Henri Dunant and Red Cross Centenary, 1963

Henry Dunant [also spelled as Henri Dunant] (1828-1910) was a Swiss businessman, activist, and humanitarian who founded the Red Cross movement. His works won him the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901.

The International Red Cross Movement was founded with the aim of protecting lives and health, respecting all humans, and preventing and alleviating human suffering. The roots of the Red Cross lie in the Battle of Solferino (1859) in which 40,000 soldiers died or were left wounded on a single day on the battlefield. Dunant, who was present there, was shocked at the scale of human suffering and near-total lack of medical care for the wounded. He volunteered to provide relief to the wounded, and when back to Geneva, he started working towards an international treaty to protect medics and field hospitals for the wounded soldiers. His efforts bore fruits in the form of the First Geneva Convention (1864) and the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded (1863) which later became the International Red Cross.