A joint statement from the presidents of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross on the occasion of World Red Cross Red Crescent Day 2008.

Joint message from the presidents of the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies

It's the birthday of Henry Dunant, born in Geneva in 1828, recipient of the first Nobel Peace Prize. But the anniversary took an unexpected course before being adopted by the Movement...

While Henry Dunant was one of two laureates for the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, the ICRC itself has been awarded this honour - in 1917, 1944 and, with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, in 1963.

This animation brings to life the story of the creation of the Red Cross, Red Crescent Movement and its history to date. The comic strip was created by the world renowned artist Jean Giraud, alias Moebius.

This sequence of gripping images, many of which had never been used in a film before, traces the Movement's history from the time of its first field worker – Henry Dunant – through some of the major human tragedies of the past twentieth century. The film was made from footage gathered by Pathé Cinéma for its production The Epic of the Red Cross.

The story of an idea, is an exciting new publication which brings to life the story of the birth of the Red Cross, Red Crescent Movement and its history to date. This comic strip was created by the world renowned artist Jean Giraud, alias Moebius.

This is the book that prompted the creation of what is now a worldwide movement with millions of members and made the name of Henry Dunant known everywhere. The account has moved many people and still does today. "One finishes this book cursing war", wrote the Goncourt brothers in the nineteenth century. Since it was first published in 1862, the book has been translated into so many languages and reprinted so many times that it is difficult to know how many versions exist throughout the world.

This article was published in Genève et la paix, Acteurs et enjeux, Trois siècles d'histoire, Actes du colloque historique tenu au Palais de l'Athénée les 1- 2-3 novembre 2001, edited by Roger Durand, with he collaboration of Jean-Daniel Candaux and Antoine Fleury, Association “Genève : un lieu pour la paix”, Geneva, December 2005, pp. 69-99. English translation (extracts) published in : International Geneva Yearbook, Volume XIX, 2005-2006, pp. 5-15. This article was reproduced here with the editors' kind permission.