150 Years of the Red Cross

A cross with '150' at its centre. The word 'Rode Kruis' is engraved vertically through the cross, 'Croix-Rouge' horizontally. Around the cross: the Brussels mint mark (the helmeted head of Archangel Michael), the mint director's mark, the year 2014 and the country code BE.

The Red Cross traces back to an idea of the Swiss businessman Henry Dunant, who witnessed with his own eyes, after the Battle of Solferino in 1859, thousands of wounded soldiers lying on the battlefield without any care. His account, "A Memory of Solferino", led in 1863 to the founding of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva - the emblem, a red cross on a white background, was deliberately chosen as an inversion of the Swiss flag. Just one year later, in 1864, twelve states adopted the first Geneva Convention, guaranteeing neutral status to wounded soldiers and medical personnel. Belgium was among the early signatory states and, in the following decades, built its own national Red Cross society, which played a central role in humanitarian relief on Belgian soil during both world wars.

Today the Red Cross is one of the largest humanitarian organisations in the world, with national societies in almost every country. In Belgium, the Flemish and Francophone societies - Rode Kruis-Vlaanderen and Croix-Rouge de Belgique - operate largely independently and are active in areas such as blood donation, disaster relief and support for refugees. Belgium marked the 150th anniversary of the Red Cross in 2014 with a 2-euro commemorative coin honouring the founding of this humanitarian movement, which continues to shape lives today.