In its issue of October 1970, the International Review stated that 128 States were parties to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. This number has now risen to 129. The ICRC has recently been informed by the Federal Political Department in Berne that the Swiss authorities received, on 9 August 1971, a letter from the Fijian Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs stating that Fiji considered itself bound to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, under the earlier ratification by the United Kingdom.