From the Geneva revival to the first Geneva convention

During my 6 years of ministry in Geneva, I had the opportunity to worship on several occasions at the Chapelle de l’Oratoire, at 7 Rue Tabazan. After several worship services, my eyes rested on a plaque above one of the entrances.

As a student and advocate of international humanitarian law, I suddenly realized I was standing on ground that helped shape the Red Cross movement.

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The plaque reads:

[destacate]The committee established by the Geneva Society for Public Welfare became the nucleus of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and laid the groundwork for the adoption by twelve states in 1864 of the first Geneva Convention[/destacate]On June 29, 1869, when the Evangelical Society of Geneva was gathered in this chapel, Professor J.H. Merle d’Aubigne, reiterating the wishes of Dr. Louis Appia, addressed to Christians children of the Awakening a solemn appeal to which responded: Chapriot, Estrabaud, Koene, Wauthier, who were French and Belgian students at the theological faculty of L’Oratoire.

FIRST INTERNATIONAL RELIEF MISSION FOR THE WOUNDED on the battle fields of Lombardi, humble prelude of the ministry of the RED CROSS, founded in 1863.

Let them give glory to the LORD, Isaiah 42:12

In June 1859, the battle of Solferino in Lombardy, Italy, left thousands of combatants dead and wounded. On June 24, Henry Dunant, a Geneva businessman and a leader in the Evangelical Society of Geneva, visited the battlefield.

The battle had ended. Deeply affected by what he witnessed, Dunant and his fellow Christians helped mobilize local civilians to care for the wounded, regardless of nationality.

His experience at Solferino eventually inspired humanitarian efforts among Geneva Christians, including those associated with the Chapelle de l’Oratoire.

[destacate]Historians note that the religious renewal helped motivate humanitarian commitments and institutional responses to the suffering of war[/destacate]That experience in 1863 led to a committee established by the Geneva Society for Public Welfare that became the nucleus of the International Committee of the Red Cross, and laid the groundwork for the adoption by twelve states in 1864 of the first Geneva Convention “for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field”.

Both Dunant’s original medical mission and the committee formed in Geneva drew on Protestant Christian networks and charitable impulses shaped by the 19th century Geneva Réveil (Awakening or Revival).

Historians note that the religious renewal helped motivate humanitarian commitments and institutional responses to the suffering of war.

Over subsequent decades, as warfare evolved, states negotiated additional treaties and norms; many of these protections later became recognized as customary international humanitarian law.

These legal protections—rules on the treatment of wounded soldiers and civilians, medical neutrality, relief operations, and protections for non combatants—translate ethical constraints into enforceable obligations.

Christian ethics contributed to that translation. The belief that every human being bears the Imago Dei supplied moral limits on killing and mistreatment, even in war.

Theological reflections on sin, the dignity of persons, and mercy informed ideas about restraint, care for the vulnerable, and the humane treatment of captured fighters.

Christian just war reasoning has long treated humanitarian limits as essential criteria for the moral use of force.

[destacate]The call for peace should be accompanied with an unequivocal appeal for all warring parties to respect the laws of armed conflict[/destacate]Today, as conflicts continue to spread, Christians and other faith communities can be vocally and practically committed to upholding international humanitarian law: protecting life, facilitating family reunification and relief, safeguarding property needed for livelihoods, and insisting on dignified treatment of detainees.

I have written before about the need to call for peace, for ceasefires, for cessation of hostilities, and for peacemaking. Yet the call for peace should be accompanied with an unequivocal appeal for all warring parties to respect the laws of armed conflict.

Doing so honors both legal obligations and moral commitments to human dignity.

Wissam al-Saliby, President of 21Wilberforce. 

To learn more:

The Religious Convictions of Henri Dunant, Founder of the ICRC , August 11, 2021, ICRC website

The Geneva ‘Réveil’: An Almost Unknown Evangelical Awakening, Kenneth Stewart, September 13, 2023

Wissam al-Saliby, president of 21Wilberforce, a Christian organization advocating for religious freedom and human rights. Re-published with permission.

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