You have come here from all corners of the globe, united in the Red Cross spirit.

This spirit goes back a long way in history. It does not belong to any particular place, period, established faith or philosophy. It operates at all great moments of thought and everywhere. Then, one day a man was to give it its universal quality and effectiveness. Substance was to be given to this aspiration by exalting and binding humanity's still latent forces. That man was Henry Dunant, whose book A memory of Solferino will always remain as a monument of human grandeur.

The very year in which it has just celebrated its centenary, the International Committee of the Red Cross is carrying out a largescale relief action in circumstances which, in a way, recall the experience of Henry Dunant, its illustrious promoter, a hundred years ago on the battlefield of Solferino. The victims today are in the mountains of the Yemen, but like those of the Lombardy plain a century ago, these wounded and sick troops are abandoned to their suffering. In this isolated corner of the Middle East, in an Arabia which can no longer be called a happy land, these unfortunates are forgotten.

At the beginning of this year the ICRC had accepted a mission at the request of the Algerian and French Governments in joint agreement. This mainly involved the tracing of persons having disappeared in Algeria since the cease-fire on March 19, 1962, and in respect of whom the International Committee had received individual enquiries covering some 1,200 cases.

The International Committee took a sincere part in the tragic event which was mourned on November 22, 1963 by the people of the United States and by the American Red Cross. Mr. John F. Kennedy was not only President of the United States, he was also Honorary President of the National Society to which a short time ago, on the occasion of the Centenary of the Red Cross, he addressed a message which was published in the International Review. One will also recall the stirring message full of confidence which he sent this September to the Centenary Congress of the International Red Cross in Geneva.

This year, which marks the Centenary of the Red Cross, the Central Tracing Agency is visited by larger numbers than ever before of people wishing to inform themselves on its activities. Whether it is a question of members of National Societies, groups of university students or of tourists passing through, they are all struck by the sight of millions of index cards and the voluminous archives which still remain an invaluable working instrument for the Central Agency. Indeed the necessary information is extracted daily from these sources for establishing the identity of deceased military personnel, the handing over of attestations of captivity and tracing civilians separated by war etc.