As announced, the second session of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts was held from 3 February to 18 April 1975 at the International Conference Centre, Geneva. The Conference, which was convened by Switzerland as Depositary State of the Geneva Conventions, was presided over with distinction by Mr. Pierre Graber, President of the Confederation. It was attended by representatives of 121 countries. The time has now come to report on its proceedings which are so important to the Red Cross and to mankind as a whole.

A prison visitor… a spokesman for enemy internees in a nation at war… a doctor or surgeon at the bedside of wounded or sick victims of hostilities… a registrar of records to identify detainees, search for the missing, bring families together again… a distributor of food and blankets… a transport manager: these are only some of the jobs of an ICRC delegate. He must be a man of goodwill who may be considered to be a help to the detaining authorities in the solution of the delicate problems arising from the detention of prisoners of war. The delegate knows that his work will not be easy. His activities take place, typically, in a disorganized and war-torn country. He will be concerned with the enemies of that country, prisoners and internees who will very often be the object of hatred. He will speak in the name of what is right and in the name of humanity, at the very moment when passions are at their height and when such language has the least chance of being heard.

We must be grateful to the organizers of this conference for choosing as its theme one of the major concerns of everyone who is devoted to the Red Cross—work on behalf of peace. Indeed, we should never forget that the fundamental reason for the existence of the Red Cross is to work for peace. It is also useful to recall what the Red Cross means by that glorious word: peace.

That is what Henry Dunant wrote in his notebooks, most of which were never published, and we are pleased to publish a study shedding light on Dunant's role as promoter of protection for prisoners of war.

In Belgium's capital, ceremonies were recently held to mark the centenary of the Brussels Declaration. At the formal commemorative sitting, Mr. J. Pictet, Vice-President of the ICRC, drew attention to the parallel development of the law of Geneva and the law of The Hague, to which the Brussels Declaration gave a decisive impetus. The study is therefore well-timed. As usual, the, views expressed are those of the authors alone. It may be added that the original is in French and that the English version is a translation by the ICRC.

After two and a half months of work, the second session of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts closed on 18 April 1975.

About 600 delegates from 121 countries took part. Nearly 500 meetings were held, including plenary sessions, meetings of committees, sub-committees, drafting committees, working parties, etc. Of the 140 articles constituting the two draft Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, about half were adopted by the main Committees.

The concept that man must be protected against the ills of war is not a recent one. It may be likened to a clear spring gushing out from time immemorial, increasing gradually in volume as it surges forth until its swollen waters are borne down upon us today. The sum of efforts that idea has aroused has grown, parallel to the rise of civilization with which it is indissolubly linked.

As announced in our February issue, the second session of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts opened at the International Conference Centre, Geneva, on 3 February 1975. The Conference, which is chaired by Mr. Pierre Graber, President of the Swiss Confederation, is merely the continuance of the first session, held in Geneva from 20 February to 29 March 1974, which was also chaired by Mr. Graber. At the opening of the twenty-third plenary meeting, after greeting the delegates, the Chairman said that the task awaiting the Conference was arduous indeed. The hopes which the international community had placed in the Conference's work must not be disappointed, he said, and he emphasized the unanimous desire of the Conference Bureau for decisive progress.

A half century has gone by since 1927. During that time, the sovereign Order of Malta has sought to adapt itself to the evolution of international life and international law. Its experience during the First World War, in which it brought aid to the wounded, the sick, the prisoners and the refugees with its medical units, ambulances, trains, aircraft and ships, enabled it to make its working methods responsive to emerging needs. In addition, the mid-century dialogue between the Order and the Catholic Church led to the acceptance of a formula put forward by the Cardinals' Commission, whereby the Holy See recognized the functional sovereignty of the Order in carrying out its international humanitarian activities. Finally, the increasing number of its members, particularly those recruited from amongst those distinguished personalities who combine a spiritual life with an intimate association with governmental circles, provides the order with an invaluable human reserve of men of thought and action who are available in case of need.

In earlier times, the President of the ICRC may sometimes have been taxed with aloofness, unapproachability and unawareness of the practical action of National Societies. I think this is no longer the case. My predecessors and I myself have been cordially invited to visit National Red Cross Societies, and we in turn have had the pleasure of receiving their representatives in Geneva.

In its issue of July 1975, the International Review reprinted the substance of a circular letter sent to all governments inviting them to participate in the second session of the Conference of Government Experts on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons at Lugano, 28 January to 26 February 1976.

The letter gave the programme of the Conference, which will deal with incendiary weapons, small-calibre projectiles, delayed-action and treacherous weapons, blast and fragmentation weapons and other new weapons, continuing the work on conventional weapons which might cause unnecessary suffering or have indiscriminate effects.

This year marks the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the Geneva Protocol of June 17, 1925 for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gases and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare. This Protocol—which has been referred to in several issues of International Review—is generally considered to be the expression of the revulsion with which public opinion has at all times reacted towards poison. This general view has led a large number of governments and publicists to draw the conclusion that the norms contained in the 1925 Geneva Protocol represent a codification of customary law.

Professor Etienne, member of the ICRC, was in Angola from 30 August to 13 September 1975. He was accompanied by Mr. F. Schmidt, delegate general for Africa and head of the ICRC Relief Division.

On 20 February 1974, the Diplomatic Conference convened by the Swiss Government opened in Geneva. It was attended by the plenipotentiaries of 118 States parties to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and members of the United Nations, and by representatives of numerous international, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations. The Conference examined the two draft Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions which the ICRC had prepared with the assistance of experts from countries all over the world, for the purpose of supplementing international humanitarian law in view of the development of conflicts. Since armed conflicts, unhappily, break out from time to time and the forms and techniques of warfare develop, it has become necessary to adapt the Geneva Conventions to present-day circumstances.

The ICRC continued its work in Angola, protecting and helping the civilian and military victims of the conflict.

In the second half of September, the thirty ICRC doctors and delegates visited more than a thousand followers of all parties to the conflict who were either prisoners of the three liberation movements (MPLA, UNITA, FNLA) or under the protection of the Portuguese armed forces. The delegates spoke without witnesses to prisoners of their choice, delivered family messages and provided relief supplies.

Last November we reproduced a chapter of a book written by Jacques Moreillon, an ICRC delegate-general, and published by the Henry Dunant Institute. We now quote another chapter of the same book. As usual, the views expressed are those of the author alone. (Ed.)

“Ways and means of remedying the inadequacy of the medical services of armies in the field” was the study undertaken by an international conference convened at Geneva, in October 1863, by a committee of five citizens of Geneva. That committee was later to become the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The idea to create a Red Cross Institute goes back quite a number of years. Very soon after the Second World War, suggestions were made to found in Geneva a place where people could meet and exchange views on the development of the spiritual heritage of the Red Cross.

In November 1974, the International Committee of the Red Cross sent governments a provisional mimeographed edition of the report on the work of the Conference of Government Experts on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons (Lucerne, 24 September-18 October 1974). This report was also sent to the United Nations Secretary-General, who transmitted it to the First Committee of the General Assembly, whose agenda contained the item: “Napalm and other incendiary weapons”. The printed edition was issued in January 1975, in English, French and Spanish, and was consulted by the Ad Hoc Committee on Weapons at the second session of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts (Geneva, 3 February-18 April 1975).

An international symposium on Medical Care and Protection of Prisoners and Detainees was organized by the Ciba Foundation, in London, from 27 to 30 November 1972. The papers read at the symposium and the discussions which followed related mainly to minimum rules governing the treatment of all detainees, provisions made by various governments regarding hygiene, care, food, etc., and the role of the doctor in that domain. The texts were compiled and assembled in a volume published some time ago.

The book contains a study essentially based on the experiences of ICRC delegates which will undoubtedly be of particular interest to readers. It was written by the late Pierre Boissier, and we wish to thank the Ciba Foundation for allowing us to reproduce it. (Ed.)