Henri-Guillaume Dufour, Switzerland (1787-1875)
First President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Together with Henry Dunant he played an essential role in the creation of the precursors to contemporary humanitarian law. Dunant formulated the idea in A Memory of Solférino in which he related his own experience of war.
Dufour lent his active moral support to Dunant and chaired the 1864 Diplomatic Conference. This conference was convened by the Swiss government at the prompting of the five founding members of the ICRC. Sixteen states attended the conference which adopted the Geneva convention for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded in armies in the field.