while the rest of the red cross movement may be multi-national, the committee believes that its mono-national nature is an asset because the nationality in question is swiss. thanks to permanent swiss neutrality, conflicting parties can be sure that no one from "the enemy" will be setting policy in geneva. the franco-prussian war of 1870–71 showed that even red cross actors (in this case national societies) can be so bound by nationalism that they are unable to sustain neutral humanitarianism.