Max Huber was born on 28 December 1874, barely fifteen years after Solferino and Henry Dunant's action in the Chiesa Maggiore at Castiglione, and only ten years after the first Geneva Convention. Thus he grew up with the Red Cross, with which he was to become intimately associated. At the beginning of our century, he wrote about the role and duties of the Red Cross and the Geneva Committee, and also spoke about them in his lectures on international law at Zurich University. He represented Switzerland at various international conferences, including the 1907 Hague Conference; acted as legal expert to the Federal Government; was a member and later president of the Permanent Court of International Justice. In 1923 he was elected a member, in 1925 Vice-President and in 1928 President of the ICRC, to which he tirelessly devoted himself until 1944. When his successor, Carl J. Burckhardt, took leave of absence, he agreed to resume the presidential duties for a time. In token of gratitude, the ICRC made him honorary president for life.

The ICRC recently considered the time had come for a report to be published on its work in Cyprus, covering the period from July to October 1974. This report was issued in the form of an illustrated booklet and contained a foreword by Mr. R. Gallopin, President of the Executive Council:

“During the conflict in Cyprus, the 1949 Geneva Conventions once again contributed to the protection of civilian and military victims. Once again, the International Committee of the Red Cross, to which the Powers assigned the role of neutral intermediary when they signed those Conventions, had to intervene on both sides. The operations described in the following pages involved most of the functions which, in a crisis which is both internal and international, the ICRC may be called upon to fulfil in order to ensure the provision of at least the essentials of life.

From 4 to 9 November 1974, a group of army officers attended at ICRC headquarters a study course on the Geneva Conventions and on the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The purpose of the course was to train officers with the object of entrusting them later on with the task of disseminating knowledge of the Geneva Conventions among members of the armed forces in their own country.

A report edited by the ICRC is to be issued very shortly. It concerns the work of the Conference of Government Experts on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons, which was held at Lucerne in September and October 1974, and will be published in English, French and Spanish.

In addition, a folder on the ICRC, its principles, organization and activities, printed in English, French and German, has just been issued.