A ceremony commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Dunant took place on 8 May in Geneva, in the Aula of the University.

Mr. Alexandre Hay, President of the ICRC, Mr. J. A. Adefarasin, President of the League of Red Cross Societies, and Mr. Hans Haug, President of the Swiss Red Cross, delivered addresses. The Swiss Confederation, the Canton and the City of Geneva were represented at the ceremony by Mr. P. Aubert, Federal Councillor, Mr. W. Donzé, President of the Geneva State Council, and Mr. C. Ketterer, Mayor of Geneva, each of whom also addressed the guests invited to the ceremony.

Extracts from the speeches are reproduced in this issue of International Review. A booklet containing the full texts will be issued separately.

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Dunant, the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1901, a Round Table meeting on peace, organized by the ICRC and the League of Red Cross Societies, was held in Geneva on 27 and 28 April.

There are very few extant photographs of Henry Dunant. In an article printed in 1959, Bernard Gagnebin gave a list of seven portraits, while Daisy Mercanton in 1971 found there were eleven, plus one painting on enamel by Charles Dunant. Most of them portray Henry Dunant in the last years of his life at Heiden; three on 12 August 1895, two in 1901, and the last in 1908. In fact there are now only five known pictures of Dunant as a young man in the days of his prosperity. Apart from the portrait recently discovered by the Henry Dunant Institute, there are the two photographs taken at the time when the Red Cross was founded, two others in 1855 when Dunant was 27 years old, and only one around 1850, showing Dunant in the company of Jean-Gabriel Eynard and his wife.

International Review of the Red Cross is pleased to bring to its readers' attention an article on Dr. Théodore Maunoir, one of the five founders of the Red Cross, about whom little is known and little has been written.

The article is from the pen of Mr. Roger Durand, President of the Henry Dunant Society, Geneva, who published it recently in Gesnerus, the quarterly review of the Société suisse d'histoire de la médecine et des sciences naturelles (vol. 34, fasc. 1/2, pp. 139–155, Ed. Sauerländer, Aarau, 1977). It is reproduced here with the kind permission of the author, of Gesnerus and of Editions Sauerländer, to whom we express our thanks.

On assistance in natural disasters, the Tansley Report on the Re-appraisal of the Role of the Red Cross makes several general and some specific proposals. All have been thoroughly examined by the League of Red Cross Societies whose thinking on the subject is set out below.

The protection of victims of armed conflicts is laid down in the Geneva Conventions, to which were added in 1977 some extremely important definitions contained in the Protocols.

But the protection of victims of disasters, natural or otherwise, has still not been governed by any international instruments binding governments. It is true that numerous attempts have been made to organize and co-ordinate relief when a disaster has occurred, with varying results, but the situation of individuals in a country struck by a disaster is governed only by that country's national legislation.

We communicate to you below the appeal which the International Committee of the Red Cross sent on 23 May 1978 to the governments taking part in the special session of the United Nations General Assembly now being held on disarmament:

“On the occasion of the special session of the United Nations General Assembly on disarmament, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is anxious that its voice on this very important question should be heard.

The Standing Commission of the International Red Cross met on 5 May 1978 in Geneva with Sir Evelyn Shuckburgh in the chair, to decide, in accordance with the mandate given to it in October 1977 by the Twenty-third International Red Cross Conference, on the place where the next International Conference will be held.

In the space of two months, the ICRC has lost four members of its delegations, who died while carrying out their humanitarian mission. Three were Swiss and one was African. They were all prompted by that spirit of devotion and sacrifice which impels some people to help their neighbour in distress. They were highly conscious of the responsibility with which they were entrusted and in facing danger they met their deaths, giving a wonderful example of human brotherhood.

In March and April, ICRC delegates in Thailand continued their visits to police posts along the border in the north, north-east, south and south-east of Thailand. They visited 102 police posts and six transit camps and saw 5,086 detainees. Of these, 4,888 had entered Thailand illegally. In May, these visits were pursued further, including 18 police posts and four transit camps, which contained, among all the detainees held, 387 persons who had entered the country illegally. The delegates also visited three detention centres in Bangkok, where they saw 31 detainees.