The Central Tracing Agency is constantly faced with a double task. It must fulfil its very urgent and frequently arduous duties resulting from current events while not forgetting the many activities resulting from past conflicts. The importance of the work done by the Agency and in the various places where it has set up sub-agencies, with the help of National Societies, is well known.

During his visit to Switzerland, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany, Mr. Gustav Heinemann, went on 29 September 1972 to the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Last autumn, we described the Red Cross Broadcasting Service, mentioning the inauguration of programmes by directed beam. We remind our readers that every two months the International Committee of the Red Cross broadcasts a series of 30-minute programmes in English, French and Arabic to eight areas on the earth's surface, in Africa, Asia, Australia and the Middle East.

As usual, the International Committee has published a report, with illustrations, reviewing its activities over the past year.

The numerous and varied activities are summarized in the first three parts, while the fourth part is devoted to the ICRC's financial position and the Special Funds which it administers. Under the heading “Operations”, there is an account of the institution's activities in Africa, Latin America, Europe, North America, the Middle East and Asia, where its operations in Vietnam and on the Asian sub-continent called for widespread action.

His Holiness Pope Paul VI granted the President of the International Committee a private audience in the Vatican on 12 May 1972.

In the course of the audience, the Holy Father expressed to the President of the ICRC his appreciation of the activities which the ICRC was pursuing and which the Church intended to support to the fullest possible extent.

Mr. Naville referred to the ICRC's tasks in many parts of the world. He described the difficulties which the Red Cross was encountering in its humanitarian action but also recalled the gratifying results of ICRC activities in various countries.

During the third quarter of the year, the ICRC's Relief Section despatched the following consignments.

In its last issue, the International Review stated that 130 States were parties to the Geneva Conventions of 1949. This number has now risen to 131. The ICRC has recently been informed by the Federal Political Department in Berne that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Burundi has notified the Swiss Federal Council, in a letter which reached the latter on 27 December 1971, that Burundi considers itself a party to the four Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, under the earlier ratification by Belgium.

On 27 December 1971, Mr. Raymond Courvoisier requested the International Committee of the Red Cross to relieve him of his responsibilities as Director of Operations in order to resume his functions as Special Assistant to the President, for which he had been engaged.

The ICRC, at its meeting on 13 January 1972, agreed to this request, but asked Mr. Courvoisier to continue as Director of Operations for several months.

One of the duties assigned to the International Committee of the Red Cross by the 1949 Geneva Conventions is to provide medical care, whether in an emergency, in the context of a relief operation or in the course of routine visits to places of detention. In an emergency, the ICRC calls upon Swiss doctors who have a private practice or who work in a hospital, and upon National Red Cross Societies which supply doctors or complete teams.

As already mentioned in International Review the Conference of Government Experts on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts, last May, expressed the wish that the ICRC convene a second session with wider representation. Complying with that wish, the ICRC, on 27 September 1971, invited all governments then expressly bound by the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, to delegate experts to the second session, to be held in Geneva from 3 May to 3 June 1972.

On several occasions, the International Review has mentioned the efforts of the ICRC to make known the principles of the Geneva Conventions in schools through the medium of the school textbook “The Red Cross and My Country”, of which over one million copies have been distributed, in 16 languages, in 45 countries of Africa, Latin America and Asia. Its purpose is to instil the basic Red Cross principles into primary school pupils, and an explanatory “Teacher's Manual” accompanies the textbook.

Two events had a considerable impact on the ICRC's financial position in 1971:

(a) The message which the Swiss Federal Council addressed to the Federal Assembly, on 8 September 1971, regarding the Confederation's contributions to the International Committee of the Red Cross;

(b) Payment by the Government of the United States of America of an extraordinary contribution of 1 million dollars, on 29 June 1971.

On 26 September the International Committee, by courtesy of the League of Red Cross Societies, and as customary on the occasion of the League Executive Committee, invited to its headquarters the representatives of National Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Lion and Sun Societies who were present in Geneva. The purpose was to inform them on the ICRC's current practical and general activities. The meeting was presided over by Mr. Marcel A. Naville, President of the ICRC, and several addresses were delivered.

“The First Steps” is the title of a new 16 mm colour film which the Press and Information Division of the ICRC has just produced on the work it has been carrying out for several months in Bangladesh with the co-operation of several National Societies. Filmed last January in Dacca, Chittagong, Mirzapur, Comilla and other places, it lasts for 28 minutes, and English, French, German, Spanish and Italian versions may be ordered from the ICRC.

On 10 May 1972, the ICRC issued the following press release:

The International Committee of the Red Cross was asked to act on behalf of the passengers and members of the crew of a Boeing of the Sabena air line held hostage by a Palestinian commando at Tel Aviv airport. With the agreement of the Israeli authorities and of the Palestinian commando and solely with the purpose of coming to the aid of innocent persons threatened with death, it agreed to serve as intermediary between the two parties.