The importance of promoting knowledge of international humanitarian law has been recognized since its beginnings. Dissemination was made an obligation for States by the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977.

When it was founded, the ICRC, recognizing the unpredictable and inescapable nature of war, hoped that it would be able to alleviate the most harmful effects of war by providing protection and assistance and raising awareness1 of international humanitarian law and the need to respect it. Thus all the activities undertaken by the institution are rooted in the reality of war — the degree of medical assistance and relief, for example, depends on the number of victims, while protection for prisoners is specifically given to “persons detained because of the situation”. Similarly, the ICRC's Central Tracing Agency forwards family messages when normal communication channels are severed, traces people who have gone missing because of the conflict, and reunites family members separated by the events. The only ICRC activities that are not exclusively a response to needs resulting from war are the dissemination of knowledge of humanitarian law and principles, and cooperation with the National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The international community recently realized that certain types of emergency assistance could have negative effects on the still to come development phases. In that context, a theme has been brought under the limelight: the “emergency-development continuum”, underlying the need to design the activities in time of crisis taking into account the following stages.

The first issue of the Bulletin international des Sociétés de secours aux militaires blessés (October 1969) contains an appeal by the International Committee for ratification of the Articles of 1868 additional to the 1864 Geneva Convention. It is addressed to the Central Committees of the Relief Societies, with the request that they approach their respective governments on the matter. By the same token, the Committee proposed as recommended reading the work by Gustave Moynier, Etude sur la Convention de Genève, which was described as a guide for use by army officers and doctors to give them a better understanding of the provisions of the 1864 Convention, “to refute the objections of its detractors and, by demonstrating that this instrument represents a victory for civilization, to turn them into zealous supporters”. In the second issue of the Bulletin (January 1870), the Committee asked the Central Committees to what extent States had promulgated penal or other legislation and military ordinances or regulations relating to the stipulations of the Geneva Convention or action by relief societies.

The seventh largest city in Japan by population size, located on the mouth of the Ota River, whose muddy waters pour into the Inland Sea, Hiroshima had been almost spared by the bombing until the summer of 1945.

At dawn on 6 August 1945, four reconnaissance planes flew over the city and disappeared again without dropping any bombs. At 7:31 the sirens signaled the end of the alert. The inhabitants left their shelters and went about their business.

The ICRC was very sad to learn of the death in St. Gallen on 12 April 1995 of Mr Hans Haug, an honorary member of the Committee.

Born in 1921 in St. Gallen, Mr Haug studied law at the Universities of Geneva and Zurich. In 1967 he was appointed to the chair of public international law at the St. Gallen School of Advanced Economic and Social Studies and remained in this post until 1986.

At his annual press conference on 30 May 1995, ICRC President Cornelia Sommaruga began by referring to the recent 50th anniversary of the end of the Second World War in Europe and deploring the ICRC's moral failure regarding the Holocaust, when “it did not succeed in moving beyond the limited legal framework established by the States”.

A second meeting of legal advisers of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, jointly organized by the ICRC and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, was held in Geneva on 6 and 7 March 1995.

The advisers of some twenty National Societies, together with officials in charge of preparations for the 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, devoted the first day of the meeting to examining the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts for the Protection of War Victims which met on 23 to 27 January 1995.

On the 125th anniversary of the International Review of the Red Cross, the ICRC again reaffirms the principles of permanence, receptiveness and dissemination which it set several years ago for its official publication at the service of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

At its meeting of 4 May 1995, the ICRC Executive Board decided that the Review should also be published in Russian.