At the time when the Centenary of the Red Cross is about to be celebrated, it would be fitting to remember the rôle so many members and officers of the International Committee of the Red Cross have played in the drafting and the proclamation of the Rights of the Child. This declaration called the Declaration of Geneva was proclaimed forty years ago by the Council of the “Save the Children International Union” (SCIU). It was on May 17, 1923, that the final draft in five brief clauses was adopted. It is to be recalled that at that time the ICRC and the SCIU worked in close co-operation. Indeed, it was Dr. Frédéric Ferrière's report (then Vice-President of the ICRC) on the disastrous situation in which children lived in Vienna which incited Eglantyne Jebb to come to Geneva for the first time.

It is unprofitable to indulge in much speculation concerning Lieber's sources for the Code. Since he had been a student of the law of war for at least a quarter of a century before the Instructions were promulgated, his primary source was Lieber reinforced with the notes and files that he had painstakingly built up during his teaching career. Under such circumstances, one can only mention his likes and dislikes. Chief among the latter were both Lawrence's Wheaton and “old” Vattel, whom he characterized as “Father Namby-Pamby”. Halleck's International Law was naturally looked upon with great favor, the more so because Halleck had drawn on Lieber's Political Ethics. Lieber probably relied heavily on Heffter's Das Europäische Völkerrecht der Gegenwart. He also consulted Grotius, Bynkershoek, and Pufendorff among the classical writers. In his library or mentioned in his works are books by a host of names, many of them long since forgotten : Zachariae, Trendlenburg, von Martens, Phillimore, Mackintosh, Whewell, Foelix, von Mohl, Bluntschli (a close friend of Lieber), Bernard, Kennedy, Klüber, Pinheiro-Ferreira, Kent, and Theodore Dwight Woolsey.

In its Circular No. 437 of August 23, 1962, the International Committee of the Red Cross had the honour to invite the Central Committees of National Societies to send in the names of nurses and voluntary aids whom they judged qualified to receive the Florence Nightingale Medal. This invitation, which quoted Article I of the Regulations, was accompanied by questionnaires bearing various headings for the candidatures.

Some ten National Societies have responded positively to the ICRC appeal on behalf of the victims of the conflict in the Yemen. The Red Lion and Sun Society of Iran and the Swiss Red Cross have each offered a medical team. Other National Societies have offered contributions in cash or in kind and, in particular, considerable quantities of medicaments.

Accompanied by Mr. H. G. Beckh, delegate, Mr. Léopold Boissier visited the German Red Cross in the German Democratic Republic from March 24 to 30, 1963.

He received a warm and friendly reception in Dresden from the President of the National Society, Dr. Werner Ludwig, members of the executive committee and his colleagues, and was able to appreciate that Society's intense activity in the most varied fields. He attended an exercise carried out by young girl first-aiders attached to the hospital of Arnsdorf.