The oldest of the international conventions concerning the prohibition of the employment of certain weapons, that is to say deriving from that part of the law of war, sometimes known as the “law of The Hague”, to distinguish it from the “law of Geneva”, will be a hundred years old this month: the Declaration of St. Petersburg of November 29—December 11, 1868.

Red Cross interest in the promotion of peace is well known. It is reflected once again in one of the resolutions adopted by the XX International Conference of the Red Cross in Vienna and in the Round Table meeting which took place in The Hague last year, at which a number of notabilities in the Red Cross movement expressed their views on the contribution which the Red Cross could make to peace and international understanding.

1968 has been chosen International Year for Human Rights and the UN General Assembly has invited states and institutions to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Red Cross too is associated in this commemoration by publishing in the International Review the following article on Red Cross and Human Rights; this will be followed in other issues with contributions on the same theme.

Defining the spirit of the Red Cross, Max Huber once said that “it is to accept to sacrifice oneself to help others”. He added that, in order to preserve the essence of this spirit, “there must be spontaneous action … there is a kind of silent heroism in the work carried out daily for the sick”.

Who can show this better than nurses who devote all their energies to others? It is this disinterested service in a world which is more often than not obsessed by material success, which is the finest of examples given due recognition by the awarding of the Florence Nightingale Medal.

International Review commemorated the twentieth anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights by publishing various articles concerning the Red Cross and the rights of man. It might also be appropriate to recall here that another text, inspired by the same ideal as the Universal Declaration, was proclaimed by the international community: the “Declaration on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women” adopted unanimously on November 7, 1967 by the U.N. General Assembly.

The International Congress of French-speaking doctors took place in Montreal in September 1967. The theme of the meeting was Médecine des Hommes and the International Committee for the Neutrality of Medicine submitted several papers on problems closely affecting the Red Cross and the dissemination of humanitarian conventions such as that by Professor Paul de la Pradelle entitled Responsabilité et sécurité collectives dans l'application des Conventions de Genève.

Resolution XXVIII is no doubt one of the most important of those adopted by the XXth International Conference of the Red Cross. It deals with the protection of civilian populations against the dangers of indiscriminate warfare.

Considering that, in application of universally recognized principles of human rights for all sorts and conditions of men, a body of minimum rules for the treatment of detained delinquents has been drawn up on the basis of resolutions and recommendations adopted by the Congress of the United Nations, which met for that purpose in Geneva from August 22 to September 3, 1955;

There is no doubt or dilemma, today, that peace is one of the basic aims of the Red Cross. Efforts and strivings to reach this aim are obvious from numerous resolutions of the International conferences and other bodies of the International Red Cross. Also, peace has been stressed as an aim of the Red Cross action within the framework of the first principle of the Red Cross and is clearly connected with that principle.

Each month the International Review has been publishing news of ICRC relief work in Nigeria and Biafra which began in July 1967 with consignments of medical supplies and delegates to each side. This action has ceaselessly developed as the number of victims increased and famine took its toll. We give below a summary of the position as at the end of July 1968.

In our April 1968 issue we published an article by Leopold Boissier, former President of the ICRC, which had appeared in the Journal de Genève. Later the same journal contained another article by the same writer, on a subject which is receiving the full attention of the Red Cross. We therefore consider it worthwhile reproducing here some of its main passages (Ed.).

The ICRC has issued a detailed report on the Round Table which it organized on 28th August 1967 at The Hague on the subject: The Red Cross as a Factor in World Peace.

It is divided into two parts. The first briefly outlines the events leading up to the meeting, and the second, which is far longer and more important, is an analytical account dealing with the ideas expressed and discussions at the meeting.

We quote below the text of an appeal launched by the ICRC, above the signature of its President, Mr. S. A. Gonard, to the Nigerian and Biafran representatives to the Peace Conference which started in Kampala on May 23, 1968.

Medical relief. — Through its delegations and the mobile surgical teams made available by various National Red Cross Societies and other charitable institutions, the International Committee of the Red Cross is continuing its relief action for the benefit of victims of the conflict.

We are pleased to give below the report submitted by the Countess of Limerick, Chairman of the Standing Commission of the International Red Cross, to the Council of Delegates at The Hague on September 6, 1967.

From the beginning of its existence the Red Cross has had two objectives: the setting up of relief societies and the promotion of rules in law justifying and facilitating relief action. At the present time it has two types of activity: relief in the field and the improvement of humanitarian law. It is this second activity, the Red Cross contribution to humanitarian law, which we shall consider here.

On May 1, 1967, the International Committee of the Red Cross issued a circular (No. 466) inviting National Societies to lodge, by November 1, 1967, at the latest, their applications for allocations from the twelfth distribution of Augusta Fund revenue.

In his article quoted last month, L. C. Green raises a question which is of paramount importance in the context of the present study, namely whether members of resistance movements have to observe the law of war and more specifically Articles 1 and 2 of the Hague Regulations in their struggle against the aggressor. In other words: does the fact that partisans fight to defend their country legitimate their status? The question is so important that it merits further discussion.

The ICRC delegate in Hong Kong was given permission in April and May to visit two prisons which held persons convicted or interned as a result of the events in 1967. He was able to talk without witnesses with detainees of his own choosing. He subsequently made known his observations and recommendations to the authorities concerned.

We have the honour to inform you that the International Committee of the Red Cross on 8th August 1968 officially recognized the Guyana Red Cross Society.