By adopting the theme “Encounter between two worlds” for the celebration marking the 500th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the Americas, the international community was seeking to highlight what the Old World and the New World have in common and what can bring the peoples on either side of the Atlantic closer together. Such concern is understandable in a community engaged in a ceaseless quest for a new world order based on dialogue and harmony.

Pain and suffering are as old as mankind, but so are compassion and clemency. In whatever mythology, the god of war is not always cruel, vengeful and ferocious. There have always been good Samaritans — even when the parable was first told it was spoken in the past tense. The history of humanitarianism runs parallel to that of mankind. Cruelty and kindness are opposites but inseparable.

The ethical and legal problems raised by war loom large in the thinking of the theologians and jurists of Spain's Golden Age. In their reflections and pronouncements on these problems, however, they were not starting from nothing. They had before them a large body of teachings, mostly dating from the Middle Ages. An accurate assessment of their role in this field must therefore begin by recalling those mediaeval teachings on war. We shall thus start with an outline of those teachings, before moving on to consider how they were assimilated and modified by the Spanish authors of the sixteenth century.

Over the years the Americas have made significant contributions to the development of international humanitarian law. These include three nineteenth-century texts which constitute the earliest modern foundations of the law of armed conflict. The first is a treaty, signed on 26 November 1820 by the liberator Simón Bolívar and the peacemaker Pablo Morillo, which applied the rules of international conflict to a civil war. The second is a Spanish-American work entitled Principios de Derecho de Genres (Principles of the Law of Nations), which was published in 1832 by Andrés Bello. This work dealt systematically with the various aspects and consequences of war. The third is a legal instrument, signed on 24 April 1863 by United States President Abraham Lincoln, which codified the first body of law on internal conflict under the heading “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field” (General Orders No. 100). This instrument, known as the Lieber Code, was adopted as the new code of conduct for the armies of the Union during the American Civil War.

The spirit of discovery, which from 1492 led to the conquest of the territories beyond the ocean, lasted practically throughout the sixteenth century. However, those territories were not simply hitherto unknown lands waiting to be discovered and occupied. From the outset it was obvious that they were inhabited. The scenery was accompanied by the presence of man even on the islands of the first landfall.

20 July 1500 Royal decree addressed to the King's retainer Pedro de Torres, ordering the release and repatriation of Indians brought to Spain from Hispaniola. The historian Altamira considered this document as the “first acknowledgement of the respect due to the dignity and freedom of all men, however ignorant and primitive they may be”.

The discovery of America, first seen as an encounter, soon degenerated into a clash between two worlds. It is said that the invasion of the Americas by Europeans started in 1492. The conquering Spaniards overran the recently discovered lands by force of arquebus and disease, their most effective allies being the bacteria and viruses they carried with them.

Since June 1991 the ICRC has, in accordance with its mandate, been running large-scale and diverse programmes for the victims of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. Its activities focus on providing protection for prisoners and for civilians affected by the fighting, tracing missing persons and arranging for the exchange of news between the members of separated families, distributing food and other aid to displaced people and vulnerable groups, providing medical and surgical assistance to the warwounded; and of course spreading knowledge of international humanitarian law, especially among armed forces of all parties to the conflict.

On 13 August, the International Committee of the Red Cross appealed to the belligerents — Serbs, Croats and Muslims alike — urgently calling on them to respect international humanitarian law. The text of the appeal is given below.

“Following the visits its delegates have conducted during the last few days to places of detention in Bosnia-Herzegovina, it is evident to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) that innocent civilians are being arrested and subjected to inhumane treatment. Moreover, the detention of such persons is part of a policy of forced population transfers carried out on a massive scale and marked by the systematic use of brutality. Among the long list of methods used are harassment, murder, confiscation of property, deportation and the taking of hostages — which reduces individuals to the level of bargaining counters — all in violation of international humanitarian law.

In July and August 1992 ICRC President Cornelio Sommaruga went on several missions as part of the intense diplomatic activity that developed with regard to the conflict in the former Yugoslavia. (See also “The ICRC and the conflict in the former Yugoslavia”, pp. 488–491.) In addition, he paid an official visit to Poland and spoke at the inaugural session of training courses at two institutions. On both occasions his address served to convey the ICRC's humanitarian message.