The Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts was resumed at Geneva on 21 April 1976 under the chairmanship of Mr. Pierre Graber, Federal Councillor, Head of the Federal Political Department.

This, the third session, continues the work of the first and second sessions, which were held, also at Geneva, from 20 February to 29 March 1974 and from 3 February to 18 April 1975.

The presence of the Red Cross is felt under the most varied circumstances—where its help is needed, where human beings are suffering and need assistance. The disparity between the dimensions of the humanitarian tasks which must be carried out in today's world and the modest means available for these tasks should not discourage us—for in wartime and peacetime, under the banners of the Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Lion and Sun, the members of National Societies, along with various international organizations, are taking action in an ever-increasing variety of fields. Originally present only on the battlefields, they are now to be found doing many new things—protecting the environment, helping aged people, etc.

ICRC action in the People's Republic of Angola. — During the last few months the ICRC has carried on in Angola its assistance (medicosurgical services and distribution of food to needy persons) and its protection (mainly the work of the Central Tracing Agency), with a team of delegates at Luanda, another at Huambo, and three medico-surgical teams, one at Dalatando, one at Vouga, and one mobile, visiting the hospitals and dispensaries in the Huambo district. The team at Dalatando was provided by the Swedish Red Cross, the Vouga team by the British Red Cross, and the mobile team by the Swiss Red Cross. In all, the ICRC delegation in the People's Republic of Angola (RPA), led by Mr. C.-A. Neukomm, numbered thirty persons, not counting the locally recruited staff.

The death of Mr. Jacques Chenevière on 22 April 1976 was the loss of a man who for over fifty years devoted a very large proportion of his active life to the Red Cross movement.

As a mark of its deep gratitude to Mr. Hans Bachmann, who was recently nominated an honorary member, the ICRC has awarded him its silver medal. Mr. Bachmann was presented with the medal on 7 April 1976 at an informal meeting. In his address of thanks to his fellowmembers, he said:

“When,early in 1942, Carl-J. Burchkardt agreed that I should join the International Committee as a novice—who had everything to learn— it proved to be a major blessing in my life ! The extraordinary personality of this exceptional man, the warmth of his heart, his sense of true proportions, his perspicacity in judging men and events—everything in him added up to make him a master who guides us through the whole course of our existence. His conception of the mission of the Red Cross— simple and effective provision of aid to those in distress—was in keeping with what he himself deeply felt. He placed the high competence he had acquired as a diplomat entirely at the service of a humanitarian task, and he believed that the art of diplomacy had to be performed with that same instinct with which natives found their way through virgin forests.

In our previous issue we mentioned that a new six-month plan of operations had been submitted by the ICRC to the Government of the People's Republic of Angola. On 26 April, the International Committee published the following press release.

The year 1975 was a twofold anniversary year for the International Tracing Service (ITS). Not only was it the thirtieth year of that unique international Service's existence; it was also the twentieth year of the ICRC's presence in Arolsen. To mark the thirtieth anniversary a short ceremony took place on 6 May in the main hall of the ITS. Each member of the staff was presented with a copy of the booklet published for the occasion.

In our March issue, after bringing to our readers' attention the end of the second session of the Conference of Government Experts on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons, held under ICRC auspices in Lugano from 28 January to 26 February 1976, we announced that we would revert to that subject. We now do so on the occasion of the publication of the Report on the work of that conference.

On a number of occasions International Review has mentioned the ICRC efforts to make known, through the school textbook The Red Cross and My Country, the underlying principles of the Geneva Conventions. More than a million copies of twenty versions of the textbook have been distributed. In more than sixty countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and Europe, it has been a pronounced success. It is intended to imbue primary school pupils with a sense of the fundamental Red Cross principles, and is supplemented by a “Teacher's Manual”.