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Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 November 2010
It comes natural these days to associate the concept of solidarity with the universality of the work of the Red Cross. Serving the same ideal, respecting the same principles, carrying out similar activities, Red Cross Societies are linked to each other and belong, as it were, to a single body, the International Red Cross.
The solidarity, born of the very structure of the Red Cross movement, is also a powerful incentive, for it manifests itself in the active co-operation of all Red Cross members for the benefit of the whole. The urge which Red Cross men and Societies have to help each other beyond national boundaries has become so strong over the years that it is not too presumptuous to adopt it as a Red Cross principle. By giving the concept of charity a universal dimension for the benefit of suffering mankind, solidarity is akin to the principles of humanity and universality of which it is both the emanation and the moving force.
page 3 note 1 Cf. Fellowship, the Moral Significance of the Red Cross, ICRC, Geneva.
1 H. Dunant, Fraternité et charité internationales en temps de Guerre, Paris, 1866.
2 Geneva Conference 1863, Art. 5.
3 Geneva Conference 1863, Art. 9.
4 Geneva Conference 1863, Art. 10.
5 Cf. V. Segesvary, The Birth of Red Cross Solidarity, Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva, and Editions l'Age d'Homme, Lausanne, 1971.
6 G. Moynier, The Red Cross: Its Past and Future, Paris, 1882, pp. 240–1.
7 H. Dunning, Elements for the History of the League, Geneva, 1969, p. 8.
8 Solidarity is not, however, considered to be a fundamental principle of the Red Cross. J. Pictet, in his work on the Red Cross Principles, classifies it among the organic principles, which may be regarded as rules for applying the fundamental principles guiding the Red Cross in the choice of the means by which it can achieve its aims, and for directing its steps in all the different situations with which its manifold activities may bring it face to face. Cf. J. Pictet, Red Cross Principles, Geneva, 1956, p. 93.
