2023-08-22 19:35:31
On August 22, 1864, the International Red Cross Treaty, or Geneva Convention, was signed.
The First Geneva Convention was instituted at a critical period in Europe’s political and military history.
Between the fall of Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and the rise of his nephew in the Italian campaign of 1859, the powers had kept peace in the west of the European continent.
With the conflict in the Crimean peninsula, the war returned.
There arose a movement that fought for a set of international laws that can govern the treatment and care of the wounded and prisoners of war.
The initiative came from the activist Henri Dunant.
Dunant had witnessed the Battle of Solferino in 1859.
In it the French armies and the Austrian Army had faced each other in northern Italy.
Dunant had seen the suffering of 40,000 wounded soldiers left on the battlefield due to lack of facilities and personnel.
Upon returning to Geneva, he published his experiences in writings that later became a book.
Through his membership in the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, he proposed to convene an international conference.
This generated the conditions for the creation of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863.
The body promoted the idea that, especially in times of war, the duty of nations is to safeguard the health and physical well-being of their people.
In addition, it highlighted the need for voluntary agencies to complement them.
For their mission to be widely accepted, a set of rules was required to govern their own activities.
That is why, on August 22, 1864, several European countries gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, where the First Geneva Convention was signed.
Despite having basic standards, it was successful in rapidly implementing reforms.
The original articles had to be revised and expanded in the Hague Convention of 1899 and in the Second Geneva Convention of 1906
In addition, it was updated in 1929.
It was a historic event in the field of human rights.
On August 22, 1864, the International Red Cross Treaty, or Geneva Convention, was signed.
The story is also news on Radio Perfil. Screenplay by Sebastián Rojas and voice over by Pita Fortín.
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