The September-October 1978 edition of the International Review of the Red Cross announced the coming into force, on 7 December 1978, of the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949, following the ratification by the Republic of Ghana and the accession of the Socialist People's Libyan Arab Jamahiriya.

Almost all National Societies and States consider the independence, neutrality and impartiality of the ICRC to be essential for the performance of its tasks, and to be important factors in the cohesion and unity of the Red Cross Movement. In the main, that independence, neutrality and impartiality are based on three special characteristics of the ICRC:

— its members are co-opted, thereby excluding any kind of external influence;

— its members are all of the same nationality, thereby preventing governments from influencing the ICRC in reaching its decisions;

— being Swiss, its members are citizens of a country which is bound by neutral status in perpetuity.

We have said that this requirement is absolute. However, in exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to make a choice; for instance, when a doctor or nurse, for want of medicines in sufficient quantities, is only in a position to cure a certain number of patients in his care. This is frequently a tragedy for the Red Cross, comparable to that of a raft which will sink if any more castaways cling to it. Can one, in all conscience, use an oar and rap the knuckles of human beings, children perhaps, whose misfortune it is to have not arrived first ? I know of several cases where doctors have only treated the sick, wounded or starving who still had a chance of survival, leaving those for whom there was no longer any hope to die. All this represents a matter of conscience, as it is called, because the decision must be left to the individual responsible, who will reach it after deep reflection and carefully weighing the pros and cons.

Following the ICRC decision, on 4 April 1979 to recognize the Swaziland Red Cross Society, the President, Mr. Nkosi, and the National Director, Mrs. Dlamini, of this newly recognized National Society, who had come to Geneva for the General Assembly of the League of Red Cross Societies, were received on 4 October by the ICRC's ExecutiveBoard.

At its meeting of 13 September 1979, the ICRC Assembly appointed to the Executive Board Mr. Rudolf Jackli, who had been elected a member of the Assembly on 1 March 1979.

The Joint Commission entrusted with the distribution of the income of the Empress Shôken Fund met in Geneva on 2nd May 1979. The Japanese Red Cross Society was represented by Mr. S. Taniguchi of the Permanent Delegation of Japan to the International Organisations in Geneva, in the absence of H. E. Ambassador M. Sawaki.

In the February 1976 issue (No. 179) of International Review of the Red Cross (page 70), the International Committee of the Red Cross published the regulations of the Maurice de Madre French Fund. The aim of this Fund is to provide assistance, by paying for rest and convalescent cures, for persons of the permanent or temporary staff of international or national Red Cross institutions, such as delegates or nurses who, in the course of their work or during war operations or natural disasters, have suffered injury and have thereby found themselves in straitened circumstances or in reduced health (Art. 2 of the Regulations).

At the beginning of June, the ICRC made a further appeal to governments and National Red Cross Societies for their material and financial support to continue its humanitarian activities for the victims of the conflicts in Africa. It requested, for the period from 1 July to 31 December,the sum of 35.8 million Swiss francs, equivalent to about 5 million Swiss francs per month. The ICRC warned prospective donors that, if no help was swiftly forthcoming, it would be compelled to reduce the activities of its delegations in various African countries, and that the consequences would mean considerable hardship for the people in need of ICRC aid.

At its meeting on 18 January 1979, the ICRC Assembly noted the resignation of Mr. Herbert Liithy, who had been a member since September 1975.

The following States deposited with the Swiss Government their instruments of ratification of the two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949:

Under the provisions of the Protocols, they will enter into force on 8 December 1979 for the Republic of the Niger, on 11 December 1979 for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, on 9 February 1980 for the Republic of Tunisia, and on 29 February 1980 for the Kingdom of Sweden, that is six months after deposit of the instruments of ratification.

On 8 September, a monument to Dr. Marcel Junod, an ICRC delegate, was unveiled at Hiroshima. The monument, a cross of granite with a medallion of Dr. Junod, was sponsored by a Hiroshima committee of the Medical Association, the Chamber of Commerce, the local branch of the Japanese Red Cross and other institutions. The ICRC was represented at the ceremony by its honorary delegate in Japan, Mr. A. Michaud.

On 23 May 1979, the Republic of Botswana deposited with the Swiss Government its instruments of accession to the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

At its meeting on the 20th December 1978, the General Assembly of the Henry Dunant Institute appointed Mr. Jacques Meurant, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the League of Red Cross Societies, in charge of statutory matters, as Director of the Institute. He succeeds Mr. Jean Pictet, Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who has reached retirement age.