Inter-State wars seem to have come to an end in the late 1990s; ever since, the global reality of collective violence has come down to the chaos of contemporary civil wars and terrorist attacks. In this article, it will be argued that in today's civil wars, as well as in terrorist violence, the traditional warrior ethos is fading, giving way to types of violence governed by a new psychological and social paradigm. In other words, it is assumed that the very set of values that has universally determined the male gender role and the frame of hegemonic masculinity since time immemorial has also informed the waging of war according to a “heroic regime of violence”, and this phenomenon has made war a desirable option for countless generations of young men. On the other hand, the global changes entailed by modernity seem to have undermined this warrior ethos, giving way to a “post-heroic regime” in which extermination-oriented violence, rather than combat-oriented violence, is fostered. In this article, the author will scrutinize the founding psychological and social determinants that have so far upheld the cultural construct of the heroic model, in order to illuminate the ominous consequences of the deculturation of war in today's chaotic conflicts. In such contexts, the men who are fighting1 suffer from a loss of meaning and the impossibility of gaining dignity and social recognition in an ecosystem of humiliation and ubiquitous violence that has little to do with the expectations of pride and dignity conveyed by the past ideals of heroism associated with a certain vision of masculinity. The article will also discuss ways and means of getting the message of international humanitarian law through to men on the front lines caught up in such circumstances.

Henry Dunant's appeal for a neutral and impartial organization to provide care to wounded combatants aligned with growing criticism of mid-nineteenth-century European and North American conflicts. This article discusses the important convergence of Dunant's “lamentable pictures”, laid out in his Memory of Solferino, with spectators’ passionate responses to them and to battlefield photographs that circulated between 1855 and 1865. Through these images and reactions, there emerged a shared, expanded vision of humanity worth caring for, which brought into focus an international humanitarian movement.

Como desde hace cierto tiempo se está pensando en una posible revisión de los Estatutos de la Cruz Roja Internacional de 1952 y del Acuerdo entre el CICR y la Liga de 1969–1974, la Revista Internacional consideró que sería interesante y útil pedir al señor André Durand, ex delegado del CICR e historiador, autor del segundo tomo «De Sarajevo á Hiroshima», de la Historia del Comité Internacional de la Cruz Roja, que escribiera un artículo sobre la historia de los Estatutos y del Acuerdo. El lector encontrará en ese trabajo los acontecimientos, las diversas concepciones y las experiencias vividas por nuestros predecesores, que motivaron el origen y marcaron las sucesivas etapas de la redacción y la evolución de esos textos.

Los primeros estatutos de la Cruz Roja Internacional datan de 1928. Hasta esa fecha, la obra internacional de la Cruz Roja no disponía de una constitución.

A prison visitor… a spokesman for enemy internees in a nation at war… a doctor or surgeon at the bedside of wounded or sick victims of hostilities… a registrar of records to identify detainees, search for the missing, bring families together again… a distributor of food and blankets… a transport manager: these are only some of the jobs of an ICRC delegate. He must be a man of goodwill who may be considered to be a help to the detaining authorities in the solution of the delicate problems arising from the detention of prisoners of war. The delegate knows that his work will not be easy. His activities take place, typically, in a disorganized and war-torn country. He will be concerned with the enemies of that country, prisoners and internees who will very often be the object of hatred. He will speak in the name of what is right and in the name of humanity, at the very moment when passions are at their height and when such language has the least chance of being heard.

In ancient times some of the great commanders were accompanied on their campaigns by their personal doctors. The Romans had at least one doctor for each cohort (about 500 to 600 men), and a legion, which consisted of ten cohorts, had a medicus legionis, probably a sort of chief medical officer. At the time of the Crusades, the Sultan Saladin gave an example of humanity by authorizing the doctors of the adverse party to care for the Christian prisoners and then to return through the lines. Arab doctors treated Saint Louis. But it was not until the sixteenth century that an organized medical service was started in European armies. It was still, however, sadly inadequate.

The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was set up in 1951 with the main function of providing protection for refugees. This mandate corresponded to the task immediately confronting it, that of solving the refugee problem affecting Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War.

The part played by army medical officers in the beginnings of the humanitarian movement that led to the foundation of the Red Cross 125 years ago is all too often unrecognized. Until the foundation of societies for the relief of the wounded brought their names into the limelight, their writings were hardly known outside their small professional circle, although they had taken part in international exchanges that were in themselves remarkable. Their position was made all the more difficult by their feeling bound to protest at the shortcomings of a service of which they were active members, but in whose decisions they had no voice.

For the National Society, Red Cross Day has become the occasion of a general assembly at which its members, friends and government representatives gather. This happened again this year, and Dr. Victor Laroche, President of the Haiti Red Cross, outlined the institution's activities during 1970–1971. First-aid certificates were then presented to schoolchildren and to members of some army corps who had attended first-aid and life-saving courses. The ceremony closed with demonstrations by first-aid brigades.

The founders of the Red Cross did not seek to establish their work on the elements of a doctrine. They referred to a concept of the world which was common to them all and which did not appear to need any explanation. They were impelled by the emotions which Henry Dunant's revelations and proposals had raised in them. Their purpose was to “take into serious consideration the idea proposed in the conclusions of the book entitled “A Memory of Solférino”, namely the foundation of Societies for the Relief of Wounded Soldiers and the addition of a corps of medical volunteers to the belligerent armies”, and their concern was “how” to put that idea into practice rather than “why”. It is true that those conclusions contained in embryo a whole set of guiding principles which were not formally stated until much later; but they appeared then as a necessary condition for the application of the initial decisions rather than as their source.

Desde 1976, la Liga tiene nuevos Estatutos. Fueron necesarios cuatro años de estudios, investigaciones y deliberaciones para que una comisión especial, instituida el año 1973 por el Consejo de Gobernadores, ultimase, con la participación activa de las Sociedades nacionales, miembros de la Liga, la elaboración de la nueva Carta de la Liga para los próximos años.

Era muy importante lo que estaba en juego, y las Sociedades nacionales no se equivocaron cuando decidieron, en 1973, efectuar una revisión total de los Estatutos, lo que no se habóa hecho desde 1938, época en que la Liga tenía menos de sesenta miembros.

Se trataba de probar, nada menos, que la Liga, al igual que el movimiento de la Cruz Roja, es una institución dinámica, capaz de adaptarse a los grandes cambios registrados después de la Segunda Guerra Mundial en la comunidad international y en la Cruz Roja, que está habilitada para responder a las necesidades y a las aspiraciones de las comunidades y para guiar la evolutión de sus miembros, las Sociedades nacionales.