The International Review of the Red Cross published in August 1957 a study concerning reservations to the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the protection of war victims. At that time a total of 66 States were bound by the Conventions and 18 of them had expressed their accession subject to reservations. In July 1965, the Review published an additional study on the same subject. At that date, the number of States bound by the Conventions had increased to a total of 106; of these, 20 had expressed reservations.

The second session of the Conference of Government Experts on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons which opened at Lugano under the auspices of the ICRC on 28 January 1976, ended on 26 February. After four weeks of discussions, a report containing a number of proposals on the prohibition or restriction of use of certain weapons was adopted by the experts of forty-three countries.

Under the title “ICRC Action in Angola”, the Press and Information Division has published — in French, English and Portuguese — a well illustrated booklet on the humanitarian work that has been carried on by the International Committee for some years in Angola. In fact, though the delegation was opened in that country only in 1975, relations with the Angola authorities go back much further.

The International Review has often referred to the humanitarian importance of the ICRC travel document, especially when events produce massive movements of people across frontiers. Recent examples are the transfers of people from Uganda to various countries which granted them asylum and from the island of Guam to other places. In the first instance, the travel documents were given to refugees of Indian origin and in the second to Vietnamese refugees. In both cases, the ICRC document rendered a great service to its recipients.

We believe it may be useful to recall the nature of the travel document and the purpose of the International Committee in providing it.