Origin of the Geneva Convention
History of the Geneva Convention
In 1859, a Swiss businessman named Henry Dunant visited Solferino in modern-day Italy. There, he witnessed the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino and recorded his thoughts into a book titled A Memory of Solferino. This book inspired the founding of the Red Cross and the First Geneva Convention.
"They called out in their distress for a doctor, and writhed in desperate convulsions that ended in tetanus and death… With faces black with the flies that swarmed about their wounds, men gazed around them, wild-eyed and helpless. Others were no more than a worm-ridden, inextricable compound of coat and shirt and flesh and blood." |
Geneva Conventions - Prisoners
These treaties outlined the basic rights of prisoners of war, non-combatant civilians, and the wounded. |
|