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the convention drawn up at the first Conference,
and to work for the promulgation of the idea of the
Red Cross, the Comité International de la Croix
Rouge was formed in Geneva consisting exclusively
of Swiss citizens. This committee has, particularly
during the two world wars, executed tasks whose
importance cannot be sufficiently emphasized. It has
been extremely valuable to have a neutral
organization which puts itself above political viewpoints on
relief work, and to have a group which has the will
and the ability to follow implicitly the high ideals
which the founder of the Red Cross conceived for
the world wide activities of the organization.
Switzerland has always followed the policy of neutrality and
has, I believe, also succeeded in convincing ‘other
nations of its firm intention to maintain it under all
circumstances. In view of this farsighted attitude of
Switzerland, it was considered suitable that all the
members of the Committee should be Swiss citizens.
At the same time, this was an acknowledgement to
the Swiss citizen, Henri Dunant, for his great life’s
work.
After the First World War, the idea was conceived
to form an organization in which all the recognised
Red Cross Societies of the world could be represented.
It was felt that this organization could coordinate
the activities of all the others, principally in
peacetime, and enrich the various societies with the
experiences of their sister organizations in other
countries. For this purpose, the League of Red Cross
Societies, generally called ”The League”, was formed
on American initiative. Its Secretariat has been
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