Activities to protect and assist the victims of armed conflict and the development and implementation of international humanitarian law have been important topics for the Review since it first appeared. This is only natural, bearing in mind the mandate of the ICRC, of which the Review is the official publication.

The problem of coordination in humanitarian emergencies arising from conflicts is not a new subject. So many seminars, round tables, declarations and publications have tackled it. Most came to the logical conclusion that stronger coordination between the humanitarian agencies was necessary, that the money had to be spent in the most effective way, and that new coordination bodies had to be created to make sure that there was no waste of operational energy.

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 1 January 1994, Mexico's awakening after New Year's Eve was rude to say the least, for that was the date chosen by a hitherto unknown guerrilla movement, the Ejército Zapatista de Liberación Nacional (Zapatista National Liberation Army), to launch a simultaneous attack on several municipalities in the south-eastern Mexican State of Chiapas, and particularly on its jewel, well known to tourists — San Cristobal de Las Casas.

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.