The key dates for Terre des hommes…
On 14th November 1959, in the middle of the Algerian War, the weekly publication ‘Réforme’ reported on refuge camps. This revelation of the misery of over one and a half million Algerians greatly disturbed Edmond Kaiser.
Thus in 1960 the Terre des hommes was born, a ‘movement to combat and directly intervene in the murder of innocent children’. Edmond Kaiser immediately brought a hundred children from the arms of the Algerian conflict to a holiday camp in Switzerland. Other campaigns quickly followed to help child victims of war and disease in Biafra, Vietnam, Bangladesh, Palestine, Lebanon, Cambodia, and elsewhere.
In 1960, the Terre des hommes Charter was adopted; fixing the objectives and principal ethics of the association.
Throughout the 1960s, other Terre des hommes were created on the Swiss model, each working within the framework of the Charter, in France, Belgium, Germany, Luxembourg, Holland, etc. They were eventually brought together in 1966, within the Internationale Federation of Terre des hommes (IFTDH).
In 1970, the Massongex House was founded in the canton of Valais: a refuge for children brought to Switzerland for surgical intervention to convalesce prior to their return home.
1972 saw the separation of the Terre des hommes Foundation and Terre des hommes Switzerland.
In Switzerland, where the Terre des hommes movement originates, there is some confusion today since two organisations carry the same name: the Terre des hommes Foundation, and Terre des hommes Switzerland (based in Geneva and Basle). This is why:
Since its creation in 1960 by Edmond Kaiser in Lausanne, the Terre des hommes movement has stretched across several European countries. In 1972, during the General Assembly of the Terre des hommes movement in Europe, a huge majority of the representatives were in favour of a fundamental modification of the objectives. Edmond Kaiser did not agree, and thus decided to leave the International Federation of Terre des hommes, and to continue his work in Lausanne according to the principles and obligations which he had determined at the start. The separation of Terre des hommes Switzerland dates from this point. The new structure created by Edmond Kaiser, with the name of Terre des hommes Lausanne, later become the Terre des hommes Foundation.
While the two organisations operate in the field and conduct their fund-raising completely independently, they work together frequently to protect and defend children and their communities – because that remains their over-riding and primary objective.
In 1980, Edmond Kaiser left Terre des hommes to found Sentinelles.
In 1988, Terre des hommes Lausanne changed its Statutes of Association to become the Terre des hommes Foundation. These new statutes were deposited with the relevant supervisory authority, the Federal Department of the Interior.
In 1997, the ‘Lausanne Appeal’ was circulated, demanding the identification, prosecution and condemnation of organised crime against children as a crime against humanity.
In 2003, a petition of 128,000 signatures was deposited with the Federal Treasury demanding the introduction of a Swiss penal code on organised crime against children.
A history of Tdh’s emergency interventions Tdh...
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