From 20 to 24 March 1972, the second session of the Conference of Red Cross Experts on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts was held in Vienna. It had been convened by the International Committee of the Red Cross and took place in Vienna at the invitation of the Austrian Red Cross. Almost a hundred delegates represented the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies of the Arab Republic of Egypt, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Burundi, Canada, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany (Dem. Rep.), Germany (Fed. Rep.), Great Britain, Greece, Hungary, Indonesia, Ireland, Jordan, Korea (Democratic People's Republic), Korea (Republic), Lebanon, Liechtenstein, Netherlands, Norway, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, U.S.A., U.S.S.R., Vietnam (Republic) and Yugoslavia.

ICRC delegates in India and in Pakistan are working to help prisoners of war in accordance with the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention.

ICRC delegates in Israel, the Occupied Territories and the Arab countries paid several visits to prisoners of war. They had the usual interviews with prisoners without witnesses. The ICRC reports will be transmitted to the detaining authorities and the authorities of the countries from which the prisoners come.

With profound regret, the International Committee learned of the sudden death of Mr. Charles Ammann. He joined the Red Cross in 1945, when he was assigned to the staff of the Greek Relief Management Commission, and subsequently occupied a number of positions in which he demonstrated his organizing ability and administrative proficiency. He was appointed assistant delegate, and was later in charge of management problems at the ICRC delegation in Paris. He returned to Geneva in 1951 and took over the management of the Relief Section, assuming a few years afterwards the management of the Fund Raising Division.

Here are some statistics which reveal the extent of the relief supplies sent throughout the world by the ICRC, from the beginning of January until the end of March.

The Central Tracing Agency is constantly faced with a double task. It must fulfil its very urgent and frequently arduous duties resulting from current events while not forgetting the many activities resulting from past conflicts. The importance of the work done by the Agency and in the various places where it has set up sub-agencies, with the help of National Societies, is well known.

As already mentioned in International Review the Conference of Government Experts on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts, last May, expressed the wish that the ICRC convene a second session with wider representation. Complying with that wish, the ICRC, on 27 September 1971, invited all governments then expressly bound by the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, to delegate experts to the second session, to be held in Geneva from 3 May to 3 June 1972.

The International Review has made frequent reference—and more specifically in last October's issue—to the generous donations of foodstuffs made by the European Economic Community (EEC), through the ICRC, to the victims of armed conflicts and natural disasters.