From 7 to 21 August, two delegates of the ICRC visited the following places of detention: Bujumbura, Bubanza, Muyinga, Ruyigi, Gitega, Muramvya, Ngozi, Rumonge, Bururi and Rutana. They distributed blankets, clothing, soap and games to the prisoners.

This Board, comprising four members of the ICRC, namely Mr. Gallopin, Mr. Umbricht, Mrs. Bindschedler-Robert and Dr. Ulrich Middendorp, has added to its membership by appointing Mr. Gottfried de Smit.

During a mission to the Middle East, Miss Francoise Bory, ICRC press attache, went to the occupied territory of Gaza-Sinai. Here she describes an ICRC action about which hardly anything is known: that of opening the road to Mecca for pilgrims.

Whereas the International Committee of the Red Cross welcomed the signing of the Paris Agreement of 27 January 1973 on ending the war in Vietnam, it cannot but state publicly its concern for the civilian detainees who are still kept in confinement.

On several occasions in 1970, International Review published news of an International Red Cross medical mission to the Amazon, and in June 1971 it gave extracts of the report drawn up by the three doctors who carried out that mission. Now we give details on the preparation and launching of an ICRC medical assistance programme for the benefit of the Indians of the Brazilian Amazon region.

During the year 1972, the ICRC continued in Israel, the occupied territories and the Arab countries to give assistance to persons protected under the terms of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. This assistance consisted essentially in visiting military and civilian prisoners, transmitting family messages, organizing the reuniting of dispersed families and providing relief supplies to the needy population.

On 27 September 1973, the “Vietnam Presse” agency published an article entitled “The International Red Cross approves the treatment of communist prisoners in South Vietnam”, mentioning a visit by the ICRC delegation in the Republic of Vietnam to the Chi-Hoa “correction centre” in Saigon. The ICRC delegation did indeed, on 14 June 1973, go to that institution built for the detention of several thousand detainees but, as “Vietnam Presse” admits, the delegation had access to only 83 prisoners of war (officially described as Vietnamese communist prisoners) who had been sentenced to imprisonment for penal law offences during their captivity in a prisoner-of-war camp. The delegation did not see any other detainees and was therefore unable to make any statement concerning their number or conditions of detention.

In our March issue, we gave details of relief consignments sent by the ICRC to those countries where ICRC delegates are working. Over 15 million Swiss francs worth of foodstuffs, pharmaceutical supplies and medical equipment were forwarded in 1972 to various countries in Africa, Latin America, Asia and the Middle East.

During 1972, the Central Tracing Agency in Geneva received 82,587 requests and communications (47,198 in 1971) and sent out 79,296 letters (50,799 in 1971). This considerable increase in the volume of work was due mainly to the conflict in the Asian subcontinent.

Frequent mention has been made, in the International Review, of families being re-united by the ICRC at El Qantara in the Suez Canal area. Thanks to the ICRC, a great many people from Israelioccupied territory have been able to rejoin their families in the Arab Republic of Egypt, and other people in that Republic to cross over to the East bank of the canal. Miss Francoise Bory, an ICRC press attache, witnessed one of these operations some time ago. Her report, reproduced below, describes its various stages.

The ICRC Central Tracing Agency (CTA) is doing a big job in the Asian sub-continent.

In one year, that is from March 1972 to March 1973, the Geneva office dealt with 24,000 inquiries (in round figures) divided into three categories: inquiries from the families of missing civilians or army men (8,000), inquiries about prisoners of war and their families (10,000), and inquiries received mainly from civilians in Pakistan and India (6,000). Moreover, the CTA has computerized 270,000 index cards.

This manual, as our readers know, reproduces and illustrates for the armed forces the essential provisions of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The pilot edition of 10,000 copies in 1969 was sent by the ICRC to Governments and National Red Cross Societies. The booklet was revised according to their comments and published in pocket-size format. In 1971, and again in 1972, the English, French, Spanish and Arabic versions issued totalled 150,000 copies; 6,000 copies of a Portuguese version were also published.