We have on several occasions mentioned the activity in the field hospital installed by the ICRC at Uqhd in the Yemeni desert. Last April we published an article entitled “A day at the Uqhd Field Hospital“ by a nurse who worked there in 1964 and who described her daily life at Uqhd and the continuous difficulties encountered and which are still being encountered by the men and women carrying out this humanitarian work in conditions which the climate and the isolation render particularly arduous.

It was of interest to draw up a report describing this action, but above all from the medical point of view presenting a rapid summary of two years' work. This report, which the ICRC will be submitting to the XXth International Conference of the Red Cross, is now given below

Last month the International Review published an article by Mr. Frédéric Siordet, member of the ICRC, on the dissemination of the Geneva Conventions. He recalled the efforts undertaken, in particular by the ICRC, to make more widely known the texts of these Conventions and the obligations incumbent upon signatory States.

Following this article, readers will, we believe, be interested in the following list of publications, lectures, films, etc., produced by the International Committee of the Red Cross to promote the dissemination of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.

The ICRC published an Annual Report in which as usual it reviewed the work accomplished during the past year.

In spite of the relative calm which characterized the year 1964 on the international level, the ICRC, for its part, had to undertake multiple and often extremely difficult tasks. In a world evolving ever faster, several countries were still shaken by violence. In order to come to the aid of the victims of these conflicts, the ICRC has been obliged to face some unexpected situations which raised complicated problems. It attempted to adapt its action to these new circumstances so as to maintain its own effectiveness. The present report will enable an estimate to be made of how far it was successful.

The large-scale actions which the International Committee of the Red Cross undertakes in conflicts have always raised the difficult problem of recruitment. Under pressure as a result of unexpected situations, these have necessitated the immediate but temporary intervention of personnel sometimes very numerous and experienced in dealing with special and delicate tasks. Now, it is obviously impossible for the ICRC to retain large numbers of delegates permanently in its service who would remain inactive in periods of calm.

The twentieth anniversary of the end of hostilities in 1945 gave the Red Cross a welcome opportunity to recall the activities undertaken under its flag to allay sufferings caused by the greatest cataclysm which has yet affected the human race. The International Committee of the Red Cross which is called upon to assume heavy responsibilities in case of war wishes to put on record here some aspects of its action as neutral intermediary in favour of all the victims of the world conflict.

The Neutral Commission, appointed by the ICRC to determine claims by the victims of psendo-medical experiments practised in German concentration camps and to whom the German Federal republic had decided to allocate compensation, met on April 8, 9 and 10 in Geneva.

From March 22 to April 2, the International Committee of the Red Cross organized its first training course for certain of its staff and a limited number of Swiss students prepared to make themselves available for service to the ICRC, in particular for missions abroad.

The XIIIth Quadrennial Congress of the International Council of Nurses which was held from June 16 to 24 at Frankfurt-am-Main voted, unanimously and by acclamation, the following text to be included in the “International Code of Nursing Ethics”: “It is important that all nurses be aware of the principles of the Red Cross and the privileges as well as the obligations of nurses under the terms of the Geneva Conventions of 1949”. Miss Anny Pfirter, head of the medical personnel section, representing the International Committee of the Red Cross, guardian of the Red Cross principles and promoter of the Geneva Conventions, was given an ovation on that occasion by the participants.

After nineteen years, a family in touch again. — Mrs. D., with her four daughters and one son, lived in a small Ukrainian village until 1943, when the German occupation forces sent the family to Germany, from which country they originated.

Mrs. Z., of Silesian origin, married and living in Australia, had had no news of her father since 1940 when he had enlisted in the German army. Shortly afterwards, her mother divorced and then remarried. She herself, whilst still a child, had been sent to Germany.

During 1964, the Visitors' Service of the ICRC received some 2,500 persons.

Many of these were members of National Societies of the Red Cross, Red Crescent and the Red Lion and Sun, representing more than 50 different nations: Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Cambodia, Canada, Chile, China, Congo, Czechoslovakia, Denmark, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Italy, Japan, Korea, Lebanon, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, Rumania, Sierra Leone, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland, the United States, Upper Volta, Uruguay, the USSR and Yugoslavia.

On November 24, 1964, the delegation of the Arab League in Geneva gave a reception at the Arabic Information and Cultural Centre in honour of Mr. Samuel A. Gonard, the new President of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Several members and some of the ICRC's directing staff were invited, including Mr. Léopold Boissier, former President, Mr. Martin Bodmer, Vice-President, Mr. Frédéric Siordet and Mr. Max Petitpierre, members. On the Arab side, most of the chiefs of diplomatic missions accredited in Switzerland were present.

Examination of the 1964 accounts of the International Committee of the Red Cross once again shows the insufficiency of its regular receipts which, it should be recalled, consist essentially of contributions of governments parties to the Geneva Conventions and of the National Red Cross Societies, to which the ICRC reiterates its gratitude for their moral and material support.