In Eastern Europe, 1956 was above all the year that marked the beginning of destalinization, following the submission to the 20th Congress of the Soviet Communist Party (17–24 February) of Nikita Khrushchev's famous report on Stalin's crimes.

Khrushchev's revelations were soon to have repercussions, notably in Poland where thousands of political prisoners were released as early as April of the same year. Among them was Wladyslaw Gomulka, former Secretary-General of the Polish Communist Party from 1943 to 1948, who had been dismissed in 1948 for “right-wing and nationalist deviation” and jailed in 1951.

For or against food aid? When looking at the pictures of famine and malnutrition that abound on the small screen, this question may seem at best incongruous and at worst inadmissible. And yet it should be taken at its face value—provocative and stimulating, intended not to discourage but rather to sharpen our minds, for behind this simplistic question lie some real political stakes, some genuine issues of humanitarian ethics and some fascinating methodological problems. Our task here should perhaps be to single out the “operational” angles and then to reply to the questions “When”, “Why” and “How” food aid should be provided, and finally to the question “How can we do without it?”. As the global balance between supply (food resources) and demand (the needs) breaks down, access to these resources becomes more and more difficult for an increasingly large sector of the population, while at the same time the enormous stocks of the 1980s have melted away. Food aid has therefore become a rare commodity, to be used judiciously and in the most appropriate manner.

The terms “neutral” and “humanitarian” crop up frequently in the vocabulary of international relations, thus demonstrating the credence placed in the attributes of neutrality and everything to which the word “humanitarian” can apply.

In today's armed conflicts and complex emergencies more civilians suffer than combatants. After the Cold War one could identify a zone of turmoil in which civilian suffering was acute. But one could also identify a zone of stability from which operated a complicated system of humanitarian assistance designed to respond to civilian suffering. Media coverage emphasized the suffering, but never before in world history had such a kaleidoscope of humanitarian actors tried to provide emergency relief during armed conflicts and complex emergencies. Inevitably calls were heard for better organization and coordination, and in 1991–92 the United Nations created a Department of Humanitarian Affairs (DHA).

On 13 October 1995, the first Review Conference of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW) adopted during its first session in Vienna a new fourth Protocol entitled “Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons”. The 1980 Convention comprises a framework Convention (containing technical provisions such as applicability, entry into force and amendment) and annexed Protocols containing the substantive rules relating to certain weapons. Although many weapons had been discussed during the preparatory stages of this Convention, only three Protocols were adopted in 1980. However, the structure chosen enabled new Protocols to be added in order to accommodate future weapons which needed t o be prohibited or otherwise regulated.

The 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent was held in Geneva from 3 to 7 December 1995. It was organized jointly, for the first time, by the ICRC and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies and brought together approximately 1,200 delegates representing 143 States party to the Geneva Conventions, 166 National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, the ICRC, and the Federation, as well as 68 governmental and non-governmental organizations and emergent National Societies attending as observers.

“The army is ready; not a gaiter button is lacking”, declared Marshal Leboeuf, Napoleon III's Minister of War, when the funds needed for mobilization were being voted.

In July 1621 several regiments of the Swedish army were assembled at Årsta Meadow south of Stockholm awaiting transport by ship to the Baltic, where they were to fight the Russian forces which had invaded the provinces in early summer. It was on this occasion that they heard for the first time the new Articles of War read to them by chancellor Axel Oxenstierna. The text had been drafted by King Gustavus himself and revised by Oxenstierna the preceding spring, and the final decree had been signed by the King at camp on 15 July.

Following an impressive multivision slide show on humanitarian action entitled "The Way Things Are", Botho Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein, as Chairman of the Standing Commission of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, welcomed the participants. He then appealed to governments to facilitate the work of the Movement and to continue supporting its efforts to strengthen humanitarian aid and social assistance. He ended by urging the participants to unite in honouring the Movement's commitment to counteract violence and oppression and to safeguard respect for human life, health and dignity.

In the history of humankind, no matter how far back we look into the past, peaceful relations between people and nations have always been the ideal, and yet this history abounds in wars and bloodshed. The documentary evidence, oral tradition and the mute testimony of archaeological sites tell an incontrovertible tale of man's cruelty and violence against his fellow man. Nevertheless, manifestations of compassion, mercy and mutual aid have a no less ancient record. Peace and war, goodneighbourly attitudes and aggression, brutality and humanity exist side by side in the contemporary world as well.

With the long-heralded advent of the information age, the upheaval caused by the proliferation of visual technologies in a society dominated by the media is forcing the entire spectrum of what used to be called “the press” to redefine itself, to reassess its professional code of ethics and to devise new working methods. Only by examining the role played by images in the global flow of information—especially their relationship to the written word—can we fully grasp what is at stake. Our world view is increasingly shaped by the images, televised or in print, to which the public is constantly exposed. Indeed, so great is their power that one can say, along with many analysts, that they are beginning to replace reality: only what has been authenticated, certified and validated by being photographed or filmed and shown on television really exists. As these images bombard us from all sides, everything that has not been seen captured on film is reduced to oblivion. What makes the power of images so irresistible?

Images impart values. They attract or repel. They appeal to our imagination, play on our feelings and rouse us from our complacency: in other words, images stir our conscience because they purport to show us, in the raw, the unadorned, indisputable reality of things as they are. That is television's great ambition, that is its purpose; and that is what prompted Régis Debray to say that “television is fond of humanitarian stories since they are both human interest stories and moral tales”. Over the years, images of humanitarian action have invaded the media and fired people's imagination.

As soon as the Red Cross was founded, the question of its relationship with war was raised. Indeed, it could be argued that placing the protection of war victims on an institutional basis and creating a reserved area off-limits to violence was tantamount to an official recognition of warfare or a tacit acceptance of the use of force. Some even wondered whether the attempt to regulate warfare without trying to eliminate it was not serving the purposes of the military and political leaders responsible for waging war, who would be able to invoke the notion of “clean warfare” to justify themselves in the eyes of public opinion and before history.

In his opening remarks, Botho Prince of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Hohenstein urged the representatives of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and States attending the International Conference, and the members of governmental and non-governmental organizations participating as observers, to give priority to discussing the interests of the victims of conflicts and natural disasters.

In July 1995 the ICRC's Executive Board asked the Archives Division and the Directorate for International Law and Policy to draw up new rules governing access to ICRC archives. On 17 January 1996 the ICRC Assembly adopted the text submitted by them and instructed the Archives Division to organize a consultation system for the institution's public archives.