The Idea of a Man “to Help People” Becomes the Largest Humanitarian Organization in the World

Abstract

This article deals with the emergence of the largest international humanitarian movement and its structure. In other words, how Jean Henry Dunant´s idea of helping people in need, became a humanitarian organization in a minimum of time, that spread across all five continents and performs its activities, protected by international law and the Geneva Conventions 1-4, for more than 150 years. The structure of the Red Cross and Red Crescent organization is based on three partly structurally, independent elements: the International Red Cross and Red Crescent societies, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and the International Committee of the Red Cross.