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May 8 is World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day
Thursday, May 05, 2005 — Each year on May 8th the 181 national Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies around the world commemorate World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day. Celebrated each year since 1948, World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day falls on the birthday of Henry Dunant of Switzerland, the founder of the Red Cross.
Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross Movement |
Dunant's foresight, humanitarianism, and voluntary spirit led to the creation of the Geneva Conventions and the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, a network of organizations that save and improve lives around the world. With more 95 million volunteers - the world's largest volunteer force - the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement assists more than 230 million beneficiaries each year.
Each year World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day is used to recognize the services that Red Cross and Red Crescent national societies perform. This year's World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day will highlight the work of tens of millions of Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers who respond to human suffering in their communities all over the world.
Every day, and all year round, more than 95 million volunteers worldwide bring assistance to vulnerable people in their own community. These volunteers are the foundation of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement - a unique force of humanity and the backbone of all Red Cross and Red Crescent activities. Social services to the elderly or handicapped, first aid, home visits to HIV/AIDS affected people, food assistance, hygiene education, child care activities, visits to prisoners, relief assistance in disaster situations, and collection of bodies after a catastrophe. These activities are just some examples of the work carried out by Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers.
This year, World Red Cross Day pays special tribute to Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers assisting with tsunami recovery efforts .
Tsunami-affected school boy sits happily on American Red Cross hygiene kit. Photo by Stacey Winston. |
Everywhere in the world, Red Cross and Red Crescent National Societies and their thousands of volunteers have been working around the clock with their communities to help those who have lost loved ones or livelihoods when the tsunamis struck Southeast Asia and the eastern coast of Africa on December 26, 2004.
The key to the humanitarian response is the thousands of Red Cross and Red Crescent volunteers in the affected countries who responded to the emergency in the hours that followed the earthquake and the tsunamis. Before any outside help arrived, thousands of local Red Cross Red Crescent volunteers in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand, India, Myanmar, the Seychelles, Bangladesh and Somalia were helping their neighbours to survive. Both volunteers and local staff put aside their own personal losses and concentrated on helping others.
"The world has never seen such a powerful expression of the wish of people to help others restore their lives and their dignity," said Juan Manuel Suárez del Toro, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (Federation). He added that the Federation and all of its member National Societies with their thousands of volunteers were proud of their role, and even prouder to have been seen by people everywhere as the network they could turn to at a time of great need.
American Red Cross volunteers are just some of the volunteers from more than 40 national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies who have been assisting in the tsunami response. Visit our special page to learn more about the American Red Cross volunteers relief workers.
For more information on the tsunami relief efforts of the Federation and Red Cross and Red Crescent societies worldwide, please visit the IFRC online.
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