FRANCAISComité International de la Croix Rouge - History
1890-1899
-From 1890, Netherlands: Baron Karl Jan Gijsbert van Hardenbroek van Bergambacht (1830-1908) becomes president of the Dutch Red Cross in 1890, following Cornelius Theodorus van Meurs (1799-1894) from 1882 onwards, François Vincent Henri Antoine van Stuers (1792-1881) from 1872 onwards, and Joanes Bosscha (1797-1874) from 1869 onwards. The organisation was originally set up on 19 July 1867 by Jan Hendrik Christiaan Basting, an Army surgeon major who translated Henry Dunant’s book on the Battle of Solferino. Initially, it was dominated by the aristocracy and military circles. Its two presidents prior to 1890, Cornelius Theodorus van Meurs and François Vincent Henri Antoine van Stuers, were respectively Minister of War and Lieutenant General. After gaining official recognition from the ICRC in 1868, the Dutch Red Cross (Nederlandse Rode Kruis) also received considerable support from the monarchy. Thus royal decrees of 1909 and 1913 widen the scope of its activities, so that the organisation can provide community services and carry out first aid during natural disasters. In addition, Prince Consort Henri, Duke of Mecklembourg-Schwerin and Queen Wilhelmina’s husband, is named president of the Nederlandse Rode Kruis in 1913.
-From 1891, Norway: Set up on 22 September 1865 to provide relief to wounded soldiers, the Norwegian Red Cross decides in 1891 to extend its activities to peacetime and to raise funds for public sanitation. With General Johan Fredrik Thaulow (1840-1912), its president from 1889 to 1905, it thus launches a nurse training programme in 1895. Nevertheless, the NRK (Norges Røde Kors) keeps close ties to the military, as it was led from 1865 to 1880 by Frederik Stang (1808-1884), the head of government, and from 1880 to 1889 by Christian August Selmer (1816-1889), a very conservative Minister of Defence who supported the King’s right of veto and emergency laws. In 1895, for instance, the organisation obtains official permission to provide medical assistance to wounded soldiers during wartime. This special relationship is confirmed by a decree passed in 1907, two years after Norway got independent from Sweden. As it becomes more operational, the organisation sends its first ambulance abroad during the 1912 Balkan War. And it remains very close to the governement. Apart from Andreas Martin Seip, a lawyer who led the organisation between 1908 and 1912, all NRK’s presidents are conservative or liberal politicians: from 1905 to 1908, Ernst Motzfeldt (1843-1915), who was Minister of Justice in 1894-1895; from 1912 to 1913, Kristian Wilhelm Engel Bredal Olssøn (1844-1915), who was Minister of Defence in 1893-1898 and 1905-1907; from 1913 to 1917, Hans Jørgen Darre-Jenssen (1864-1950), who was Minister of Labour in 1910-1912; and from 1922 to 1930, Torolf Prytz (1858-1938), who was Minister of Industry in 1917-1918 and whose predecessor from 1917 to 1922, Hieronymus Heyerdahl (1867-1959), was the Mayor of Oslo in 1912-1914. Between 1930 and 1940, the NRK is then presided by a colonel, Jens Meinich, who develops first aid services from 1932 onwards. When the country is invaded by Germany in 1940, however, the organisation splits in two. Some members flee into exile in England, while the others remain at home to carry on relief activities under the aegis of Fridtjof Heyerdahl (1879-1949) until 1945, an engineer and a former manager of Siemens Company in Norway. Pressed into collaborating with the Germans by Vidkun Quisling’s pro-Nazi party in 1942, the NRK is finally reunited once the war is over. Led by Nikolai Nissen Paus (1877-1956), a famous surgeon and president until 1947, the organisation is still close to the military. During the Cold War, its activities abroad are determined by Norway’s membership in NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation). Under Erling Steen, president from 1947 to 1957, it sends medical teams to assist American troops in the Korean War, for instance. With three exceptions – Ulf Styren from 1957 to 1966, Hans Høegh from 1975 to 1981 and Astrid Nøklebye Heiberg from 1993 to 1998 – all NRK’s presidents are military officers: from 1966 to 1975, a director of Army medical services, Torstein Dale (1907-1975); from 1981 to 1987, a general in the secret services, Bjørn Egge (1918-2007); from 1987 to 1993, an admiral, Bjørn Bruland; and since 1998, a Minister of Defence, Thorvald Stoltenberg.
-1892, Italy: Held in Rome, the Fifth International Conference of the Red Cross confirms the development of the CRI (Croce Rossa Italiana) since the foundation of a “relief society for the war wounded” (Comitato dell'Associazione Italiana per il soccorso ai feriti ed ai malati in guerra) by Doctor Cesare Castiglioni in Milan in 1864. Thanks to strong support from the authorities, the organisation was given semi-governmental status in a law passed on 30 May 1882. As part of the Army, it is supervised by the Ministers of War and the Navy, and it is given unlimited access to post, telegraph and rail services during wartime. Like its French and Belgian counterparts, it has strong aristocratic leanings and is run along the lines of a family business. The presidency passes from father to son and, instead of being doctors, its leaders are deputies, senators or generals. Examples include Counts like Gian Luca Cavazzi Della Somaglia (1841-1896) from 1886 onwards; Rinaldo de Taverna (1839-1913) from 1896 onwards; and Gian Giacomo Cavazzi Della Somaglia (1869-1918) from 1913 onwards.
-1893, Austria: In September 1893, the ICRC boycotts an international congress in Vienna that aims at bringing together religious and non-religious relief organisations for the victims of natural disasters. Respectively members of the Austrian Red Cross and the International Agency of Basel, two German and Swiss doctors, Theodor Billroth (1829-1894) and Auguste Socin (1837-1899), are behind this initiative. But despite plans to recognise the Geneva Committee’s supremacy during wartime, the ICRC fiercely opposes any proposal that could infringe on its prerogatives. Likewise, it refuses to take part in an organisation, the International Society of the White Cross, which is set up in Geneva in 1907 by Charles Vuille (1856-1920), a Swiss lawyer, and François Deloncle (1856-1922), a French Member of Parliament for the Basses-Alpes, in order to eliminate threats to “people’s moral and physical health”.
-1895-1915, Sweden: In 1895, Queen Consort Sofia Wilhelmina Mariana Henrietta of Nassau (1836-1912) succeeds in preventing a military clash with Norway, which will become independent of Sweden in 1905. Crowned in 1873, this strong personality of the Swedish monarchy follows Florence Nightingale’s example and opened a nursing school in 1884. Her philanthropic initiatives rival those of the local Red Cross, which was set up in 1865. In 1900, for instance, she sets up a “Queen Sofia Society for assistance to Army and Navy health services during wartime”. The organisation is quite a success. In comparison, the SRK (Svenska Röda Korset) attracts less members. To resolve the problem, a decree passed in 1906 has to group under one banner the Red Cross’ female members, nurses and health volunteers. In 1913, another decree finally merges the SRK and the “Queen Sofia Society”.
-From 1896, Germany: Baron Boro von dem Knesebeck (1851-1911) takes control of the German Red Cross, remaining its president until his death. He consolidates the organisation’s position thanks to his influence and his connection with Empress Augusta Victoria of Schleswig-Holstein (1858-1921). Very involved in charity work because it allows her to escape the influence of her in-laws, the wife of Kaiser William II, who took the throne in 1888, plays an active role in supporting the German Red Cross, which was placed under military control in 1878. She also funds the ICRC through a foundation which was set up in her name in 1890 and whose revenue amounted to 90,000 Swiss Francs in 1902, as against 71,000 in 1901 and 11,000 in 1914. Consequently, Germany can pride itself on having the most powerful Red Cross in Europe. During World War One, the organisation mobilises 133,000 men and 118,000 women, compared to 63,000 humanitarian workers in France and 20,000 in Britain. In the 1920s, it then assists the victims of the economic crisis as the Treaty of Versailles, signed on 28 June 1919, forbade all contact between the German Red Cross and the military.
-1897-1985, Uruguay: Founded by a woman, Aurelia Ramos de Segarra, in the midst of a civil war in 1897, the CRU (Cruz Roja Uruguaya) is quickly recognised by the government in Montevideo, which signs the Geneva Convention in 1900. Predominantly female, the organisation’s volunteers are active during a revolution in 1898, the Carmelo border conflict with Argentina in 1899, and political unrest in 1903 and 1904. However, the ICRC has little or no contact with such relief societies in Latin America. Thus it did not intervene at all between 1865 and 1870, when Uruguay, Argentina and Brazil waged a bitter war against Paraguay, killing 80% of its male population! Only in the 1960s does the ICRC begin to visit Tupamaros political prisoners in Montevideo. For instance, the Committee is called on to help negotiate the release of Doctor Claude Fry, a USAID (United States Agency for International Development) employee abducted by the rebels on 7 August 1970 and accused of working for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). But the Tupamaros ignore the mediation of Geneva. If they release Doctor Claude Fry in March 1971, it is only to improve their image after another American hostage, Dan Mitrione, died in August 1970. The situation does not improve either after the Parliament is dissolved and the military take over in June 1973. In April 1976, the ICRC prisons visits are discontinued until Geneva negotiates a right of access to political prisoners in December 1979. But in 1980, a confidential report on “Libertad” Prison, written by delegate Jean-François Labarthe, is leaked to the public, probably by the CRU. This puts a stop to visits to political prisoners, and keeps the ICRC out of the country until 1983. The Committee eventually ends its activities in Uruguay after the government declares a general amnesty in March 1985.
-1898, Cuba: The ARC (American Red Cross) tries to assist the reconcentrados who are held since 1895 into makeshift camps in order to quash a rural uprising against the Spanish colonial rule. But the director of the organisation, Clara Barton, is accused of favouring the rebels and expelled from Cuba on 15 February 1898. At the same time, the explosion of the Maine cruiser in La Havana harbour triggers an American-Spanish war. So the ARC comes back to Cuba with an hospital ship Le Moynier, named in honour of the ICRC president. This move provides the first opportunity to test the additional articles of 1868, which include maritime war in the 1864 Geneva Convention. The problem is that Le Moynier is used as a cover to clear a path for US warships sent by Washington. Diverted from La Havana to Santiago, it is not able to unload supplies until June 1898. While Spanish authorities deny food shortages in order to force the ARC to pay customs duties, the crew also faces reluctance from some American military officers who are unhappy about the interference of civilian volunteers, particularly female ones. A humanitarian worker of the organisation is eventually killed during a delivery of medical supplies to El Caney in 1899.
-1899, Holland: Delegates at the Hague Peace Conference agree on the need for an international court of justice to provide an alternative to war in settling disputes between states. This seems to reinforce the position of ICRC, which had to focus on relief instead of disarmament after the Sixth International Conference of the Red Cross held in Vienna, Austria, in 1897. Indeed, the Hague Conference covers maritime law and gives force to the 1864 Geneva Convention’s additional articles of 1868, which had limited success to date. For instance, it forbids the capture of hospital ships that belong to warring parties or to the Red Cross. In addition, it neutralizes and protects medical personnel on board warships. Generally speaking, the Hague Conference is more instrumental than the Geneva Conventions in extending the ICRC mandate to cover prisoners of war (and not just the war-wounded). However, it focuses on limiting the fighting rather than helping the victims. The ICRC general secretary and Swiss envoy, Edouard Odier, just manages to ensure that the Geneva Conventions still organize relief services to the wounded, the ill and the prisoners of war. Fearing states would withdraw support for the 1864 Convention, the Committee thus prefers to perpetuate humanitarian rules rather than improving them. Its conservative position also reflects a desire to maintain its exclusive control against Henri Dunant, who is exiled to Paris and involved in the Hague Peace Conference. Hence the ICRC had already rejected a competitive initiative of Henri Dunant and Tsarist Russia, the “Brussels Declaration on War Laws and Customs”, signed on 27 August 1874 but not ratified by any state. At the Hague Peace Conference, the Geneva Committee regrets that the delegates vaguely mention “relief societies” to take care of soldiers captured by the enemy. Nowhere is the Red Cross referred to by name, thus leaving the way open for Henri Dunant and his Society for the improvement of prisoners of war (Société pour l’amélioration du sort des prisonniers de guerre), which only exists on paper.
