Article 3 common to the four Geneva Conventions constitutes a striking affirmation of humanitarian protection.

Out of respect which is due to the individual, the States parties to these Conventions have in fact accepted to limit, to a certain extent, their liberty of action as regards their own nationals in the case of internal conflicts. International law has thus managed to penetrate a field hitherto exclusively reserved to internal law and the International Committee of the Red Cross has been especially mentioned as being capable, under certain conditions, of acting as guarantor for such protection.

The action first of all. Since its foundation a hundred years ago, the International Committee has continuously brought relief to war victims. To fulfil this particular vocation, it has sent delegates all over the world, who have intervened, frequently at great personal risk; between the armed and the unarmed, detainer and detainee, combatant and wounded, the strong and the weak.

We have the honour to inform you of the official recognition on July 4, 1963, of the Red Cross Society of the Congo (Léopoldville) by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

This Society applied for recognition by letter dated June 14, 1963. The application was accompanied by the Decree promulgated on March 1, 1961, by the President of the Republic of the Congo which accorded the Society recognition, together with the text of the Society's Statutes and a report of its activities.

We have the honour to inform you of the official recognition, on August 22nd, 1963, of the Red Cross Society of Burundi by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has constituted its Presidential Council for 1963 as follows : President: Mr. Léopold Boissier ; Vice-Presidents : Mr. Frédéric Siordet and Mr. Martin Bodmer ; members: Mr. Hans Bachmann, Mr. Jacques Freymond, Mr. Ernest Gloor and Mr. Samuel Gonard.

As is mentioned elsewhere in the International Review, the ICRC charged Mr. S. Gonard to examine the activities of its delegation in Algeria and to have an interview on that subject with the President of the Algerian Government, as had been agreed in February of this year.

In June 1963, Mr. Gonard, after having conferred with the head of the delegation, went to the places where the delegates of the ICRC have been carrying out their activities for the past three months, for the most part by teams of two delegates each. He was able to assure himself that, as regards visits to former harkis in detention and also concerning searches for persons missing since the " cease fire " of March 19, 1962, the delegation's activities are proceeding in a normal manner.

In the Yemen the International Committee of the Red Cross is confronted with a particularly difficult task. Intervention is required in a country difficult of access, almost completely without modern means of communication and the population of which has long been isolated from the rest of the world. The war which has been going on for over a year continues to produce its harvest of victims which it is up to the Red Cross movement to assist, for the Red Cross was founded one hundred years ago with the primary task of alleviating suffering caused by armed conflict. Yet, in the Yemen today, conditions are such that victims in vast regions of the country are left completely abandoned.

As we already briefly mentioned in our previous bulletin, Mr. Durand, delegate general of the ICRC in the Far East, went to New Delhi on November 15 in order to discuss with the Indian authorities and Red Cross the various humanitarian problems arising from the Sino-Indian conflict.

We have learnt with deep regret of the sudden death of Mrs. R.-M. Frick-Cramer, who played an important rôle in the world of the Red Cross.

In view of the fighting which broke out again in Katanga, the International Committee undertook as a matter of urgency the necessary measures of protection and assistance.

As soon as he arrived on the spot on December 21, 1962, Mr. G. C. Senn, delegate of the ICRC, made arrangements with the armed forces of the United Nations to enable the Katanga Red Cross and ambulance men to carry out their action, especially by the issuing of passes to its personnel and by registering ambulances at road-blocks.

We have the honour to inform you of the official recognition on July 4, 1963, of the Algerian Red Crescent Society.

This Society applied for recognition by letter dated June 24, 1963. The application was accompanied by the Decree promulgated on September 6, 1962, by the Algerian provisional Executive which accorded it recognition, together with the text of the Society's Statutes and a report of its activities.

The International Committee is pursuing its activity in favour of the victims of events in the Yemen. Despite the great difficulties caused by the very nature of the country and the conditions in which this struggle is going on, the Red Cross is anxious to remain on the spot in both camps. Its two doctor-delegates have arrived back in Geneva for consultation : Dr Jiirg Baer came from Sanaa, capital of the Yemen Arab Republic and Dr Bruno Beretta from the southern regions of Saudi Arabia. The ICRC is examining with them the possibility of arranging further releases or exchanges of prisoners.

We have the honour to inform you of the official recognition, on August 22nd, 1963 of the Red Cross Society of Dahomey by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

This year, which marks the Centenary of the Red Cross, the Central Tracing Agency is visited by larger numbers than ever before of people wishing to inform themselves on its activities. Whether it is a question of members of National Societies, groups of university students or of tourists passing through, they are all struck by the sight of millions of index cards and the voluminous archives which still remain an invaluable working instrument for the Central Agency. Indeed the necessary information is extracted daily from these sources for establishing the identity of deceased military personnel, the handing over of attestations of captivity and tracing civilians separated by war etc.

We have the honour to inform you of the official recognition, on August 8, 1963, of the Red Crescent Society of Saudi Arabia by the International Committee of the Red Cross.

This Society applied for recognition in a letter dated August 1, 1963. The application was accompanied by the Decree of June 8, 1963, of the Government of Saudi Arabia, recognizing the Society as an auxiliary to the army medical services, together with the text of the Society's Statutes and a report on its activities.

Mr. S. Gonard, former Colonel commanding an Army Corps, Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, returned on February 25 from a short mission to Algiers, where, accompanied by Mr. Roger Vust, resident delegate, and Mr. Jacques de Heller, assistant-delegate, he had a series of talks with Mr. Ben Bella, President of the Algerian Government, and with several of his ministers. These talks dealt with the ways in which wil^be carried out the forthcoming tasks entrusted in Algeria to the ICRC, which will visit persons detained for acts committed in connection with the recent conflict and will attempt to discover the fate of those who have disappeared since the cease-fire.

Accompanied by Mr. H. G. Beckh, delegate, Mr. Léopold Boissier visited the German Red Cross in the German Democratic Republic from March 24 to 30, 1963.

He received a warm and friendly reception in Dresden from the President of the National Society, Dr. Werner Ludwig, members of the executive committee and his colleagues, and was able to appreciate that Society's intense activity in the most varied fields. He attended an exercise carried out by young girl first-aiders attached to the hospital of Arnsdorf.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has received numerous messages on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of its foundation. The International Review started publishing them in its March and April numbers of 1963. Most of these from the National Societies contain, at the same time, a few words of thanks for the silver-gilt medal awarded by the ICRC as a token of gratitude. We continue therefore to publish the letters and telegrams which we have received and which are most of them signed by the Presidents of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.