The ICRC is publishing in a 28-page pamphlet, in English, French and Spanish, the study which appeared in the September issue of the International Review on the work of the third session of the Diplomatic Conference. This pamphlet may be obtained from the publications service of the ICRC at a price of 2 Swiss francs.

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 announced in our issue of September 1975, Mr. Roger Gallopin's mandate as President of the Executive Council will terminate on 31 December this year.

The International Review has in the past announced the publication by the ICRC of books in Arabic. In 1972, for example, the Review mentioned three booklets: one of thirteen pages containing a summary of the draft Protocols which have since been submitted to the Diplomatic Conference; another of 22 pages containing the articles of the 1949 Geneva Conventions relating to the display of the red cross and red crescent emblems; finally, a study of 14 pages in which the author demonstrated that some of the principles underlying the Geneva Conventions were recognized and affirmed in the Koran.

As a token of gratitude for his untiring work to ensure that Henry Dunant is honoured at Heiden, the ICRC awarded Mr Jakob Haug its silver medal.

The ICRC Visitors Service is always quite busy and the following figures give some idea of the volume of its activities. During the first six months of 1976, the Service received nearly 2,100 persons, some singly and some in groups. The visitors included more than 500 members of National Societies from 37 countries: Algeria, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cyprus, Denmark, Ecuador, El Salvador, Finland, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Israel, Japan, Mauritania, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Somalia, Spain, Surinam, Sweden, Switzerland, USSR, United Kingdom, United States and Uruguay.

In a declaration dated 25 August 1975 which reached the Swiss Government on 15 October 1975, the Government of the State of Qatar informed the Swiss Federal Council of its accession to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. This accession takes effect on 15 April 1976 and brings the number of States parties to the Conventions to 140.

In a memorandum distributed during the meeting of the Council of Delegates in October 1975, the ICRC asked, in particular, National Societies whether they wished to send members to Geneva for instruction in problems relating to the dissemination of knowledge of the Geneva Conventions. Of the 52 National Societies which replied, 27 gave an affirmative answer to this question.

The International Review has often referred to the humanitarian importance of the ICRC travel document, especially when events produce massive movements of people across frontiers. Recent examples are the transfers of people from Uganda to various countries which granted them asylum and from the island of Guam to other places. In the first instance, the travel documents were given to refugees of Indian origin and in the second to Vietnamese refugees. In both cases, the ICRC document rendered a great service to its recipients.

We believe it may be useful to recall the nature of the travel document and the purpose of the International Committee in providing it.

In a declaration dated 29 April 1976, reaching the Swiss Government on 21 May 1976, the Government of the Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe notified the Federal Council of its accession to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949. This accession takes effect from 21 November 1976.

The International Committee of the Red Cross needs worldwide financial assistance if it is to continue and increase its humanitarian activities in Lebanon. For the next four months it needs 21 million Swiss francs. To raise this amount the ICRC has launched an urgent appeal to governments and Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

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 a letter of 4 July to the Swiss Federal Council, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam stated that, with the same reservations as the Democratic Republic of Viet Nam and the Republic of South Viet Nam, his country would continue to participate in the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 for the protection of war victims.

Ever since 1869, by a decision of the Second International Conference of the Red Cross, the ICRC has issued a periodical, known originally as the Bulletin international des Sociétés de secours aux militaires blessés (International Bulletin of Societies for Relief to Wounded and Sick Soldiers), appearing only in French, and, since 1886, as the Bulletin international des Sociétés de la Croix Rouge, In 1919, it became a monthly publication under the name Revue internationale de la Croix-Rouge. The English edition, International Review of the Red Cross, has been published since 1961. Five special indexes have appeared, in 1900, 1910, 1919, 1939 and 1962. We are glad to announce the publication of the sixth index, covering the years 1962 to 1974. The index for the English edition is now being prepared.

The ICRC has just published four new colour posters illustrating the application of the Geneva Conventions. The first shows the Red Crescent delivering relief supplies in the desert; the second shows a tracing service office in a country at war; the third shows people alighting from an ICRC aircraft to join their families, thanks to Red Cross intervention; the fourth illustrates ICRC assistance to prisoners. The captions are: To act throughout the world; To search for the missing; To reunite families; To protect prisoners.