The auxiliary role is tied to the founding idea of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
In 1859, a man called Henri Dunant encountered the aftermath of the battle of Solferino, where the French/Sardinian and Austrian armies had clashed. Thousands of people were killed and injured, with very little medical care or other support available.
After supporting an improvised response with local villagers, Dunant later wrote about his experience in “A Memory of Solferino,” in which he called for the creation “in times of peace and quiet” of “relief societies for the purpose of having care given to the wounded in wartime by zealous, devoted and thoroughly qualified volunteers.” These groups would “naturally remain inactive in peacetime. But they would always be organised and ready for the possibility of war.”
This idea inspired the creation of the first National Red Cross Societies (later also joined by National Red Crescent Societies). Their role was described in a resolution of the first Geneva Conference of 1863 as committees of volunteers devoted to “assisting the Army Medical Services” and acting in the battlefield under military command.
This part of the auxiliary role—seconding volunteers for an exclusively medical service under military command—remains one part of the identity of many National Societies. It is enshrined in international humanitarian law, including in the First Geneva Convention of 1949.
But demand very quickly grew for National Societies to address humanitarian need in peacetime as well as during war. So in 1869, the second International Conference of the Red Cross adopted a resolution calling on National Societies to also provide relief “in case of public calamity which, like war, demands immediate and organised assistance.”
As the range of public services provided by National Societies has grown, so too has the expectations around the auxiliary role.