Although mention of blood transfusion dates back to the origin of medicine, it may be said that the genuine history of transfusion starts at the beginning of our century.

Since then transfusion has passed through several decisive phases, but it is only in the past twenty years that it has made spectacular progress and has become one of the essential components of modern medicine.

El Reino de los Países Bajos ratificó, el 26 de junio de 1987 (por el Reino en Europa, las Antillas neerlandesas y Aruba), los Protocolos adicionales a los Convenios de Ginebra del 12 de agosto de 1949 relativos a la protección de las víctimas de los conflictos armados internacionales (Protocolo I) y no internacionales (Protocolo II), aprobados en Ginebra, el 8 de junio de 1977.

En el número de agosto de 1957 de la Revista International de la Cruz Roja apareció un estudio dedicado a las reservas relativas a los Convenios de Ginebra de 1949 para la protección de las víctimas de la guerra. En aquella época, el número de Estados obligados por los Convenios de Ginebra ascendía a 66, y 18 de ellos habían acompañado de reservas su participación. En 1965, apareció un estudio suplementario sobre la misma materia en el número del mes de julio de la misma Revista. En dicha fecha, el número de Estados obligados por los Convenios de Ginebra de 1949 había aumentado a 106, y 20 de ellos habían formulado reservas.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has received from the Federal Political Department in Berne a communication informing it that the Canadian Government notified the Swiss Federal Council on May 14, 1965 of the ratification by that State of the Geneva Conventions of 1949, such ratification taking effect on November 14, 1965.

On 13 December 1985 the Eastern Republic of Uruguay deposited with the Swiss Government an instrument of accession to the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I) and non-international armed conflicts (Protocol II), adopted in Geneva on 8 June 1977.

When trying, in very popular terms, to explain what the Red Cross is, we sometimes define it in three ways: it is an emblem, a symbol, protecting or designating a movement; it is a world organization with 230 million members, almost all of them volunteers, brought together into 126 National Societies; but it is also an ideal, inspiring action to make this ideal a reality, based on a firm belief in a global, human solidarity, active in the fight against suffering.

ICRC delegates carried out visits to places of detention in three countries. During each visit, the delegates talked in private with the detainees of their own choice. Reports on these visits are sent to the authorities concerned.

If we look back to the diverse origins of the laws of warfare, one basic question which seems to have occupied the early lawmakers was: why, in fact, should there be legal limitations to belligerent actions aimed at destroying a foreign foe? At first glance, any such constraints would appear to be contrary to the very purpose of warfare and thus of no value to those who were either forced to resist an armed attack or who themselves wished to wage war against an enemy.

The Second Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea received its baptism of fire in 1982, during the conflict in the south Atlantic. The author of this article was present as one of the members of the ICRC delegation. This article is based largely on his experiences at the time and on the thoughts and considerations to which they have given rise.

At an ICRC seminar on training and information techniques a few years ago an instructor described the position of a dissemination delegate within an ICRC delegation, and hence of dissemination work in general, as follows:

“Within an ICRC delegation, the delegate responsible for disseminating international humanitarian law generally has his office at the end of a long corridor, right at the back between the office supplies cupboard and the toilets. But most of the time you won't find him there, as he (or she) is constantly out giving courses or suchlike, either at military installations or universities or among the National Red Cross Society's volunteers. And when you do find him for a short while in his office, he's fiddling around with scissors, paper and glue trying to put together a leaflet or a poster, or perhaps even a small brochure. His colleagues, the delegates dealing with the distribution of relief supplies, the tracing service or prison visits, smile indulgently when they see the dissemination delegate busy with work like that. They speak well of him because he regularly reads the International Review of the Red Cross and knows the ins and outs of international humanitarian law and ICRC policy; he is a good talker, so he always has to step in where armed protagonists in local conflict fail to observe the rules protecting the civilian population. He must often beware of being torn to pieces and is expected to be everywhere at once, because what he does, he alone can do. Many ICRC delegates admire the dissemination delegate; sometimes he gets called “the professor”, “the clown” or “the artist”. His work is a one-man show, and yet those delegates who distribute rice, visit prisoners or try to trace missing persons could not and would not want to do his job themselves.”

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was created on 8 November 1994 by the United Nations Security Council, of which it is a subsidiary body. Its task is to help restore and maintain peace and bring about national reconciliation by trying persons allegedly responsible for acts of genocide and other grave breaches of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda and Rwandan citizens suspected of committing such acts and violations in the territory of neighbouring States between 1 January and 31 December 1994.

The National Lifeboat Societies and State-maintained rescue services, members of the International Lifeboat Conference (ILC), unanimously adopted the report by their special working group on the protection of rescue craft in periods of armed conflicts. The report was drawn up after the meeting in Geneva from 16 to 18 April 1984 of that working group, comprising representatives of the ILC, of the International Maritime Organization (IMO), of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). It contains recommendations for improving the protection of rescue craft and their crews and of fixed coastal installations and staff of lifeboat institutions in periods of armed conflict.

Over the years the Americas have made significant contributions to the development of international humanitarian law. These include three nineteenth-century texts which constitute the earliest modern foundations of the law of armed conflict. The first is a treaty, signed on 26 November 1820 by the liberator Simón Bolívar and the peacemaker Pablo Morillo, which applied the rules of international conflict to a civil war. The second is a Spanish-American work entitled Principios de Derecho de Genres (Principles of the Law of Nations), which was published in 1832 by Andrés Bello. This work dealt systematically with the various aspects and consequences of war. The third is a legal instrument, signed on 24 April 1863 by United States President Abraham Lincoln, which codified the first body of law on internal conflict under the heading “Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field” (General Orders No. 100). This instrument, known as the Lieber Code, was adopted as the new code of conduct for the armies of the Union during the American Civil War.

La Comisión de Gestión del Consejo Nacional suizo visitó, el 18 de agosto por la tarde, la sede del CICR en Ginebra.Recibieron a los huéspedes los señores Jean Pictet, vicepresidente del CICR, Victor Umbricht, vicepresidente del Consejo Ejecutivo, y Richard Pestalozzi, asistente especial del presidente, acompañados por los encargados de los diversos departamentos del CICR.