Rather than serving as a pretext for noisy celebration and self-congratulation, the 125th anniversary of the founding of the Swiss Red Cross should be an occasion for reflection on our institution's development, its role within the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and its special situation as the National Society of Switzerland. This is a worthy undertaking, an attempt, as the historian Marc Ferro put it, “to capture time and make it intelligible to others”. But anyone who embarks on such a venture must be careful to avoid rewriting the past according to his own preferences and giving an idealized picture of this humanitarian organization, which has had its share of tensions, setbacks and contradictions, some of them still unresolved.

The Middle East conflict is beyond any doubt an international armed conflict as defined in Article 2 common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949.

The fact that military action has been authorized by security council resolution 678 does not affect this definition or the application of the laws of armed conflict.

The implementation of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts must be considered in the light of three basic problems.

First, in time of peace no one wants to think about the kind of situation where this body of law is put into practice. Nor is it easy to foster enthusiasm for legal rules which are beyond people's personal experience. But unless certain efforts are made and steps taken in peacetime, it cannot be expected that these rules will be implemented in time of crisis or war.

A headquarters agreement was signed on 30 October 1991 between H.E. Sheikh Sabah Salem al Sabah, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Kuwait, and Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the ICRC, to pave the way for the opening of an ICRC regional delegation for the Arabian peninsula. In addition to Kuwait itself, the delegation, which will have its headquarters in Kuwait City, will cover Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen. The agreement will enter into force once it has been ratified by the Council of Ministers in Kuwait.

At the meeting of its Assembly, on 2 May 1991, the International Committee of the Red Cross decided to set up a single executive body. The decision was prompted by the need to keep pace with the growing complexity of the ICRC's humanitarian work worldwide and to respond with optimum efficiency to the marked expansion in its activities.

The surgical activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross stem from the institution's general mandate to protect and assist the victims of armed conflict.

The war wounded are thus only one category of the victims included in the ICRC's terms of reference.

The ICRC's main role in relation to the war wounded is not to treat them, for this is primarily the responsibility of the governments involved in the conflict and hence their army medical services. The task of the ICRC is first and foremost to ensure that the belligerents are familiar with the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and apply them, that is, care for members of the enemy armed forces as well as their own and afford medical establishments and personnel the protection to which they are entitled.

The Belgian Interdepartmental Commission for Humanitarian Law (ICHL) was established by a decision of the Council of Ministers on 20 February 1987. Its main task consists in studying national measures to implement the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions, and, if need be, the Conventions themselves.

One hundred and twenty five years after it was founded, the Swiss Red Cross (SRC) benefits from the fact that people in Switzerland remember Henry Dunant and his achievements. Though most of them do not know exactly what the SRC does or distinguish between the various Red Cross institutions, 98% of the adult population are nevertheless familiar with the Red Cross, and consider it to be a good and important organization.

The United States considers many provisions of Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 to be either statements of customary international law or to reflect what that law should be. It is in that vein that the United States views Article 90 on the International Fact-Finding Commission. The U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) military analysis of the Protocols expressed the views of the U.S. Department of Defense on Article 90 as follows:

“One major innovation of the Protocol is the creation of a permanent 15-member International Fact-Finding Commission to investigate alleged grave breaches or serious violations of the Protocols and the Conventions and to facilitate, through its good offices, the restoration of an attitude of respect for the Conventions and [the] Protocol”.

At the invitation of the International Committee of the Red Cross, plenipotentiary representatives of the Yugoslav Federal Executive Council, the Republic of Croatia, the Republic of Serbia and the Federal Army met in Geneva on 26 and 27 November 1991 to find solutions to the various matters of humanitarian concern arising from the conflict in Yugoslavia. The meeting gave substance to the declaration of respect for international humanitarian law made by the Presidents of the six Republics in The Hague on 5 November.

Since October 1990, the President of the ICRC, Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga, has carried out missions to Italy, Denmark and Switzerland.

The ICRC President, accompanied by Mr. Francis Amar, deputy Delegate General for Europe and North America, and Mr. Jean-Luc Blondel, head of the Division for Principles and Relations with the Movement, took part in a meeting of National Society Presidents from the countries of the European Economic Community (EEC). The meeting was organized by the Italian Red Cross and held in Asolo, near Venice, from 8 to 11 October 1990.

From its very beginnings the ICRC has been concerned with the war disabled and has done what it can to help them. After the Second World War it was involved in orthopaedic activities in various countries, such as Finland, Viet Nam, Jordan, Hungary, Algeria, Morocco, Israel, Egypt, Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen.

The President of the ICRC, accompanied by Mr. Michel Convers, head of the Operational Support Department, travelled to Luxembourg on 12 March 1991.

The Swiss Confederation is celebrating its 700th anniversary this year and numerous commemorative activities are being organized throughout the country. In Geneva several events focusing on the city's humanitarian and international vocation have already been held.

Disasters create specific problems shaped by both the type of event (earthquake, volcanic eruption, war) and its consequences (sudden or gradual impact on the victims).

The process that unleashes a disaster is often more complex than appears at first glance. For example, drought is obviously caused by poor climatic conditions, but it may also be precipitated by human behaviour detrimental to the environment.

While internal conflicts do not always have a direct and major impact on civilians beyond the casualties they claim, the breakdown of local services, particularly medical care and food supply, may have dire effects on health and nutrition, so that the entire civilian population falls victim to the situation.

I should like to welcome you all to this important meeting which will consider the implications of the possible use in the future of a new type of weapon, and of a new method of warfare.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has the tasks, inter alia, of working for the faithful application of humanitarian law and preparing for its development. Its aim is, and has always been, to attempt to reduce the suffering caused by war as far as possible in relation both to the methods of warfare and to the protection and assistance to be given to victims. Its concern as to the effects of weapons is an old one. I am referring in particular here to the efforts which the ICRC undertook formally to outlaw the use of chemical weapons. We published in February 1918 an appeal that strongly protested against the use of poison gas, referring in particular to the terrible suffering it inflicted on soldiers. The ICRC appealed to the sentiment of humanity of the governments of the time and subsequently sent letters to the League of Nations and to governments urging them to conclude an agreement prohibiting the use of chemical weapons. This eventually led to the signature of the 1925 Protocol. Since that time the ICRC hosted two expert meetings in the 1970s which studied a number of modern weapons. The direct outcome of those meetings was the Convention adopted in 1980 by the United Nations, commonly referred to as the Inhumane Weapons Convention. However, discussions begun during those expert meetings were not completed; in particular it was agreed that further research was necessary on the effects of certain new weapons, and that information on other weapons, including laser weapons, was so scanty and undeveloped at that time as to preclude any real analysis. The present range of the 1980 treaty is thus very limited and does not fully meet the concerns of experts as to the suffering that some weapons may unnecessarily cause.