History

• The cross symbol was designed "at the inception of the Red Cross movement by its founder, Henri Dunant, in 1863," reports "BusinessWeek." The symbol was chosen because soldiers often let enemies know they were giving up by waving a white flag, "so Dunant thought a largely white flag would make troops more respectful of the new, peaceful organization," the magazine reports.
  
  

Symbols

• The Geneva Convention requires a country to choose one symbol from among three, which are a cross, a crescent or "a lion with sun---a Persian symbol that is no longer used," according to "The New York Times." Today, the Red Cross organizations in countries throughout the world can use the cross, crescent or crystal.
  
  

Conflict

• The debate over the emblems dates all the way to the Turkish-Russian war of 1876, reports "The New York Times." This is when the leaders of the Ottoman Empire opted to use the crescent rather than the cross, the newspaper reports.
  
  

Adoption

• The Red Crystal symbol was adopted as part of the Geneva Convention on December 8, 2005.
  
  

Design

• The Red Crystal "tends to suggest the shape of something wholly nonsectarian: any of various common highway and road signs," according to Business Week. The white center matches the flag's ground, and may be left blank or contain a crescent or a cross.