May 8 marks the anniversary of the birth of the founder of the Red Cross Movement, Henry Dunant. This is an opportunity to highlight the humanitarian values and commitment of over 16 million volunteers around the world.
Given the challenges facing international Geneva, this year’s event is also a sign of hope.
From Wednesday to Saturday, the Parc des Bastions will be home to a village where the various players in the movement will be presenting their activities at information stands. Storytelling, cardiac simulation exercises, a treasure hunt and demonstrations with rescue dogs are just some of the activities on offer.
Mirror sphere
On Thursday, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum (MICR) will be organising workshops and a tour of its temporary exhibition. On Saturday, guided tours of the city centre will take in the places where the world’s largest humanitarian movement was born and where international humanitarian law was developed.
On the artistic side, the Parc des Bastions will host a dance performance on the theme of universality, a play by Serge Bimpage on the life of Henry Dunant, played by Vincent Aubert, and a concert by the Fanfare du Loup. And a mirror sphere ten metres in diameter, created by François Abélanet and reflecting the fundamental principles of movement, will be installed there.
All events are free, except those at the MICR, and some require advance registration. The movement’s flag will be flown on many buildings, the Jet d’Eau will be illuminated in red and the statues of the founding fathers of the first Red Cross committee will be decorated.
More
More
No immediate US threat to ICRC funding
This content was published on
US funding of the ICRC is not under immediate threat, according to director Pierre Krähenbühl.
We select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate them into English. A journalist then briefly reviews the translation for clarity and accuracy before publication. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles. The news stories we select have been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team from news agencies such as Bloomberg or Keystone.
Did you find this explanation helpful? Please fill out the short survey below to help us understand your needs.
External Content
Popular Stories
More
Climate adaptation
Why Switzerland is among the ten fastest-warming countries in the world
Has your continent reached its peak or is there still potential for economic growth?
Some regions of the world are on an upward trajectory with the promise of a steadily improving future. Where do you live? And in which direction is your region or continent developing?
A tropical parasite spreads from Switzerland to Germany
This content was published on
A pest from the tropics is giving Swiss agriculture a hard time. The caterpillar of the tomato moth (Helicoverpa armigera) devours almost everything. The moth is now spreading northwards.
Over 10,000 people brave the rain for Geneva Lake Parade
This content was published on
The Lake Parade attracted more than 10,000 people to Geneva on Saturday afternoon in torrential rain. This techno and festive event took place in a reduced format and on an unusual reversed route because of the Women's Euro.
This content was published on
The Zurich cantonal police today arrested two men in Pfungen, a few kilometres from Winterthur (ZH), who were trying to rob a gun shop. Thefts in such businesses in Switzerland have multiplied recently.
This content was published on
Flight safety is reduced by the clogging of airspace, says Thomas Steffen, a pilot for Swiss and head of safety at Aeropers, the industry association.
Malaysian artist Yee I-Lann holds first major European exhibition in Thun
This content was published on
Das Kunstmuseum Thun richtet im August die erste grössere Europaausstellung der malaysischen Künstlerin Yee I-Lann aus. Darin werden Einflüsse des Kolonialismus aber auch das Fortbestehen des indigenen Erbes thematisiert.
Data from Swiss health foundation Radix leaked on the dark web
This content was published on
After the cyber attack suffered by the Radix foundation at the end of last month, sensitive personal data such as names and debts of people banned from casinos were published on the Darknet.
This content was published on
Companies with an externally validated net-zero target emit less CO2 than those without a climate target. This is the conclusion of a new analysis by the US financial services provider MSCI.
This content was published on
Swiss companies are increasingly being targeted by cyber criminals. In the past quarter, every single company in this country was the target of a cyber attack an average of 1097 times a week.
Swiss households faced 21 minutes of power outages in 2024
This content was published on
End customers experienced an average of 21 minutes of electricity interruption in 2024. This resulted in 0.34 power outages per capita. The duration of electricity interruptions increased by three minutes compared to the previous year.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.