La femme, jusqu'au premier conflit mondial, n'a pris qu'une part directe peu importante à la guerre et le besoin de lui accorder une protection juridique spéciale dans une telle situation ne s'est pas fait sentir. Cela ne signifie pas pour autant qu'elle ait été dépourvue de toute protection dans le passé. Dès la naissance du droit international humanitaire, elle a bénéficié au même titre que l'homme d'une protection juridique générale. Blessée, la femme a d'abord été protégée par les dispositions de la Convention de Genève de 1864 pour l'amélioration du sort des militaires blessés dans les armées en campagne; prisonnière de guerre, elle a été mise au bénéfice des dipositions du Règlement annexé aux Conventions de La Haye de 1899 et 1907 sur les lois et coutumes de la guerre sur terre.

Dans l'Europe de la première moitié du XIXe siècle, chaque armée signalait ses services sanitaires par un drapeau d'une couleur différente: il était blanc en Autriche, rouge en France, jaune en Espagne, ailleurs noir. Parfois, ces emblèmes variaient d'un corps de troupe à l'autre. En outre, aucun signe particulier ne permettait de distinguer les fourgons sanitaires des autres échelons du train, et rien ne permettait d'identifier à distance les membres des services de santé.

As in previous years, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross sent a message to many countries as follows:

On the threshold of the New Year, as President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, I send you my greetings and best wishes; I share with you the hope that 1968 may at last see an atmosphere of peace prevailing in the world.

It was 300 years ago, in 1673, that Cornelius van Bynkershoek, the great Dutch lawyer and author on public and international law, was born. It is proper to commemorate this jurist of great reputation as he was still called in 1812 by an American court. For the Red Cross, being a product and perhaps the most important instrument, to-day, of international humanitarian law, should not forget that one of its main sources lies in the doctrine of international law, or law of nations, as it was developed by the great authors of former days, the founders of international law. Although everyone will have in mind the name of Hugo Grotius, that of van Bynkershoek seems quite unknown. There may be some reason for this, but before trying to explain this anomaly we must try to get to know van Bynkershoek a little better.

The decision to devote an issue of the International Review of the Red Cross to a series of articles on the two ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals set up by the United Nations to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia and in Rwanda reflects the increasing importance of these courts both for the general public and for legal experts.

La XIX Mesa Redonda del Instituto Internacional de Derecho Humanitario sobre los Actuates Problemas del Derecho Internacional Humanitario tuvo lugar en San Remo, del 29 de agosto al 2 de septiembre de 1994, sobre el tema «Prevención de los conflictos — la perspectiva humanitaria».

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.

Armed conflicts always have dire effects on the health of the civilian population. Apart from the harm — wounds, burns, asphyxia and radiation — caused directly by weapons of war, the people fall prey to disease because of the disruption of their normal living conditions.

In most cases, it is the latter rather than the former which takes the greatest toll.

Some basic health protection principles are therefore common to all development and disaster situations.

As already announced in International Review, the ICRC is organizing a second session of the Conference of Government Experts on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts for the spring of 1972, as it had not been found possible to deal fully with all the subjects at the first session and some topics had not even been broached. The experts had, therefore, unanimously recommended that the work begun at the last Conference should be pursued at a further meeting.

Las relaciones entre la doctrina de la Cruz Roja y la de los derechos humanos se consolidaron progresivamente hasta que aparecieron, en el transcurso de esa evolución, ámbitos de acción y de investigación formales comunes a las dos corrientes de pensamiento. Puede resultar interesante examinar en qué medida la noción de defensa de los derechos humanos estaba presente en el pensamiento de los fundadores de la Cruz Roja y de qué manera se ampliaron los primeros objetivos hasta incluir en su problemática algunos aspectos fundamentales de la protección de la persona humana.

Esa evolución y esa ampliación del ámbito de acción de la Cruz Roja y de la Media Luna Roja se ha hecho por etapas, a menudo por efecto de los graves conflictos que han jalonado la historia de nuestro siglo, así como por la influencia de la evolución de los sistemas políticos.

Hoy resulta poco decir que «el estado del planeta» es sumamente inquietante. «Vivimos en un período de transitión histórica, caracterizado por una crisis de conciencia literalmente explosiva del conflicto entre las actividades humanas y los imperativos del medio ambiente», declaró recientemente la señora Gro Harlem Brundtland, primera ministra de Noruega, que preside la Comisión Mundial sobre el Medio Ambiente y el Desarrollo. Se comienza a librar una batalla decisiva, porque el planeta está efectivamente amenazado.

El accidente de Chernobil, la muerte de los bosques y la contaminatión de las aguas, el recalentamiento de la atmósfera y la amenaza que se cierne sobre la capa de ozono, así como la destrucción de nuestro patrimonio genético son otros tantos fenómenos que ilustran la necesidad de inspirar, apoyar y, llegado el caso, dirigir una acción tendente a proteger el medio ambiente a nivel local, zonal y mundial.

A instancias del CICR y con su colaboración, la Cruz Roja Japonesa organizó un coloquio en la Universidad de Tokio, sobre los problemas y los retos del derecho internacional humanitario en Japón. Esta reunión, apoyada por el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores nipón, se celebró el 19 y 20 de febrero de 1997.

El coloquio fue inaugurado por el vicepresidente de la Cruz Roja Japonesa, Tadateru Konoe, y por el delegado general del CICR para la zona Asia y el Pacífico, Jean Michel Monod. Participaron en él unas sesenta personas de universidades, de Ministerios —en particular de Relaciones Exteriores, de Justicia y de la Agenda de Autodefensa—, de diversas organizaciones no gubemamentales y de la Sociedad Nacional.

The International Committee of the Red Cross is deeply concerned about the gravity of the situation in Yugoslavia and its consequences in humanitarian terms.

On several occasions, we have published information about the relief operation undertaken by the ICRC in Jordan, with the cooperation of the League, National Societies, institutions and governments, during the last few months of 1970. But the richly illustrated Final Report which the International Committee is now publishing gives a complete picture of the action, and we think it worth while to reproduce the text, especially as it is followed by tables from which our readers will see who were the generous donors who participated in the action and the extent of the contributions received and forwarded.

The law of war — international humanitarian law — has a place of its own and its own special characteristics in the general scheme for the repression of offences. International law is, in a sense, on the fringe of the provisions made by States in their domestic law for the repression of unlawful acts. It has its own system of repression, which imposes sanctions for breaches of international law committed by States, international organizations or individuals.