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ICRC - Mannock - 09-09-2010
This is the initial idea to recreate the Red Cross (or Red Crescent) in Discovery. I think that would become the first faction which is not a faction (or second). Directed to players who either want characters for RPing pure or set aside the PvP with one or two characters. I use the Latin translation of the Red Cross (Crux Ruber, but check my Latin is somewhat outdated), but the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) or any other name could be used, this too is open to discussion
HISTORY
The battle of Solferino was fought in northern Italy on 24 June 1859. It was a decisive episode in the struggle for Italian unification and also a pivotal moment in the evolution of modern humanitarianism. It is at the origins of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the Geneva Conventions.
Allied Franco-Sardinian troops, led by Emperor Napoleon III, faced off against Austrian soldiers at around three in the morning on the 24th. By six o'clock, the battle was in full swing. Bright sunshine bore down on the 300,000 soldiers, who shot, trampled, bayoneted and slit the throats of their enemies. After 15 hours of slaughter and bloodshed, around 6,000 men were dead and more than 35,000 were wounded or missing.
The medical services of the French and Sardinian armies were overwhelmed. Transportation for the wounded was practically non-existent, while food and water were scarce. In the church of Castiglione, the Chiesa Maggiore, a young Swiss man named Henry Dunant ' who was in the area for business ' did his best to care for the wounded and dying, helped by local women volunteers. They treated the men equally, regardless of what side they had fought on, inspiring the women to coin the phrase "tutti fratelli" (all brothers).
Considered by many as the father of modern humanitarianism, Henry Dunant was also arguably the first embedded war reporter and citizen journalist rolled into one. In 1862, he self-published a graphic account of the aftermath of the battle, called A Memory of Solferino
The battle of Solferino led Dunant to push for the creation of a neutral and impartial organization to protect and assist the war wounded (ICRC). He also suggested that voluntary relief societies should be established to care for the injured ' an idea that would eventually lead to the formation of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. In addition, he proposed that an international principle be created to serve as the basis for these societies, an idea that developed into the Geneva Conventions.
On 17 February 1863, a five-member committee, the future International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), met to study Dunant's proposals.
One of its main objectives was to adopt a single distinctive symbol backed by the law to indicate respect or army medical services, volunteers with first aid societies and the victims of armed conflicts.
The symbol needed to be simple, identifiable from a distance, known to everyone and identical for friend and foe. The emblem had to be the same for everyone and universally recognizable.
On 26 October 1863, the first International Conference was convened. It included delegates from 14 governments.
In addition to adopting ten resolutions, which provided for the establishment of relief societies for wounded soldiers - the future Red Cross and, later, Red Crescent Societies - it also adopted the red cross on a white background as the uniform distinctive emblem.
Article 1: Each country shall have a Committee whose duty it shall be, in time of war
and if the need arises, to assist the Army Medical Services by every means in its
power.
The Committee shall organize itself in the manner which seems to it most useful and
appropriate.
Article 2: Any number of Sections may be formed to assist the Committee, which
shall be the central directing body.
Article 3: Each Committee shall get in touch with the Government of its country, so
that its services may be accepted should the occasion arise.
Article 4: In peacetime, the Committees and Sections shall take steps to ensure their
real usefulness in time of war, especially by preparing material relief of all sorts and
by seeking to train and instruct voluntary medical personnel.
Article 5: In time of war, the Committees of belligerent nations shall supply relief to
their respective armies as far as their means permit; in particular they shall organize
voluntary personnel and place them on an active footing and, in agreement with the
military authorities, shall have premises made available for the care of the wounded.
They may call for assistance upon the Committees of neutral countries.
Article 6: On the request or with the consent of the military authorities, Committees
may send voluntary medical personnel to the battlefield where they shall be placed
under military command.
Article 7: Voluntary medical personnel attached to armies shall be supplied by the
respective Committees with everything necessary for their upkeep.
Article 8: They shall wear in all countries, as a uniform distinctive sign, a white
armlet with a red cross.
Article 9: The Committees and Sections of different countries may meet in
international assemblies to communicate the results of their experience and to agree
on measures to be taken in the interests of the work.
Article 10: The exchange of communications between the Committees of the various
countries shall be made for the time being through the intermediary of the Geneva
Committee.
The Geneva Convention was signed on 22 August 1864. No other legal text had ever brought such influence to bear on the relations between opposing parties in wartime. The text is as follows:
CONVENTION FOR THE AMELIORATION OF THE CONDITION
OF THE WOUNDED IN ARMIES IN THE FIELD
"Article 1. - Ambulances and military hospitals shall be recognized as neutral and, as
such, protected and respected by the belligerents as long as they accommodate
wounded and sick.
Neutrality shall end if the said ambulances or hospitals should be held by a military
force.
Article 2. - Hospital and ambulance personnel, including the quartermaster's staff,
the medical, administrative and transport services, and the chaplains, shall have the
benefit of the same neutrality when on duty, and while there remain any wounded to
be brought in or assisted.
Article 3. - The persons designated in the preceding Article may, even after enemy
occupation, continue to discharge their functions in the hospital or ambulance with
which they serve, or may withdraw to rejoin the units to which they belong.
When in these circumstances they cease their functions, such persons shall be
delivered to the enemy outposts by the occupying forces.
Article 4. - The material of military hospitals being subject to the laws of war, the
persons attached to such hospitals may take with them, on withdrawing, only the
articles which are their own personal property.
Ambulances, on the contrary, under similar circumstances, shall retain their
equipment.
Article 5. - Inhabitants of the country who bring help to the wounded shall be
respected and shall remain free. Generals of the belligerent Powers shall make it
their duty to notify the inhabitants of the appeal made to their humanity, and of the
neutrality which humane conduct will confer.
The presence of any wounded combatant receiving shelter and care in a house shall
ensure its protection. An inhabitant who has given shelter to the wounded shall be
exempted from billeting and from a portion of such war contributions as may be
levied.
Article 6. - Wounded or sick combatants, to whatever nation they may belong, shall be
collected and cared for.
Commanders-in-Chief may hand over immediately to the enemy outposts enemy
combatants wounded during an engagement, when circumstances allow and subject to
the agreement of both parties.
Those who, after their recovery, are recognized as being unfit for further service,
shall be repatriated.
The others may likewise be sent back, on condition that they shall not again, for the
duration of hostilities, take up arms.
Evacuation parties, and the personnel conducting them, shall be considered as being
absolutely neutral.
Article 7. - A distinctive and uniform flag shall be adopted for hospitals, ambulances
and evacuation parties. It should in all circumstances be accompanied by the national
flag.
An armlet may also be worn by personnel enjoying neutrality but its issue should be
left to the military authorities.
Both flag and armlet shall bear a red cross on a white ground.
Article 8. - The implementing of the present Convention shall be arranged by the
Commanders-in-Chief of the belligerent armies following the instructions of their
respective Governments and in accordance with the general principles set forth in this
Convention.
Article 9. - The High Contracting Parties have agreed to communicate the present
Convention with an invitation to accede thereto to Governments unable to appoint
Plenipotentiaries to the International Conference at Geneva. The Protocol has
accordingly been left open.
Article 10. - The present Convention shall be ratified and the ratifications exchanged
at Berne, within the next four months, or sooner if possible.
In faith whereof, the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the Convention and
thereto affixed their seals.
Done at Geneva, this twenty-second day of August, in the year one thousand eight
hundred and sixty-four'.
This movement born to palliate the suffering in the battlefields, adquired the commitment to prevent and palliate whenever and wherever:
-Humanitary action to the victims of warlike conflicts:
International humanitarian law
Mediation
Assistance to prisoners and refugees
-Humanitary action to the victims of natural disasters and of other kind in peacetime:
International humanitarian law
Prevent and alleviate
Health
Disaster action
Reliefs
-Preventive action and for social welfare and quality of life:
Social action
Development cooperation
Actions for peace
Defence of Human Rights
Environment
But that is the past, now on Sirius in the years 817-818 the situation has worsened: Kusari-Bretonia war, incidents on the border of Liberty and Rheinland, civil war in Hispania (Corsairs vs Outcasts), continued fighting between loyal and dissident's forces and the entry of Galia on the scene. There is only death and destruction.
We want to be a timid new hope for peace, not the only nor the first, because we have faith in the human race as a species. We do not intend to end or prevent conflicts, we can not others can, just to relieve pain and save lives.
Principles:
Humanity: efforts to prevent and alleviate the suffering of mankind
Fairness: no distinction as to nationality, race, religion, class or political creed
Neutrality: not taking part in hostilities, political controversy, racial, religious and ideological
Independence: retain autonomy in accordance with the principles
Voluntary basis: voluntary relief movement and unselfish
Unit: can only exist an international society and only one for state
Universality: all have the same right and duty to assist, is universal
Ships:
Civilian freighter
Spatial (such as rescue craft and personnel transport)
Luxury Liner (as hospital ship)
Armament: only civilian weapons (at most)
RPing:
-Construction and maintenance of both fixed and temporary hospitals
-Humanitarian aid
-Never start fighting
-No transporting materials that can be used directly or indirectly for war
-Reconstruction and development work
-Rescue operations
-Nonprofit society (all revenue will be invested in equipment, personnel and facilities)
Relations:
All factions, or houses, who want to join (it's free and voluntary) will make it explicitly specifying where the Crux Ruber can go (especially guard systems), dock and buy (or, if they prefer this use).
One faction or house does not subscribe to the adhesion, does not mean should not help their members.
It is a completely neutral faction at all, only trades which have permission and help where there is any need for help (with the knowledge of the competent authority and due authorization), with the exception of very serious emergencies.
It´s a faction no-combatant, even if attacked will defend only trying to avoid casualties both own and opponent. The death and destruction is the last resort possible, if all else fails.
Any faction can pirate, levy taxes or demand us anything reasonable in its area if influence. They are the law and Crux Ruber complies with the laws of each place. Ever, there is not excuse possible.
Crux Ruber not protect any member, which carries commodities classified as warlike (or used to build war material) or attack someone. Involved immediate expulsion.
Everything will be resolved through diplomatic channels.
It is a roleplaying faction, responding to all calls for help, actively involved in wars (helping not fighting), logistic support to the needy, trade only to cover costs (though do travel lose money, if the RPing required) or any other ideas that respects the principles of Crux Ruber.
ID: here I need all your help. One option would be a special Zoner ID, an ID Neutral (separate from The Angels), or any of the above plus ID of each faction or unarmed hospital ship.
I lood forward to yours comments, supports, criticisms, corrections and ideas. Thanks for your help, don´t be too rough with me.