later Geneva ’? Conventions accepted by ■/ most countries. > The Red Cross movement ' ' grew quickly, and succeeded . in its original aim to make warfare somewhat more i bearable and humane. *'

The Red Cross emerged J from the First World War-.-as an international institu- ;; tion of foremost importance. After this war its u scope was enlarged to in- - elude peace time work helping the sick, and the victims of natural calamities. Red Cross Societies sprang up all over the world, including New Zealand. These administer aid, , to those in need, operating under the basic principles of , v . Red Cross.

Red Cross began in New Zealand during the first: 1 World War, and achieved " special prominence with aid ‘ to victims of the Napier ‘ earthquake in 1931. Red Cross Youth is part of the New Zealand Red Cross Society catering for young people aged 5 to 25. , ”

In the North Canterbury area more than 2000 chil- - dren are involved with the Red Cross, either through Red Cross clubs in their‘ schools, or as members of'-'. Red Cross Youth.

Children wishing to know more about the Red Cross or to join Red Cross Youth should contact Mrs Shirley, Wills, the Red Cross Youth Officer, phone Christchurch * 798-158.