8/5/2023 0 Comments Red cross symbol![]() ![]() In 1898, the American Red Cross aided the U.S. Under Barton’s leadership, the Red Cross focused on helping victims of peacetime disasters, including the 1889 Johnstown Flood in Pennsylvania, which killed more than 2,000 people, and the 1893 hurricane in South Carolina’s Sea Islands that left some 30,000 people homeless, most of them African American. to ratify the Geneva Convention of 1864 it did so in 1882, a year after Barton founded the American Red Cross. Upon her return to the U.S., she launched a years-long campaign to get the U.S. In the late 1860s, Barton, a Massachusetts native, traveled to Europe to recuperate from years of tireless work during the war, and while there she learned about the Red Cross movement. Over the course of several years, Barton and her small staff received more than 63,000 letters asking for help and were able to track down some 22,000 men. Patent Office in Washington, D.C., voluntarily began delivering food and supplies to Union soldiers on the front lines.Īt the end of the war, Barton, who’d earned the nickname “Angel of the Battlefield,” received permission from President Abraham Lincoln to operate the Missing Soldiers Office, to help locate missing troops for their families and friends. Civil War broke out in 1861, Clara Barton, a former teacher then working in the U.S. READ MORE: 6 Things You May Not Know About the Nobel Prizes Clara Barton Brings the Red Cross to the USĪfter the U.S. However, in 1901, he received the first-ever Nobel Peace Prize his citation for the award stated: “Without you, the Red Cross, the supreme humanitarian achievement of the nineteenth century would probably have never been undertaken.” In late 1863, the first national society was started in the German state of Württemberg.Īnd in 1864, 12 countries signed the original Geneva Convention, which called for the humane treatment of sick and wounded soldiers, regardless of nationality, and the civilians who came to their aid.ĭunant experienced financial setbacks that forced him to declare bankruptcy in 1867, and he resigned from the Red Cross. (In the 1870s, the Ottoman Empire began using a red crescent as its emblem, in place of a red cross many Islamic countries continue the practice today.) The group, which eventually became known as the International Committee of the Red Cross, adopted the symbol of a red cross on a white background, an inverse of the Swiss flag, as a way to identify medical workers on the battlefield. ![]() The following year, Dunant was part of a Swiss-based committee that put together a plan for national relief associations. The fighting had left some 40,000 troops dead, wounded or missing, and both the armies, as well as the residents of the region, were ill-equipped to deal with the situation.īy 1862, Dunant published a book, A Memory of Solferino, in which he advocated for the establishment of national relief organizations made up of trained volunteers who could offer assistance to war-wounded soldiers, whichever side of the fighting they were on. In 1859, Swiss businessman Henry Dunant was traveling in northern Italy when he witnessed the aftermath of a bloody battle between Franco-Sardinian and Austrian forces near the small village of Solferino. Governments have also accepted an obligation to prevent their misuse and abuse, which in many countries can lead to prosecution.Henry Dunant and the Origins of the Red Cross It is essential they stand unchallenged as symbols of neutral and independent assistance at all times, guaranteeing protection in times of conflict and disaster. The Movement works together to protect these emblems against misuse and abuse. Though neither emblem has any religious association, we created the Red Crystal emblem in 2005 for states wishing to avoid any perceptions of religious significance. The Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems date back to the 1800s. These are the international treaties containing the most important rules limiting the barbarity of war. Our emblems have worldwide recognition in national and international law under the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols. They are symbols of assistance in times of conflict and disaster. The Movement has three globally recognized emblems- the Red Cross, the Red Crescent and the Red Crystal. ![]()
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