RED CROSS SOCIETY. - The R.C. is an international body, universal in character, operating in all the states of the world, legally regulated by conventions signed by all governments, and it has its own statutes approved at various international conferences. Its emblem, consisting of a red cross of five squares on a white field, recognized as the sign of the privilege of neutrality in time of war and as a symbol of human solidarity in time of peace, above any consideration of race, politics or difference of religion, is made up of the inverted colors of the flag of the Swiss Confederation, the nation that gave rise to the legal formation of this movement and that currently hosts its international organizations. For Muslim countries it has been permitted that the sign of neutrality be represented by the red crescent, or by the red lion and sun; but resolutions are under study to obtain the unification of the symbol of neutrality in the sign of the red cross on a white field.
I. ORIGIN
It was necessary to reach the second half of the 19th century to have the first timid affirmations of the concept that the wounded in war could no longer be considered an enemy and as such had a right to assistance and respect. The Italian Ferdinando Palasciano, a surgeon in the Bourbon army of Naples, can be considered the first champion of the concept of the "neutrality of the wounded in war"; a concept that he upheld at the cost of personal sacrifice as early as 1848 in the siege of Messina and that he solemnly reaffirmed in 1861 at the Pontanian Academy of Naples.
This idea found strenuous implementation in the Genevan Henry Dunant, recognized as the founder of the C. R. [Red Cross]. Alongside him must be remembered the priest Fr. Lorenzo Barzizza, who was the head of the civic Commission that at Castiglione delle Stiviere attended to the problems of medical assistance for the wounded of the battle of Solferino. The example of Barzizza and the terrifying spectacle of thousands of wounded impressed Dunant, then a tourist in that territory (cf. L. Barzizza, Il dimenticato animatore della C. R., Brescia 1952). A volume by Dunant, Un souvenir de Solferino (1862), had a great and profound echo throughout the world, and its humanitarian conclusions, examined and discussed by the philanthropic Society of Public Utility of Geneva, led to the constitution of a committee, whose work culminated in a meeting, held from 26 to 29 Oct. 1863, at the Athenaeum of Geneva, with the participation of representatives of 16 States. This meeting ("Preliminary Conference of Geneva") approved, among other things, a Resolution which, having sanctioned the principle of respect and care for the sick and wounded in war, established that communications between the relief committees of the various nations should take place through the Genevan Committee, which thus assumed the title of "International Committee."
In June 1864, the Swiss government convened in Geneva an international Conference, open to all States, which resulted in the "Geneva Convention" of 22 Aug. 1864 for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick of armies in the field. The Italian State, by Royal Decree 23 Sept. 1865, no. 2514, ordered full and entire execution of the aforesaid Convention.
The Geneva Convention was followed by those of The Hague of 29 July 1899 for the application to war maritime application of the principles of the Convention of 22 Aug. 1864; that, again of The Hague, of 21 Dec. 1904, concerning hospital ships; that of Geneva of 6 July 1906, for the improvement of the condition of the wounded and sick of armies in war; that of Geneva of 27 July 1929 and finally those, currently in force, of Geneva of 12 Aug. 1949 which, four in number (the Convention relating to the protection of civilians in time of war having been added to the preceding Conventions), are a revision and an updating of the Conventions already existing. The Italian State ratified them by law of 27 Oct. 1951, no. 1739.
II. ORGANIZATION
The structure of the C. R. comprises: the International Conference of the C. R., which is the highest deliberative authority of the C. R., composed of delegates of the International Committee of the C. R., of the National Red Cross Societies, of the League of Red Cross Societies, and of delegates of the States party to the Geneva Conventions. The Conference meets as a rule every four years. During the intervening periods, a Permanent Commission of the International Conference provides for the coordination and unity of the efforts of the international C. R.
The most recent International Conference of the C. R., the XVIIIth, was held in Toronto (Canada) in Aug. 1952. The organization further comprises: the National Red Cross Societies, the International Committee of the C. R., and the League of Red Cross Societies.
The International Committee of the C. R. is composed entirely of Swiss citizens. It is the guardian of the principles of the C. R., watches over the observance of the Geneva Conventions, and acts as a neutral intermediary as such, especially in time of war. Moreover, it maintains and develops relations among the various Red Cross Societies in the world, safeguards the fundamental and permanent principles of the C. R., namely impartiality, non-political character, confessional and economic independence, the universality of the C. R., and equality among the various national Red Cross Societies; it assumes the functions devolved upon it by virtue of the international Conventions; it proposes and arranges the organization of a "Central Agency of Information on Prisoners of War," and performs other important fundamental tasks.
The National Red Cross Societies are not only the precious auxiliaries of the armed forces in wartime, but also at all times carry out their action in every field where it is necessary to relieve human suffering and improve health. After the end of the war of 1914-18, it was recognized that the welfare program of the C. R., already carried out in wartime, could be transferred and put into effect in peacetime, as indeed was already in operation in in ways and in fields consonant with the principles and aims of the Red Cross, through an organization that arose in 1919 and was called the League of Red Cross Societies. Its purpose was: to help the national Red Cross Societies to develop on a national level and to facilitate their international collaboration. The League stands, among the national Red Cross Societies, as a permanent organ of liaison, of coordination and study, intended to assist them in the preparation and exercise of their activities in the national and international field. The League collaborates with the International Committee of the Red Cross. The international, federative and representative character of the League is clearly affirmed by the composition of its governing bodies, which are: the Board of Governors and the Executive Committee. The Secretariat of the League, moreover, is the organ responsible for translating the League's decisions into action.
The General Assembly of the UN, in its session of 19 Nov. 1946, unanimously approved a resolution inviting all governments to favor and encourage the creation, development and cooperation of Red Cross organizations. This recommendation was reaffirmed by a letter of the secretary general of the UN of 30 Nov. 1949, addressed to the member governments of the United Nations.
III. THE ITALIAN RED CROSS
The Geneva Convention of 22 Aug. 1864 gave rise in Italy to a central Committee of Milan of the Association for aid to sick and wounded soldiers, a committee which, after having participated with its own medical organizations in the campaign of 1866, ceded its prerogative as central organ to the Committee established in Rome, following the events that had led to the unity of Italy.
Erected into a moral body by Royal Decree of 7 Feb. 1884, no. 1243, it is governed by numerous legislative provisions that determine its internal and institutional organization. The Association, represented by a general president and administered by a Central Committee, is peripherally organized into Provincial Committees - some of which function as Regional Committees and as mobilization centers - into subcommittees and municipal delegations, as well as abroad, into delegations for each State.
1. The Italian Red Cross in peacetime
Its purpose is (v. Decree of the Provisional Head of State of 13 Nov. 1947, no. 1256) to provide assistance to the civilian population, especially in its needy classes, integrating with its own means, institutions, formations and services the direct action of the State and of local bodies against diseases and public calamities. To this end it promotes and organizes the voluntary energies and private activities of the country and also channels relief from abroad in order to secure the necessary financial means. In particular, the following supplementary tasks are entrusted to the Italian Red Cross: a) to set up, and make function in case of emergency and public calamities, tented and quartered hospitals, infirmaries, hospital trains and ships, motorized medical groups, railway and port first-aid posts, territorial medical formations; b) to organize and carry out on a national scale first aid and the transport of the sick and injured with its own directly managed services and also through the coordination and regulation of those carried out by other local associations, for the purpose of the maximum efficiency of the service, also in the case of needs of a general character; c) to contribute to the technical and professional preparation of auxiliary health assistance personnel, by means of instruction and training courses with special schools; d) to collaborate in the dissemination, in every social category and especially in schools, of notions of hygiene and first aid. The Association is granted the faculty, according to its financial and organizational possibilities, with the prior consent of the supervisory and guardianship authority, to extend its activity: a) to the institution and management of permanent welfare works, for the purposes of particular social needs; b) to the integration of the action of protecting the health of childhood, carried out by the bodies specially called to this, by means of periodic and permanent colonies with medical-school assistance by means of school clinics; c) to the distribution of relief to the civilian population and to charitable and welfare institutions; d) to intervention in all those cases and circumstances in which its work is requested by the competent supervisory and guardianship authorities.
2. The Italian Red Cross in wartime
It must contribute (v. Royal Decree-Law of 12 Feb. 1930, no. 84), with its own personnel and means, to the evacuation and care of the sick and wounded of war; organize and carry out anti-aircraft and anti-gas medical defense; carry out the service of prisoners of war, according to the international Geneva Convention.
With the exception of the evacuation of the sick and wounded in war, the implementation of such tasks is, as a rule, limited to the territory not included in the zone of the operating army; but it can also be extended to localities in said zone, fixed by the military authority. In the zone of the operating army (v. Royal Decree of 30 Dec. 1940, no. 2024) the Italian Red Cross contributes to the evacuation of the sick and wounded, with the setting up of tented ambulances, tented hospitals and lagoon ambulances and with the organization of first-aid posts, near railway stations and ports.
In the territorial zone the Italian Red Cross contributes to the organization of the medical service by means of: a) installation and operation of first-aid posts near railway stations; b) installation and operation of military hospitals; c) installation and operation of means of anti-aircraft protection (central direction, first-aid squads, first-care and sorting establishments, specialized care establishments, squads for human decontamination and decontamination of infected zones).
For the operation of its peacetime and wartime services the Italian Red Cross enlists its own directive personnel (officers) and assistance personnel (non-commissioned officers and troops), which constitutes a special voluntary Corps, auxiliary to the armed forces of the State (Royal Decree of 10 Feb. 1936, no. 484).
Assimilated in rank to the military directive personnel of the Association are the voluntary nurses of the Italian Red Cross, whose Corps, instituted in 1908, forms part of the personnel of the Association and is governed by a special regulation (approved by Royal Decree of 12 May 1942, no. 918). Since its foundation the Corps has numbered ca. 20,000 voluntary nurses, and over 12,000 are still enrolled in the rolls. Twenty of them fell in service; 200 were decorated for military valor and 600 were awarded the war merit cross.
The Italian Red Cross furthermore manages boarding schools for the professional preparation of professional nurses and specialized schools for the professional preparation of Health Visiting Assistants. The boarding schools have graduated several thousand professional nurses and health visiting assistants.
In 1889 the Italian Red Cross followed the troops into Eritrea and in 1905 and 1908 intervened effectively in the work of relief to the victims of the earthquake in Calabria and of that of Sicily-Calabria. It participated in the war of Libya (1911-13), obtaining the silver medal for military valor, as well as in the Balkan campaign, and in 1915 it came to the aid of the victims of the earthquake of the Marsica. Another silver medal for military valor was conferred on it for its conduct during the world war of 1915-18, in which it took part on a vast scale with a Corps of over 22,000 men and 10,000 nurses and with a considerable contribution also of blood.
The earthquake of Garfagnana and Lunigiana of 1920, the fire of Smyrna and the tremendous famine of Russia in 1922, as well as the earthquake of Japan of 1923 found the Italian Red Cross ready to intervene with its emergency organization in aid of the victims of such grave calamities. Particularly meritorious is also the work that the Italian Red Cross has carried out in the field of the anti-malarial struggle in the Pontine agro, in Sardinia, in Sicily and in southern Italy.
During the last war it attended to tasks of the highest importance, engaging, again this time, with a grave contribution of blood, ca. 12,000 men and 5,000 voluntary nurses in the services of anti-aircraft medical protection, of assistance to wounded and sick soldiers, as well as in the prisoner service, furthermore carrying out delicate missions of an international character, for the repatriation of Italians remaining in East Africa and for the exchange of sick prisoners with Greece and England.
The Italian Red Cross did not remain exempt from the repercussions of the tragic events that followed in Sept. 1943; despite its prerogative as a neutral body, recognized by the international Conventions, it was not respected either in its means and even less in its personnel. It was in June 1944 that the Committee of Rome resumed its function as central seat.
The Italian Red Cross carries out an activity whose framework consists of the following elements: ambulances for first aid and the transport of the sick, sanatoria and institutes for the treatment of tuberculosis, hospital institutes, general preventoria, supervised preventoria, permanent colonies, temporary colonies, infant convalescent homes. The means necessary for the intervention of the Volunteer Military Corps of the Italian Red Cross with its emergency service are collected and kept ready in regional and secondary warehouses which ensure the perfect custody of its mobile units. The Italian Red Cross has at its disposal tented hospital trains, tented first-aid posts, tented ambulances, units of various types and various first-aid materials to deal with possible calamities. Other activities of the Italian Red Cross are: the International Social Service, which assists, without distinction of nationality, religion or race, all those who have problems to resolve in at least two different nations; Legal Assistance to Foreigners (AGIUS), which handles special matters of various kinds, personal and family, for foreigners in Italy (refugees, stateless persons, etc.); the Madrinato, which has assisted and assists, through shelter and other forms, children who are victims of war; and finally, the Italian Red Cross Youth, a parascholastic institution which carries out educational, social, hygienic and welfare work in schools and which, through international interscholastic correspondence, unites in a spiritual bond the children of every nationlity, race and religion. The Italian Youth C. R. has 130,000 collective member classes, 600,000 individual pupil members and 5,000,000 organized children.
The Italian Youth C. R., in addition to hygiene and first-aid propaganda, welfare and social, educational and cultural activities, holds courses for camp supervisors and for Pionieri della fraternità, its direct offshoot. - See pl. LIV.
Bibliography6 works
Vittorio Minucci