Torture is prohibited by public international law and explicitly forbidden by domestic legislation in many countries. Yet the least that can be said is that it continues to be practised today, whether by the use of violence or by increasingly insidious methods, more and more frequently involving children. To such an extent that in 1976, realizing the magnitude and seriousness of the problem, the ICRC felt obliged to speak out and explain the efforts it deploys to combat torture. And perhaps never since the end of the seventies have so many governmental and non-governmental international organizations been so active in the fight against torture.

The idea of “respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all” has been disseminated throughout the world since the Second World War and has influenced both international law and national legislation in many States. Nevertheless, torture, that most fundamental assault on the human person, has continued over the years to be practised, either systematically or occasionally, in many countries. Torture, in which a person is intentionally subjected to extreme physical pain or emotional distress, is used mainly to elicit information, break the will to resist, intimidate, humiliate and degrade. It is also used to mete out (illegal) punishment for real or supposed wrongdoings.2 Techniques of torture include withholding food and preventing sleep, abrupt alternation of extreme cold and heat or silence and noise, total isolation, causing mental confusion and distress through misinformation or other means, the use of brute force- sometimes resulting in permanent mutilation- rape, electric shocks, the application of chemicals and Pharmaceuticals, finally death threats.

The International Committee of the Red Cross welcomes all attempts to strengthen the protection against torture of persons deprived of their freedom. It therefore welcomes the adoption of the European Convention for the prevention of torture and inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, which should enable an effective system of control to be established for the prevention and elimination of such inhuman practices in the member countries of the Council of Europe that may have ratified the Convention.

In 1983, at the suggestion of its founder, the late Jean-Jacques Gautier, the Swiss Committee against Torture convened a symposium on means of eradicating torture. The meeting, which was held in Geneva, brought together almost 70 experts from some 30 countries representing many different human rights organizations. It concluded that a way had to be found to create a more effective role for the hundreds of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) around the world which had been set up to eliminate torture. In particular, it suggested establishing a service to speed up the circulation of information gathered by these NGOs, to facilitate rapid representations to the United Nations and other regional organizations responsible for defending human rights and, when desirable, to organize concerted action. This, it was thought, might finally do something to help the victims of torture.

In 1985 the Swedish Red Cross opened a Centre for the Rehabilitation of Tortured Refugees in Stockholm. It did so on the bases of a thorough study of what had been done elsewhere in the world, especially in Denmark where the first centre of this kind was established.

Sweden accepts about 15,000 refugees each year. The largest groups come from Chile, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon, Ethiopia, Turkey. Many of them have been exposed to different forms of torture. Hospitals, the social welfare system, lawyers, immigration officers — none of these has any experience in dealing with the consequences. Now all sectors of Swedish society have to meet the needs of these new citizens. Lack of knowledge and understanding can, unintentionally, lead to callous treatment. It was therefore natural for the Swedish Red Cross to start collecting and developing existing knowledge on how to deal with the effects of torture.

Only the members of the armed forces of a Party to a conflict (other than medical personnel, chaplains and military personnel engaged in civil defence) are combatants (Hague Regulations, Art. 1 and 3; P. I, Art. 43 and 67).

Combatants are entitled to take direct part in the hostilities (P. I, Art. 43), i.e. to commit acts of war which are intended by their nature or their purpose to hit specifically the combatants and other military objectives of the enemy armed forces.

Any combatant who falls into the power of an adverse Party is a prisoner of war (P. I, Art. 4).

In the beginning…

Peace was part of the vision of Henry Dunant when, having seen the human suffering and misery on the battlefield of Solferino, he was inspired to create a humanitarian organization that would aid all people affected by war. His ultimate objective was not merely to relieve the suffering caused by war but to instil in mankind a spirit of peace. He believed that if we instil humanitarian ideas in people, and inspire everyone with a horror of the spirit of vengeance, hatred and destruction, we shall counteract the terrible scourge of war and perhaps avert it completely.

The quest for peace has been an integral part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement since its inception. The Movement has many other goals but in pursuing them all it tries to spread the spirit of peace.

At its meeting on 15 December 1988, the Assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross made the following appointments to take effect on 1 January 1989:

• Mr. Richard Pestalozzi, a member of the ICRC since 1977 and a member of the Executive Board, retired on reaching the age limit and was made an Honorary Member of the ICRC.

• Mr. Dietrich Schindler, a member of the ICRC since 1980, was re-elected for a third term and Mr. Pierre Keller, a member of the ICRC since 1984, was re-elected for a second term.

The ICRC was deeply distressed to learn of the death on 24 December 1988 of Dr. Jacques F. de Rougemont, one of its Honorary Members.

Dr. de Rougemont was elected a member of the ICRC in 1967. He was a member of the Presidential Council from 1968 to 1971 and became an Honorary Member in 1987.

He did excellent work for the ICRC over many years; he sat on various commissions and working groups and carried out numerous missions for the institution, in particular to Poland to assist victims of pseudo-medical experiments practised in concentration camps under the Nazi regime. The bonds of trust which he forged there made it possible to launch a major dissemination programme and, in 1982, the ICRC was able to visit people interned under martial law.

At the end of November the ICRC received authorization from the Sudanese Government and the necessary assurances from the SPLM/SPLA opposition movement to implement the plan of action which had been drawn up and flights began on 4 December. During the final month of the year, ICRC aircraft flew regular missions to Wau and Aweil in the zone under government control and to Akon and Yirol in the SPLA-controlled zone, taking off either from Khartoum, Kenya (Lokichokio) or Uganda (Entebbe).

The Nineteenth Conference of Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies took place in Cairo from 5 to 9 November 1988.

Held under the patronage of H. E. Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, this Conference was organized jointly by the Egyptian Red Crescent and the General Secretariat of the Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies, directed by Mr. Abdel Ghani Ashi.

The Pan-African Conference of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies took place in Dakar from 21 to 23 November 1988 under the chairmanship of the President of the Senegalese Red Cross, Mrs. Siga Seye Coulibaly. It was attended by representatives of 40 African and 12 other National Societies, of the League and of the ICRC.

The ICRC delegation was composed of Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga, President; Mr. Yves Sandoz, Director of the Department of Principles, Law and Relations with the Movement; Mr. Thierry Germond, responsible for the regional delegations in Africa; Mr. Friedrich Steinemann, as future regional delegate in Lagos; and Mrs. Marguerite Contat, regional delegate in Lomé.