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History of medicine |
The common nature of the tasks in the field of health care, the need for unity of action for their implementation led the physicians from different countries of the world to unite into international medical organizations and international movements. Today, the leading place among them is occupied by the International Committee of the Red Cross, the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the World Health Organization and the Doctors of the World for the Prevention of Nuclear War movement.
The idea of international cooperation of various countries in assisting sick and wounded soldiers first took shape in 1862 after the publication of Henri Dunant's book Memories of Solferino (Un souvenir de Solferino).
On June 24, 1859, during the Franco-Italian-Austrian war, the Swiss Henri Dunant (Dunant, Henri, 1828–1910) attempted to organize medical aid to soldiers wounded in the battle near the small settlement of Solferino in Lombardy. After the bloody battle on the battlefield, tens of thousands of dead and wounded, deprived of any medical assistance, remained. Their terrible tortures shocked A. Dunant, and he wrote a book in which he called for the creation in each country of societies to help sick and wounded soldiers and to assist the military medical service bodies.
Thoughts on the organization of international private voluntary assistance to victims of war, without distinction of their ranks and nationalities, arose from A. Dunant, on the one hand, under the influence of N. I. Pirogov’s activities that affected him and the sisters of the Holy Cross community who in December 1854 began their noble activities in Sevastopol at the theater of military operations during the Crimean War, and on the other hand, in connection with the activities of the English sister of mercy Florence Naytin-gale (Nightingale, Florence, 1820–1910), which ennits since the beginning of 1855 to provide medical care to the sick and wounded in the same war in the arrangement of the British troops.
In 1863, the Geneva Society of People’s Benefit, becoming interested in the proposals of A. Dunant, created the Permanent International Committee for the Wounded, which included five Swiss citizens, including A. Dunant. On the initiative of this Committee, in October 1863, a meeting of unofficial delegates from sixteen countries (including doctors) was organized, which approved the directions of the Committee’s activities and adopted a red cross on a white background as a logo of the movement; his image was supposed to serve as a sign of protecting people who were helping the wounded (Fig. 157). Later, in 1876, Turkey, following the traditions of Islam, adopted the red crescent as the emblem of this movement.
Already in February 1864, the emblem of the Red Cross, as a sign of protection, was used during the war between Prussia and Denmark.
However, having arisen as a result of a public initiative, the Red Cross movement needed official recognition and certain obligations from the governments of states. To this end, in August 1864 the Swedish government convened a diplomatic conference in Geneva, in which twelve states took part. On August 22, 1864, the representatives of these states signed the first interstate Geneva Convention on the improvement of the fate of the wounded and sick in the operating armies. In accordance with the terms of the Convention, sick and wounded soldiers were to receive assistance regardless of which camp they belong to, and medical personnel, their equipment and facilities, to enjoy the right of immunity. The emblem of the Red Cross was officially recognized as a sign of their protection.
Thus, for the first time in history, an attempt was made to develop international legal principles for the protection of victims of war. The Geneva Convention of August 22, 1864 was the first document of an international humanitarian convention. Within a short time, more than fifty states joined it.
Russia was among the first states to support the Convention, and later took an active part in the development of international humanitarian law. On the initiative of Russia in October 1868, an international conference was convened in St. Petersburg, which adopted a Declaration prohibiting the use of explosive bullets in the army. At the proposal of Russia, conferences were convened in Brussels (1874) and The Hague (1899), at which the Convention on laws and customs of the land war was worked out and decisions were made to apply the provisions of the 1864 Geneva Convention on the protection of the wounded in a naval war. In the Project presented by Russia to the Brussels Conference in 1874, it was proposed to ban the use of weapons, projectiles, and substances that cause particularly severe suffering to the wounded.
In 1876, the Permanent International Committee for Assistance to Wounded in Geneva (Committee of Five) was renamed the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Proposals for the development of the Red Cross movement were discussed at the International Conferences of the Red Cross, in which the ICRC, national Red Cross Societies and representatives of the States Parties to the Geneva Convention took part. The first of these conferences took place in Paris (1869), the next in Berlin (1879), Geneva (1884), Karlsruhe (1887), Rome (1892), Vienna (1897), St. Petersburg (1902), London (1907), Washington (1908).
However, while developing international humanitarian law, mankind in those years had not yet questioned the very legitimacy of waging war - only the desire for its “humanization”, to reduce the suffering that war brings people, was asserted.
Today the International Committee of the Red Cross is an independent and neutral body. It consists exclusively of Swiss citizens. Its budget comes from voluntary contributions from international organizations, governments, and national Red Cross Societies. In accordance with the Geneva Conventions for the Protection of Victims of War, the ICRC can act as a neutral broker in armed conflicts, assisting the wounded, sick, prisoners of war and civilians. The ICRC is vested with the right to recognize newly created National Societies.