REPUBLIQUE
ET CANTON
DE GENEVE

 

Ge.ch > Thèmes > Culture, sport et loisirs > Tourisme > Voir Genève > Genève, birth place of the red cross

GENÈVE,
BIRTH PLACE OF THE RED CROSS

The Genevese citizen Henry Dunant was an inspired precursor in 1863 when he created the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which has remained the best-known and esteemed world organization for alleviating human suffering. With the signing of the first Geneva Convention in 1864, the humanitarian vocation of the City began under the best auspices. Today other essential organizations are working in the same field, for example the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (HCR) and the United Nations High Commission for Human Rights (UNHCHR), the Disarmament Commission (DC) and the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research (UNIDIR) and the Geneva International Peace Research Institute (GIPRI). All of these in their respective fields contribute to the reputation of Geneva as an international centre for negotiations for peace throughout the world. Geneva was also chosen recently as the headquarters of the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration of the Organization for Security an Cooperation in Europe.