Swiss International Commitment
8 January 2020
The Red Cross (1863) and, shortly after that, the arbitration procedure known as “Alabama” (1872) were the beginning of international diplomacy and the role of Switzerland and Geneva in particular. The Red Cross’s neutrality is also based on Switzerland’s neutrality.
The two emblems, the red and the white cross, illustrate this connection. The Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) express the country’s message.
The League of Nations in Geneva was dissolved at the end of the Second World War. The European headquarters of the United Nations is still located in Geneva.
The American President Woodrow Wilson already declared on 10 April 1919:
“Moreover, the Swiss are a people who have committed themselves in their constitution to absolute neutrality, but this is also based on the nature of the country, which is made up of different elements, races and languages. Thus Switzerland is predestined to serve as a meeting place for other peoples who wish to work for peace and cooperation”.
(Source: F.Ch. Pictet, ´Charles Pictet de Rochemont and the accession of Geneva to Eidgenossenschaft´ in T. Kaestli (ed.), Nach Napoleon. Die Restauration, der Wiener Kongress und die Zukunft der Schweiz 1813-1815, Baden 2016).