To make the Red Cross principles more widely known throughout the world, the ICRC has produced a textbook entitled The Red Cross and My Country, which has already been issued in many languages. It is meant for schoolchildren and is now supplemented by the Teacher's Manual. We might add that the ICRC has provided the illustrations and, in a number of cases, itself attended to publication.

In Manila a seminar organized by the Philippine National Red Cross in co-operation with the League of Red Cross Societies was held from 7 to 16 May 1972. The League was represented by Mr. R. M. Pierpont, Under Secretary-General and Head of Relief Section; Mr. K. J. Seevaratnam, Regional Officer for Asia; and Mr. Sven Lampell. Delegates from the National Societies of the following countries took part: Australia, Ceylon, Great Britain, Indonesia, Japan, the Khmer Republic, the Republic of Korea, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and the United States. One of the highlights of this Institute was the participation for the first time in a Red Cross regional meeting of Governmental and non-Governmental Agencies.

During 1971 the International Committee of the Red Cross continued, in Israel, the Occupied Territories and the Arab countries, its activities relating to the 1949 Geneva Conventions. This work consisted mainly in visiting military and civilian prisoners, transmitting family messages, organizing the regrouping of broken families and tracing missing persons.

For the National Society, Red Cross Day has become the occasion of a general assembly at which its members, friends and government representatives gather. This happened again this year, and Dr. Victor Laroche, President of the Haiti Red Cross, outlined the institution's activities during 1970–1971. First-aid certificates were then presented to schoolchildren and to members of some army corps who had attended first-aid and life-saving courses. The ceremony closed with demonstrations by first-aid brigades.

At a ceremony held in Sana'a towards the end of March 1972, the ICRC formally handed over to the authorities in the Yemen Arab Republic the workshop which it had opened in 1970 for the manufacture of artificial limbs for the war disabled in that country.

Under the responsibility of the Ministry of Health, the Yemeni employees will henceforth use the skill they acquired in the workshop and in which five of them, thanks to grants, received further training at the Teheran specialized centre of the Iranian Red Lion and Sun Society. The orthopaedic technician delegated by the ICRC will stay in Sana'a for another six months, under an agreement with the Yemeni Government and the World Health Organization, which is providing assistance. This decision was reached with a view to easing the transitional phase.