Humanitarianism and National Sovereignty: Red Cross Intervention on behalf of Political Prisoners in Soviet Russia,1921–3

Abstract

From 1921 to 1923 the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) sought to protect the individual rights of political prisoners in Soviet Russia. This action represented the culmination of the Red Cross’ attempt after the First World War to transform the humanitarian rights assured to soldiers by the Geneva and Hague conventions into universal rights for all people. The Red Cross, employing concepts that demonstrate a connection between humanitarianism and human rights, argued for a right to assistance that transcended national sovereignty and authorized international intervention in the sovereign affairs of states. The article traces the ideological origins of this universal humanitarian right through the debates on civil war at the 1912 and 1921 International Conferences of the Red Cross and then analyzes the ICRC's use of private and public channels to protect political prisoners in Soviet Russia. Despite initial international support, the ICRC failed to achieve a humanitarian intervention from the former Allied powers at the Genoa Conference in 1922. As a result the movement retreated to a more conservative stance regarding the role of humanitarianism vis-a-vis the nation-state, a stance it maintained with tragic consequences through the 1930s and into the Second World War.