Gustave Moynier

Gustave Moynier (1826 to 1910) was a Swiss jurist who was active in many charitable organizations in Geneva. Born in Geneva into a Huguenot family, he studied at the Sorbonne, took his doctorate in law in 1850 and passed his bar examination that summer. He was a co-founder of the International Committee for Relief to the Wounded, later the International Committee of the Red Cross, and chaired the commission of five that examined Henry Dunant's proposal. He served as its president from 1864 until 1898, a record term of 46 years, and was a determined opponent of Dunant's plan to grant neutrality to wounded soldiers, although the first Geneva Convention followed in 1864. In 1872 he proposed an international arbitration court to penalize violations of international humanitarian law, which governments did not adopt, and in 1892 he became president of the Institute of International Law. He was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize four times but never received it.