Eesti Punane Rist Mtu (Estonian Red Cross)

Description

The idea of creating the Red Cross arose in 1859 on the Battlefield of Solferino, where a young Swiss businessman, Jean Henri Dunant, gathered the wounded and organized an impartial assistance group to help the victims of local village women.

Back in his hometown of Geneva, the young Swiss wrote a book, "The Memory of Solferino," the final chapter of which includes a call for the creation of impartial volunteer assistance groups in other countries as well. The book was published in 1862, and the idea of creating the Red Cross was born.

Already in 1863, the Committee of the Red Cross met in Geneva, which a year later adopted the I Geneva Convention "Helping the Wounded on the Battlefield". Today, the Red Cross is the world's largest voluntary humanitarian organization, with 14 million volunteers from all over the world.

The Statute of the Estonian Red Cross, drafted by Hans Leesment, was approved by the Government of the Republic of Estonia on 24 February 1919. This day is considered the birthday of the Estonian Red Cross.

Hans Leesment (1873 Abja parish – 1944 Tallinn) graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of Tartu in 1899. He participated as a military doctor in the Russo-Japanese War and World War I. He participated in the War of Independence as a doctor of 1 division. She worked as a gynaecologist in Pärnu, St. Petersburg, Tartu, Pensa and from 1908 in Tallinn. He was the President of the Estonian Red Cross from 1919 to 1940, and from 1933 he was also a Sanitary Major General.

The Estonian Red Cross became a member of the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (IFRC) in Birmingham in 1992.