New Delhi: World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day are celebrated on 8 May every year. The day marks the birth anniversary of Henry Dunant, the founder of the Red Cross and the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The theme for this year’s World Red Cross Day and Red Crescent Day is ‘BEHumanKind’. As the COVID-19 pandemic has made things harder for everyone, the world has started appreciating even the smallest acts of kindness.
World Red Cross Day also aims to celebrate the principles of the Red Cross movement and the International Red Cross, while honouring the volunteers and workers for their contributions.
After World War I, Red Cross was introduced as a major contribution to the peace and set up an international commission at14th International Conference of the Red Cross to study the Red Cross Truce. In 1934 the report of the Red Cross Truce was presented and its principles were approved at the 15th International Conference in Tokyo to get applicable all across the world in different regions.
In 1946 during World War II, the Tokyo proposal was put into effect. The possibility of an annual celebration was asked by the Board of Governors of the “League of the Red Cross Societies (LORCS)”, later called the General Assembly of the International Federation of Red Cross Societies. Two years later the proposal of celebrating annually World Red Cross Day was adopted on 8 May 1948. In 1984, it was officially named ‘World Red Cross and Red Crescent Day’.
