Geneva is a centre for global diplomacy. And that can be evidenced from the presence of international organisations in the city. Besides the United Nations, whose local headquarters we had just visited, Geneva is home to diverse organisations such as the CERN, the Red Cross, the Médecins Sans Frontières, the World Economic Forum and many more.
And right across from the Pregny Gate of the Palais des Nations, lies the Musée International de la Croix-Rouge et du Croissant-Rouge, or simply the Red Cross Museum.
And we had got recommendations to visit the museum from friends who had been here earlier...
Our Swiss Travel Pass gave us free access to the museum...
The International Committee of the Red Cross (commonly called the Red Cross) had its origins in 1859 when a Swiss businessman, Henry Dunant, traveled to Italy to meet French emperor Napoléon III. On his journey, he witnessed first hand the aftermath of the the Battle of Solferino, the pain and the suffering that ensued. Deeply moved, Dunant published a book titled "A Memory of Solferino" and galvanized international opinion to form the Red Cross, which also resulted in the signing of the Geneva Convention in 1864, the first codified international treaty that covered the sick and wounded soldiers in the battlefield.
The organisation is present allover the globe today, through national Red Cross organisations or Red Crescent organisations, as Islamic states call them, through the Magen David Adom or the Red Star of David.
And we started the humanitarian adventure...
...from the Chamber of Witnesses!
Eye-witness accounts of those caught in the crossfire of conflict...
The ICRC says it defends human dignity...
The founder Henry Dunant is depicted sitting on desk writing his book on the Battle of Solferino, involving 40000 soldiers fatalities within a single day...
Artwork depicting "dignity trampled underfoot"...
Emblems of the organisation - the Red Crescent on the jacket on the left and the Red Crystal flag used in the Middle East to avoid any controversy on the Israeli Magen David Adom...
The flag on the right was the first Red Cross flag ever used...
In addition to these symbols, under the Shah, Iran used a Red Lion with Sun symbol for its national society. Despite Iran's shift to the Red Crescent in 1980, it retains its right to use the symbol...
Scenes from zones of peace where the ICRC intervened...
Mentions in the press...
These voodoo dolls represent a mother, father, and child. The patterns on the dolls coordinate with stories of people who have suffered injustices and tragedies...
Nuon Chea, a former communist politician of Cambodia under the Khmer Rouge, who presided over the Pol Pot massacres, was brought to justice by the ICRC...
Next we proceeded to see artworks made by political prisoners and prisoners of war. The one above is by an ex-FARC rebel in Colombia...
An exhibit from Indonesia...
Depiction of the Red Cross at work...
A train made out of waste metal...
A village scene from South East Asia...
A belt from Yemen...
A snake made by a Turkish prisoner...
A mural from Greece...
A church from Georgia...
From Soviet Union...
From Israel...
Some more eye-witness accounts...
The ICRC played an important role in tracing missing people caught in a conflict zone...
We went through a small passageway filled with chains hanging from the ceilings. They made an irritating noise when they clanged together, as we passed through. Wonder how people locked up in prisons for no fault of theirs would feel...
Original medical cards and records of people the ICRC has helped over time...
Tracing down people...
...since the First World War!
Logs of missing people...
Index cards of missing people...
Kids separated from their families in the Rwandan conflict of the 1990s...
Remembering people from Srebrenica caught up in the Balkans conflict of the 1990s...
Messages from persons held in captivity to their families...
...they were real touching...
...especially this one from a kid to his family...
"Dear Mommy, I'm safe"
Account of an inmate from Guantanamo...
Nelson Mandela leads South Africa to freedom...
Peacetime role in enhancing health and nutrition...
And we finally leave the museum to explore the city of Geneva...
...we were kind of numbed by the painful accounts of human tragedy, most of which is actually created by geopolitics...
And we exit, we come across this sobering artwork called “The Petrified,” which represents the faceless victims of human rights violations. Can we say more?
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