Ten years ago, on 8 June 1977, the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts adopted two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, one relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts and the other to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts.

The world now has a population of 5 billion, as against 1 billion in 1863 when the Red Cross was founded and the codification of the law of armed conflicts was initiated. For almost a century, the Red Cross concerned itself successively with soldiers wounded in action, victims of naval warfare, prisoners of war and civilians abandoned in wartime to the arbitrariness of foreign rule.

It is not enough simply to draw up a new international treaty—the States must also agree to respect it. A State demonstrates its willingness to respect new obligations first and foremost by ratifying or acceding to a treaty.

On the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the adoption on 8 June 1977 of the Protocols additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions by the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, the Review wanted to involve National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in the preparation of a special issue; the intention is to reflect as wide a variety as possible of views from National Societies throughout the world with regard to the Protocols and to show what the Societies have done to have them ratified and ensure that they are more widely known.

The German Red Cross in the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) has attached great importance to the further development of international humanitarian law since the Second World War. The outcome of the Diplomatic Conference, which in 1949 led to the four Geneva Conventions, was understandably of special interest because of the situation in an occupied postwar Germany with millions of its countrymen missing or held prisoner of war. This interest was pursued after the German Red Cross in the Federal Republic and the German Red Cross of the German Democratic Republic were newly formed in 1950 and 1959. International law experts from the National Society in the FRG, in particular Walter Bargatzgy, its former President, and Dr. Anton Schlögel, the former Secretary General, not only played a key part in promoting its development at the International Conferences of the Red Cross which preceded the 1974–77 Diplomatic Conference on the reaffirmation and the development of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts but also closely followed the proceedings of that Conference and advised the Federal Republic's delegation to it. During the Diplomatic Conference, a working group composed of high-ranking officials from research and academic circles and government was formed by the National Society and still exists today. Specialists from the ICRC have regularly addressed the group.

In November 1977 the Belgian Government appointed an interdepartmental commission to study questions relating to the ratification of the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions. This was done even before the Protocols, which had been adopted on 8 June of that year, were open for signature. The commission's work at that point was both to determine whether there was cause for Belgium to make an interpretative declaration or even announce a reservation when ratifying the Protocols, and to draft a bill for a law approving that ratification. This required consultation not only between the various ministerial departments concerned with implementing the Protocols but also between the Belgian Government and the governments of member countries of the military alliance to which Belgium belongs. It will be noted that the two NATO countries which ratified the Protocols before Belgium had decided not to make an interpretative declaration accompanying their ratification and did not therefore have to await the result of that consultation. The only reservation formulated by Denmark related to a question of judicial procedure in its national law.

Since 20 November 1986 Belgium has been committed to comply not only with the obligations contained in the 1949 Geneva Conventions, but also with those included in the two Additional Protocols of 1977. Everybody in our country must therefore make necessary preparations for pautting into effect the obligations falling within their responsabilities.

Ten years ago, two Protocols additional to the Four Geneva Conventions were adopted in Geneva: one relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts, the other to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts. This marked a forward step in the development of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts. The most outstanding problem confronting international humanitarian lawyers in the postwar years has been the protection of civilians in circumstances of armed conflicts, particularly in a period characterized by wars of national liberation. The two Protocols scored achievements on two points. First, provisions were elaborated aiming at protecting civilians from the effects of hostilities as opposed to simply protecting civilians in occupied territories as had been the case of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. Secondly, the scope of the application of humanitarian law was greatly widened so as to bring a greater number of victims of armed conflicts under the protection of humanitarian law. This should in turn facilitate the observance and implementation of humanitarian law in conflicts. It is attempted in this paper to make some comments on the achievements of the Protocols, especially Protocol I relating to international armed conflicts.

International humanitarian law is, so to speak, a legal measure for moral enforcement which in turn bridges the gap between law and politics. It prescribes minimum duties of contending parties in case of an international or non-international armed conflict.

Twenty years after the adoption of the four Geneva Conventions in 1949, the concerned world humanitarian organisations and in particular the ICRC, felt the need to develop these humanitarian treaties. After several preliminary meetings with experts from various governments and National Societies, the ICRC came to the conclusion that it would not be appropriate to revise the 1949 Conventions, but that two additional Protocols should be drawn up. The first should deal with “international armed conflicts” and the second with “non-international armed conflicts”. Both Protocols were intended to complement and supplement the Geneva Conventions. They are the outcome of prolonged and diversified discussions among high-ranking Red Cross and Red Crescent officials and government representatives who all attempted to find new solutions for gaps in the Geneva Conventions, thereby taking into account developments on the world political scene.

On the occasion of the coming celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, the editor of the International Review of the Red Cross has very kindly invited the Mexican Red Cross to prepare an article on this event, bringing out the importance of these legal instruments for the Society, the measures it has taken to promote the dissemination of the Protocols and, perhaps more important, the work done by the National Society in favour of their ratification.

The Netherlands contributed vigorously to the drafting of the Protocols of 1977, and it was among the States that signed these instruments at the first opportunity, on 12 December 1977 in Berne. Yet, up to the present day, it has not ratified the Protocols. Why the delay?

Norway took an active part in the discussions which led to the 1977 Additional Protocols. The Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and the Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts (Geneva, 1974–1977) as well as the meetings of experts which preceded it were attended by numerous representatives from Norway.

Mr. Alexandre Hay today retires from his post as President of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The Institution would like to pay public tribute to the great moral and intellectual qualities which he has unfailingly demonstrated throughout his term of office and to express its profound gratitude for the services which he has rendered to our Movement as a whole.

The new President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga, took office on 7 May 1987. The official handover took place the previous day during the ICRC's meeting in Assembly.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has just elected two new members—Mrs. Anne Petitpierre and Mr. Paolo Bernasconi. They took up their posts on 1 May 1987.

In December 1986, the Ethiopian authorities issued new directives concerning the conduct of the ICRC relief operation in the country's northern provinces (Eritrea, Tigre, Gondar and Wollo). The directives effectively subjected ICRC activities to decisions taken by the National Red Cross Society and the Ethiopian authorities, thus calling into question the principles of independence and neutrality which must at all times and in all circumstances guide ICRC action on behalf of victims covered by its assistance and protection mandate.