Defining the spirit of the Red Cross, Max Huber once said that “it is to accept to sacrifice oneself to help others”. He added that, in order to preserve the essence of this spirit, “there must be spontaneous action … there is a kind of silent heroism in the work carried out daily for the sick”.

Who can show this better than nurses who devote all their energies to others? It is this disinterested service in a world which is more often than not obsessed by material success, which is the finest of examples given due recognition by the awarding of the Florence Nightingale Medal.

Medical relief. — Through its delegations and the mobile surgical teams made available by various National Red Cross Societies and other charitable institutions, the International Committee of the Red Cross is continuing its relief action for the benefit of victims of the conflict.

Assistance to Refugees in Borneo.—In compliance with the Indonesian Red Cross request to the International Committee of the Red Cross in February, Mr. André Durand, delegate general for Asia, was in Indonesia from March 7-25 to examine the critical situation of some 50,000 people of Chinese descent who fled from their villages last October after violent demonstrations against them.

On April 4, 1968, H. M. Olav V, King of Norway, honoured the International Committee of the Red Cross with a visit. He was welcomed by the institution's President, Mr. S. A. Gonard, who conducted His Majesty to the assembly room and there presented the ICRC's Vice-Presidents, members and senior staff, as well as the Secretary-General and Assistant Secretary-General of the League.

A delegation of the Alliance of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the USSR consisting of Dr. Fiodor Zakharov, Vice-President and Mrs. Lilia Tcherkasskaya, Head of Foreign Relations, visited the ICRC in March 1968 to discuss questions of mutual interest.

In its issue of October 1967, the International Review stated that 116 States were parties to the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949. Since then, the International Committee of the Red Cross has been informed by the Federal Political Department of the participation of two new countries to these Conventions.