The tragic situation of displaced persons in camps on the Thai/Cambodian border and civilians living inside Cambodia continued unresolved in 1990. International efforts to find a lasting solution that would guarantee peace, as well as satisfy the requirements of the four Cambodian parties to the conflict, failed to bring decisive results.

Although the Cambodian authorities announced, during an official visit to Phnom Penh by the ICRC President in September, that, in principle, the ICRC would have access to detainees arrested in connection with the situation in the country, the conditions for such visits were still being discussed at the end of the year.

The delegates concentrated particularly on monitoring living conditions of the people whom the various resistance factions had brought back into Cambodia, and, as in the past, concerned themselves with the situation in the camps for displaced people. The ICRC noted signs, especially towards the end of the year, that more of the camp populations accessible to international and non-governmental organizations were at risk of being forcibly shifted to Cambodia.

The need for direct overall ICRC involvement in the Philippines was found to have lessened, as training and development acquired through the operation increasingly allowed the Philippine National Red Cross (PNRC) to act independently and raise its efficiency.

Following the opening of its delegation in Colombo in October 1989, the ICRC concentrated on protection work in the centre and south-west of the country for detainees suspected of belonging to the Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP).

New Delhi: (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, India, the Maldives, Nepal)

Bangladesh—Negotiations with the country's authorities concerning a possible joint ICRC/League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies/National Society survey in the Chittagong Hill Tracts were at a standstill.

In December 1990, contacts were reestablished for the first time in 43 years with the National Society and government officials in Albania.

Following the visit of an ICRC delegation in November, the ICRC launched a programme contributing to the development of the operational capacity of the Bulgarian Red Cross and set up several projects to promote international humanitarian law.

On 22 December 1989, after the outbreak of events in Bucharest, ICRC delegates quickly arrived on the spot to provide protection for hundreds of civilians and medical care for the wounded. By 28 December, 34 ICRC delegates and 28 expatriates from National Societies were posted in Romania, working in close cooperation with volunteers from the Romanian Red Cross. On the same date, around 4,500 tonnes of relief goods had arrived or were on their way. During the emergency period, which lasted until the end of the year, the ICRC made repeated radio broadcasts in an attempt to ensure respect for the Red Cross emblem. In the midst of the fighting the emblem had been frequently disregarded. Once the initial emergency phase was over, there was an urgent need for various forms of ICRC humanitarian assistance, particularly in the areas of protection and medical assistance.

In June the ICRC carried out a followup visit to 1,634 prisoners in four detention centres: Magilligan, Maghaberry, Belfast and Maze.

The ICRC travelled to the Soviet Union on several occasions, in particular to Moscow, Vilnius, Minsk, Kiev, Tashkent and Boukhara. The aim of the visits was, on the one hand, to develop contacts with Red Cross and Red Crescent representatives and government officials, and on the other hand, to participate in seminars on international humanitarian law and human rights.

Following negotiations begun with the Yugoslav federal authorities the previous year, an agreement was reached enabling delegates to carry out an initial series of visits to 291 sentenced security detainees held in various places of detention in all the country's republics and provinces.

The International Tracing Service (ITS), which has been based in Arolsen, Germany, since 1946, has the task of centralizing information on victims of National Socialist persecution in order to enable them or their rightful claimants to obtain compensation. In 1955, the ITS was placed under the supervision of a ten-country International Commission and responsibility for its day-to-day management was entrusted to the ICRC. In 1990, the number of requests made to the ITS rose again, by 14.27%, and application was made for the fourth time to the Federal German Ministry of the Interior for additional staff. As at 31 December, 398 persons were working either full-time or part-time to fill 340 posts at the ITS.

On 20 August 1988, following Iran's acceptance of UN Resolution 598 (it will be recalled that Iraq had accepted this resolution the previous year), a cease-fire went into effect between Iran and Iraq. The ICRC immediately proposed a comprehensive repatriation procedure to both parties, based on the applicability of Article 118 of the Third Geneva Convention, which is mentioned in Point 3 of Resolution 598. However, this repatriation was still not under way at the end of 1989.

Tracing activities continued for families separated because of the different conflicts in the Middle East, past and present. In 1990, 120 Red Cross messages were exchanged.

Kuwait became the focus of worldwide attention when Iraqi troops entered the country on 2 August 1990. The ICRC responded the same day by stating the applicability of the Geneva Conventions and by reminding both countries of their obligations in armed conflict as States party to the Geneva Conventions. In accordance with the mandate entrusted to it by the international community, the ICRC requested authorization to take action to protect and assist all those in need.

In the conflict between Israel and the Arab states, the ICRC considers that the conditions for the application of the Fourth Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from settling its civilians in the occupied territory, destroying the homes of the people living there or expelling them from it, are fulfilled in all of the occupied territories (the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, Golan and East Jerusalem). The principles that the rights of persons who are in occupied territory are inviolable is expressed in Article 47 of the Fourth Convention.

The work of the ICRC delegation in Jordan included activities related to the situation in Kuwait, Lebanon and the territories occupied by Israel, dissemination of information on the work of the Red Cross, and cooperation with National Societies.

Deteriorating relations between the different factions and widespread fighting displaced many families in 1990 and increased the social and economic disruption in the country. For some periods, Beirut came under daily shelling and civilians left the city and its suburbs en masse for safer areas, in particular southern Lebanon. The heavy loss of life and resources weakened the already fragile economic and social structures.

In 1990, the delegation based in Damascus was mainly concerned with activities related to the regional conflicts in the Middle East, specifically the hostilities in the territories occupied by Israel and in Lebanon. The ICRC continued to assist the Syrian Arab Red Crescent Society with a nutritional programme for children.