After publishing in its November issue the resolutions adopted by the XXIst International Conference of the Red Cross and an article by Mr. J. Pictet, member of the ICRC, on the significance and work of this important meeting, the International Review now quotes from speeches which were delivered by the President of the Turkish Republic and by leading officials of the Red Cross movement at the Opening Session of the Conference.

It is not the purpose of this article to develop or settle the delicate problems arising from the Geneva Protocol of 17 June 1925 for the Prohibition of the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and of bacteriological methods of warfare; it merely outlines, on the occasion of the forty-fifth anniversary of the Protocol, the role of the Red Cross in the development of law and the work now being carried out by the main international organizations.

Two aircraft were diverted by the PFLP to Zarka on 6 September 1970 and a third on 9 September. The ICRC intervened on behalf of the passengers and crews with a view to providing protection and assistance. We describe below the events up to the end of September.

In September 1968 the Henry Dunant Institute initiated its activities by a colloquium on “The modern State and the Red Cross”, and it recently published two booklets, the first of which gives the introductory addresses by four well-known persons and the second the substance of the debates which followed and which also brought out a number of facts and new ideas on a vast and important subject.

Many were the outstanding people who left their imprint on the nineteenth century, devoting their energies to the cause of human dignity. One such person was Florence Nightingale, born in Florence on 12 May 1820, died in London on 13 August 1910.

This year, therefore, the 150th anniversary of her birth is being celebrated. We are particularly grateful to the Chairman of the Standing Commission of the International Red Cross for agreeing to speak in this issue for the Red Cross which has always considered the “Lady with a Lamp’ an inspiration. Henry Dunant himself profoundly admired her.

… Why and how did the International Committee of the Red Cross commit itself? The reasons for its commitment were clearly expressed by the Delegate-General of the ICRC for Africa, even before the break was complete between the government of Nigeria and the leaders of the Eastern province. Concluding a report giving; an account, at the end of 1966, of the disturbances by which Nigeria had been torn during the year, Mr. Georges Hoffmann—under the title “Disaster relief in case of man-made disaster”—defined the task he wanted the ICRC to undertake: “A holocaust is taking place; there are victims, and care must be given to those who are not dead. As in the case of natural disasters, there must be teams of surgeons, supplies of surgical equipment, medical supplies, foodstuffs and blankets, and there must be means of transport, particularly ambulances and vans”. In short, it was necessary to set up in Geneva, in agreement with the League of Red Cross Societies, an organization which would make it possible to confront those “man-made disasters” similar to the one which the League had already created in Nigeria to deal with natural disasters.

Whilst from the outset the Red Cross was founded essentially to help the victims of conflicts between States, and the various Geneva Conventions since 1863 were relevant to conflicts of that kind, it must be recognized that internal conflicts have given rise to hundreds of thousands of victims who, all too often, could not effectively be helped due to legal or political barriers to Red Cross action.

The Red Cross could not be true to its mission and at the same time indifferent to the plight of victims of such conflicts, the horror and ferocity of which frequently exceeded those of the usual international wars.

It is known that the XXIst International Conference of the Red Cross voted a resolution (No. XVII) relative to the protection of the victims of non-international armed conflicts and by which it “asks the ICRC to devote special attention to this problem within the framework of the more general studies it has started to develop humanitarian law”. However, before the meeting at Istanbul, the author of the following article had already written a study on the subject entitled “Der Bürgerkrieg”, which is of topical interest and of which we now give extracts at some length in our own translation (Ed.).

The author of the following important article is president of the Section sociale du Conseil d'Etat français. When, in 1968, he was awarded the René Sand prize at the fourteenth International Conference of the International Council on Social Welfare he delivered a speech on “Human Rights, Social Work and Social Policy”.

The Red Cross was represented not only because many of the delegates were members of our movement but also because the ceremony recalled the memory of Rene Sand, who had been a leading light of the Belgian Red Cross. International Review has published several of his writings, one of which he concluded with the following words revealing the active idealism which was typical of him: “The human instinct, which sometimes goes astray but is more often led astray, tends towards goodwill and peace, not towards war”.

We are grateful to the René Sand prize-winner for having also contributed to our publication.

The Red Cross was born over a hundred years ago on the field of battle. Aid to the wounded was the first mission it undertook. From the outset it thus restricted the scope of its ambition. By its desire to achieve that objective before anything else, the International Committee of the Red Cross acted with wisdom. So long as its work had not attained a certain degree of importance, so long as it was not universally recognized, the Committee decided its mission should be kept within certain limits and not get out of hand. The International Committee certainly had no desire thereby to justify war as a necessary evil. Its aim was essentially to combat war by limiting the distress it caused, for although its supreme objective was to ensure peace in the world, the Red Cross could not itself, with the forces at its command, have any illusions that it could stem the tide of war. It therefore endeavoured first and foremost to attenuate its harmful effects. As Louis Appia, one of the Red Cross founders, said, “Let us declare aloud our keen regret, our grief, at not being able to do more; let us protest against the great collective iniquity known as war, which is but one of the forms of evil in the world”.

1870–1871: the Franco-Prussian war! A terrible event which shook all Europe; the slaughter of battle, blood, suffering, hundreds of thousands of prisoners, privation both for civilian populations and the military forces—horrors which, nevertheless, gave rise to an entirely new phenomenon of capital importance in the history of humanity. It was a war which marked the beginning of the great universal movement of Red Cross solidarity.

In its circular No. 478 of 15 April 1970, the International Committee of the Red Cross had the honour to inform you of its work since the XXIst International Conference of the Red Cross with a view to the reaffirmation and development of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts, consistent with several resolutions adopted by that conference.

It is foolish for anyone to seek to be wise in isolation.

In a world which is said to be given over increasingly to violence, ambition and strife—and to all that flows therefrom—we ask ourselves “What is the Red Cross?”

Should we visualize the Geneva Conventions as some verdant island-sanctuary that is preserved in the way that natural riches or cultural assets are preserved? One is put in mind of show-cases in which precious curios are displayed, with a “Do not touch” sign.

The Mission of the Delegate General for the Middle East.— Mr. André Rochat, Delegate General of the ICRC for the Middle East, travelled to Israel on 15 April for a one-month stay.

On his arrival in Tel-Aviv, the Delegate General, accompanied by Mr. F. Payot, in charge in Geneva of the Middle East theatre of operations, was welcomed by an official delegation including members of the Israeli Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Defence. Mr. Rochat, Mr. Payot and Mr. Moreillon, Head of the ICRC delegation in Israel, were then received by Mr. Zalman Shazar, the Head of State.

Representing the International Committee of the Red Cross on this occasion gives me a welcome opportunity to thank the International Committee of Military Medicine and Pharmacy (ICMMP) for its constant help and support and at the same time to thank the many medical officers who offered their services to us for various medical missions in so many countries. The ICRC has always need of doctors and qualified medical personnel and we hope that these invaluable and essential volunteers will continue to come forward in sufficient numbers for the accomplishment of manifold, interesting, and satisfying humanitarian assignments.

Visits to prisoners of war.—From 24 to 30 August, ICRC delegates were granted authorization to see seven Israeli prisoners of war who had not yet been visited. Among them were two majors, three captains, one lieutenant and a sergeant, captured by Egyptian Armed Forces between 30 June and 18 July. Two of them had been wounded and were in a Cairo military hospital. The delegates of the ICRC also visited once again the five other Israeli prisoners of war whom they have been seeing regularly for several months.

In our October and November issues we published detailed articles on the relief work undertaken by the Red Cross in Jordan. We stated that a new phase, begun on 1 November, would last for several weeks, and we underlined the scope and effectiveness of the action.