The 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Dunant, the 30th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 25th anniversary of the European Convention on Human Rights were all celebrated in 1978. Also in 1978, both the American Convention on Human Rights (1969) and the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions (1977) entered into force. The concurrence of these various notable events, all relating to human rights, constitutes an appropriate occasion for an analysis of the relationship which exists between international humanitarian law and human rights.

By way of introduction to their comments on the Tansley Report proposals on co-operation between their two institutions, the ICRC and the League refer to the legal and practical basis of their existing co-operation.

They co-operate at the highest policy-making levels, the International Red Cross Conference and the Council of Delegates. The Statutes of the International Red Cross provide that it shall be the duty of the Standing Commission between sessions of the Conference to ensure the co-ordination and harmony of the efforts of the International Committee and of the League (Article 10/3).

The ICRC should be in constant touch not only with the League, but also with the League members, the National Societies. It intends to strengthen these ties.

Although the ICRC works in close contact with governments, who wanted it to be uninational—a character which was approved by two International Red Cross Conferences—it has always considered that one of its basic tasks was to contribute, to the best of its ability, to uniting the Movement more closely and to strengthening the bonds among its members.

Almost all National Societies and States consider the independence, neutrality and impartiality of the ICRC to be essential for the performance of its tasks, and to be important factors in the cohesion and unity of the Red Cross Movement. In the main, that independence, neutrality and impartiality are based on three special characteristics of the ICRC:

— its members are co-opted, thereby excluding any kind of external influence;

— its members are all of the same nationality, thereby preventing governments from influencing the ICRC in reaching its decisions;

— being Swiss, its members are citizens of a country which is bound by neutral status in perpetuity.

In the February 1976 issue (No. 179) of International Review of the Red Cross (page 70), the International Committee of the Red Cross published the regulations of the Maurice de Madre French Fund. The aim of this Fund is to provide assistance, by paying for rest and convalescent cures, for persons of the permanent or temporary staff of international or national Red Cross institutions, such as delegates or nurses who, in the course of their work or during war operations or natural disasters, have suffered injury and have thereby found themselves in straitened circumstances or in reduced health (Art. 2 of the Regulations).

At its meeting on 18 January 1979, the ICRC Assembly noted the resignation of Mr. Herbert Liithy, who had been a member since September 1975.

At its meeting on the 20th December 1978, the General Assembly of the Henry Dunant Institute appointed Mr. Jacques Meurant, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General of the League of Red Cross Societies, in charge of statutory matters, as Director of the Institute. He succeeds Mr. Jean Pictet, Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross, who has reached retirement age.

At the end of 1978 the Government of the Federal Republic of Germany showed its appreciation of the ICRC and of the work of the International Tracing Service at Arolsen by the award of the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit to the former directors of the International Tracing Service, namely, Mr. N. Burckhardt, who was director from 1955 to 1970, and Mr. A. de Cocatrix, director from 1970 to 1977.

The ICRC delegation in Rhodesia/Zimbabwe continued its protection and assistance activities.

In November, work was begun near Salisbury on the building of 300 shelters for displaced persons who had fled from unsafe areas to seek refuge around the large urban centres. The Rhodesian authorities gave the land, laid drinking water mains and provided sanitation. The cost of the actual buildings will be covered by the ICRC and its delegates have undertaken to draw up the list of needy families to whom homes will be allocated. It is estimated that the project will take 18 months to complete and will cost 355,000 Swiss francs.