Just as the tree obtains nourishment at its roots, so we come to draw strength and inspiration at the very source of a noble idea, where the Red Cross was born and where it has grown.

Delegates of 90 Societies, representing 157 million members, have flocked here from all parts of the world to celebrate and pay tribute to one hundred years of service and unlimited devotion to the welfare of mankind.

This commemoration is a suitable vantage-point from which to review the road which has been travelled in the course of a century by a great movement and also to look ahead in order to study the future, its prospects and its limitations.

After several months of relative calm, a renewal of fighting has been reported in North East Yemen, a region in which is located the field hospital established by the International Committee of the Red Cross last November.

The action which has been undertaken for more than two months by the ICRC in Cyprus, in accordance with article 3 of the Geneva Conventions relative to conflicts not of an international character, has recently achieved some appreciable success.

Mrs. Egger, delegate of the ICRC in Léopoldville, went to Kikwit in February, accompanied by the deputy head of civil operations of UNO, Mr. Gilpin, and by various other officials and by representatives of the Red Cross of the Congo, with a view to co-ordinating the United Nations' relief action in the troubled province of Kwilu. Mrs. Egger had talks with the local military and civilian authorities, and her mission was entirely successful.

Cinema — For the Centenary, the ICRC particularly desired to present to the general public a review of its activities since its foundation and of the evolution of humanitarianism throughout the ages, which gave rise to the Geneva Conventions. Its colour film entitled Red Cross on White Ground, lasting for twenty minutes, is a documentary of no mean interest on the movement inspired by Henry Dunant.

In 1960 the Government of Nepal requested the International Committee of the Red Cross to lend assistance in order to attend to the besetting problem which arose from the arrival in that country of Tibetan refugees. In response, the ICRC decided, apart from other measures, to establish an agricultural colony in a highland valley in central Nepal.

It is thanks to the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross and its Central Tracing Agency in Geneva that prisoners of war captured in the Yemen, are able to correspond with their families. The humanitarian aspect of this work is illustrated in innumerable messages of gratitude. A few brief examples are quoted below :

“Thanks to your message, we now know that our son Arafa is alive … may God be with you so that you may continue to succour your fellow-men.” The writer of this latter also wrote to his son who was a prisoner : “… we put our trust in God; the day of your return will be a day of celebration … be of good courage ….” Other letters of thanks are received by the ICRC which, merely by transmitting messages from soldiers, was able to alleviate the anguish of relations who were without news of them.