However important the improvements introduced into the First Geneva Convention by the various revisions, the essentials were already contained in the 1864 original.

On August 22, 1964, an impressive ceremony took place at the Swiss National Exhibition in Lausanne, to commemorate the centennial anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Convention of August 22, 1864 for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field. The celebration was held before the pavilion housing the stands representing the work of the ICRC and the Swiss Red Cross.

Mr. Léopold Boissier has expressed the desire to be relieved of his functions as President, which he has exercised for nine years.

The International Review has mentioned on a number of occasions the ICRC's humanitarian action in Cyprus.

Mr, Geoffrey G. Senn, delegate, and Mr. Laurent Marti, assistant-delegate, are at present in the Congo where the International Committee is faced with urgent problems such as the hardships inflicted on the population as well as on fugitives and refugees from the regions where fighting is going on. The wounded and the sick, the shortage of medical supplies, conditions of detention in various places, all have given rise to innumerable negotiations by the two delegates. In the course of his discussions both with the leaders of the anti-government factions and with the authorities, Mr. Senn insisted that the essential humanitarian principles of the Geneva Conventions should be observed.