In October and November 1979 many Khmers fled from their villages and sought refuge in camps in Thailand or along the Khmer-Thai border. The ICRC and other humanitarian organizations, international or private, had to provide for the needs of a sudden influx of people uprooted from their homes, exhausted by famine, suffering, fear, sickness and the ravages of war. The first priorities in such a situation are to supply the basic hygienic facilities, adequate food, water and shelter of some sort, all indispensable for survival. But disease and death are an ever-present threat and have to be resisted. This, then, was the task of the medical teams sent out by the ICRC and the National Societies of the Red Cross, and of many other groups belonging to other organizations who came to help the refugees. An overall coordination of the medical aid was indispensable; responsibility for this was assumed by the ICRC.

Assistance is the essence of all Red Cross actions; protection and assistance are the essence of all ICRC actions.

To approach the subject of this paper “Red Cross assistance and protection”, one should recall a few basic rules and concepts as guidelines in this study.

Firstly it should be clear that we shall not deal here with situations of natural disasters, which normally require Red Cross assistance only. Nor shall we deal with situations of internal disturbances or tensions, which involve mainly the ICRC and its activities in favour of persons detained for political or security reasons.

On 18 September 1981, the Swiss Government received from Saint Lucia the instrument containing its declaration of succession to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 for the protection of war victims, pursuant to the previous ratification of those Conventions by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

On 28 September 1981, the Swiss Government received from the Commonwealth of Dominica the instrument containing its declaration of succession to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 for the protection of war victims, pursuant to the previous ratification of those Conventions by the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

While in Switzerland, the President of the Republic of Austria, Mr. Rudolf Kirchschläger, visited the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva on 9 September 1981. As guest of the Swiss Federal Council during his State visit, Mr. Kirchschläger, was accompanied by Mr. Kurt Furgler, President of the Swiss Confederation and Mr. Georges-André Chevallaz, Federal Councillor, as well as the Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of External Commerce.

The President of the ICRC, Mr. Alexandre Hay, visited Washington from September 13 to 17 for talks with senior representatives of the United States administration. It was his first official visit to the United States. Mr. Hay was accompanied by Mr. J.-P. Hocké, director of the department of Operations in ICRC, Mr. A. Modoux, head of the division Press and Information, Mr. M. Veuthey, head of the division for International Organisations.

The International Red Cross Audio-Visual Centre in Geneva was officially inaugurated on 30 September.

In its Circular No. 516 of 25 August 1980, the International Committee of the Red Cross had the honour to invite the Central Committees of National Societies to send in the names of nurses and voluntary aids whom they judged qualified to receive the Florence Nightingale Medal. This invitation, which quoted Article 1 of the Regulations, was accompanied by application forms to be completed by National Societies.

During the first six months of 1981, the main ICRC assistance operations in Africa were in Angola (Planalto region), Uganda (West Nile Province), Chad and the Horn of Africa. It distributed more than 6,000 tonnes of relief, valued at almost 14 million Swiss francs.