# The humanitarian conscience From the Red Cross to Amnesty and MSF: the NGOs that built a humanitarian and human-rights infrastructure outside the state system. *This story part of: State, law, and coercion* ## 17 April 1839 — Founding of the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society Abolitionists led by Joseph Sturge found a society in London to end slavery worldwide after its abolition in the British Empire. As Anti-Slavery International, it is the world's oldest human rights organization. ## 6 June 1844 — Founding of the YMCA Draper George Williams and eleven friends found the Young Men's Christian Association in London to improve the lives of young workers. It spread into a worldwide movement and helped invent basketball and volleyball. ## 17 February 1863 — Founding of the International Committee of the Red Cross Henry Dunant and four Geneva citizens create a relief committee for wounded soldiers, the seed of the worldwide Red Cross and Red Crescent movement and of the Geneva Conventions. ## 23 February 1905 — Founding of Rotary International Attorney Paul Harris gathers three business acquaintances in a Chicago office, founding the first Rotary Club. The service club movement spread worldwide and later led the global campaign to eradicate polio. ## 15 April 1919 — Founding of Save the Children Eglantyne Jebb and her sister Dorothy Buxton found the Save the Children Fund in London to feed children starving under the Allied blockade of Germany and Austria. Jebb later drafted the first declaration of children's rights. ## 5 May 1919 — Founding of the League of Red Cross Societies National Red Cross societies of the war's victors found a federation in Paris to coordinate peacetime relief and health work. It is now the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. ## 1922 — Founding of the International Federation for Human Rights Ten national human rights leagues unite to form the FIDH in Paris, the first international human rights federation, which now links nearly 200 member organizations. ## 1922 — Founding of the World Organization of the Scout Movement National Scout organizations meeting at a conference in Paris constitute an international conference and committee for the Scout Movement, creating the world body that now oversees tens of millions of Scouts. ## 1933 — Founding of the International Rescue Committee At Albert Einstein's suggestion, an American branch of the International Relief Association forms in New York to aid refugees from Nazi Germany. It grew into the International Rescue Committee, a leading refugee relief agency. ## August 1936 — Founding of the World Jewish Congress Jewish delegates from 32 countries hold a first plenary assembly in Geneva, founding the World Jewish Congress as a permanent representative body of Jewish communities amid rising Nazi persecution. ## 5 October 1942 — Founding of Oxfam Quakers, academics and activists found the Oxford Committee for Famine Relief to send food through the Allied blockade to starving civilians in occupied Greece. It grew into the global Oxfam confederation. ## 27 November 1945 — Founding of CARE Twenty-two American charities found the Cooperative for American Remittances to Europe, whose CARE Packages fed millions in postwar Europe. It became one of the world's largest humanitarian organizations. ## 23 August 1948 — Founding of the World Council of Churches Representatives of 147 churches from 44 countries meet in Amsterdam to found the World Council of Churches, the main worldwide body of the ecumenical movement, based in Geneva. ## 5 October 1948 — Founding of the International Union for Conservation of Nature Governments and conservation groups, encouraged by UNESCO, sign an act at Fontainebleau creating the International Union for the Protection of Nature, now IUCN, keeper of the Red List of threatened species. ## 1950 — Founding of World Vision Evangelical missionary Bob Pierce founds World Vision, opening its first office in Portland, Oregon, to care for orphans of the Korean War. It became one of the largest Christian humanitarian organizations. ## 12 December 1951 — Founding of Caritas Internationalis National Catholic charities from thirteen countries hold a constitutive assembly in Rome, founding the confederation now known as Caritas Internationalis, one of the world's largest humanitarian networks. ## 29 April 1961 — Founding of the World Wide Fund for Nature Julian Huxley, Peter Scott and fellow conservationists create the World Wildlife Fund, opening its first office at IUCN headquarters in Morges, Switzerland, to raise funds for protecting endangered wildlife. ## 28 May 1961 — Founding of Amnesty International British lawyer Peter Benenson publishes The Forgotten Prisoners in The Observer, launching an appeal for prisoners of conscience that became Amnesty International, the world's largest human rights movement and 1977 Nobel Peace laureate. ## 18 May 1962 — Founding of the Muslim World League An Islamic conference in Mecca resolves to found the Muslim World League, a Saudi-based body to propagate Islam and coordinate Islamic organizations worldwide. ## 1969 — Founding of Friends of the Earth David Brower founds Friends of the Earth in San Francisco after leaving the Sierra Club over its stance on nuclear power. In 1971 it became an international network now active in over 70 countries. ## 1971 — Founding of Greenpeace Canadian and American activists in Vancouver charter a boat to protest US nuclear testing at Amchitka, Alaska, founding the campaign that became Greenpeace, the global direct-action environmental organization. ## 22 December 1971 — Founding of Médecins Sans Frontières French doctors and journalists, marked by the Biafra famine, found Doctors Without Borders in Paris to deliver emergency medical aid regardless of borders and to speak out about what they witness. It won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999. ## 1978 — Founding of Human Rights Watch American activists found Helsinki Watch to monitor Soviet bloc compliance with the Helsinki Accords. Regional watch committees merged in 1988 to form Human Rights Watch. ## 1 February 1980 — Founding of Médecins du Monde Bernard Kouchner and fourteen other French physicians, after splitting from Médecins Sans Frontières over the rescue of Vietnamese boat people, found Doctors of the World in Paris. ## 1985 — Founding of Reporters Without Borders Robert Ménard and three colleagues found Reporters Sans Frontières in Montpellier to defend press freedom and journalists worldwide, later known for its World Press Freedom Index. ## October 1992 — Founding of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines Six NGOs meeting in New York agree to coordinate a campaign against antipersonnel landmines. The campaign achieved the 1997 Ottawa Treaty banning the weapons and shared that year's Nobel Peace Prize. ## 9 February 1993 — Founding of Transparency International Former World Bank official Peter Eigen and colleagues found Transparency International to fight corruption worldwide. Registered in Berlin, it became known for its annual Corruption Perceptions Index. ## 23 April 2007 — Founding of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons Antinuclear campaigners launch ICAN in Melbourne to push for a treaty banning nuclear weapons. The campaign helped achieve the 2017 UN ban treaty and won that year's Nobel Peace Prize.