This organization, created in Geneva in 1863, owes its founding motivation to "A Memory of Solperino", in which the author, a Swiss young man who had served for the wounded on Italian battlefields, wrote movingly about the need of the establishment of a relief organization. It has since grown to a permanent international organ, making great contribution to the spread of humanitariansm and world peace by working not only for the protection of prisoners-of-war and civilians, general promotion of health, relief of suffering caused by calamities, prevention of diseases, and other things necessary for relieving human suffering.