An international symposium on Medical Care and Protection of Prisoners and Detainees was organized by the Ciba Foundation, in London, from 27 to 30 November 1972. The papers read at the symposium and the discussions which followed related mainly to minimum rules governing the treatment of all detainees, provisions made by various governments regarding hygiene, care, food, etc., and the role of the doctor in that domain. The texts were compiled and assembled in a volume published some time ago.

The book contains a study essentially based on the experiences of ICRC delegates which will undoubtedly be of particular interest to readers. It was written by the late Pierre Boissier, and we wish to thank the Ciba Foundation for allowing us to reproduce it. (Ed.)

This paper, the views expressed in which are solely those of the author, was read at the International Symposium on Humanitarian Law last December, an account of which is given below, on the occasion of the Centenary of the Brussels Declaration.

One hundred and fifty years ago, on June 16, 1824, Constance Teichmann was born in Antwerp. Hei father was governor of the Province of Antwerp. Her mother was very active in social work: she founded a society to provide for needy widows, and an association of Christian mothers; she helped to estabJish nursery schools, Sunday schools and schools of lacemaking, and she set up an orphanage for girls.

The international law of armed conflict (jus in bello) has undergone a long course of development. Its first traces date from antiquity, but we find a more substantial evolution during the latter part of the Middle Ages.

One of the remarkable elements in this development was the «Code of Chivalry». Although this was not a written document, being transmitted only by tradition, it possessed great authority. It prescribed that combat must take place in such a manner as not to compromise the honour of the knight and condemned unnecessary killing and killing by treachery. It required that the vanquished be treated with generosity and that assistance be rendered to the helpless and destitute.

Prisoners. — The ICRC obtained from the authorities concerned a general agreement concerning its tasks under the Conventions on behalf of civilian and military prisoners (visits to camps, releases and repatriations).

Mr. Herbert Lüthy was elected to membership of the Assembly of the ICRC at its meeting of 25 September 1975.

Mr. Lüthy, who was born in Basle in 1918, completed his primary and secondary education in German Switzerland. He pursued his higher studies at the Universities of Paris, Geneva and Zurich, specializing in history, Romance languages and French literature. In 1942, he took a doctorate in philosophy at Zurich University.

The offer of services of the International Committee of the Red Cross to the Ethiopian authorities when trouble broke out in Asmara at the end of January, confirmed by a cable sent by the President of the ICRC Executive Board on 9 February to the Head of the Provisional Military Government, is still being considered in Addis Ababa.

A plenary meeting of the International Committee of the Red Cross has elected its future President. Its choice was Mr. Alexandre Hay of Geneva, Vice-Chairman of the Board of the Swiss National Bank, and member of the ICRC.

In its November 1973 issue, International Review included a review of a report, published by the ICRC, on weapons that may cause unnecessary suffering or have indiscriminate effects, summarizing the work of a group of experts convened by the International Committee.

At the beginning of this month, the ICRC sent to some Governments and all National Societies a memorandum describing the ICRC's work in Cyprus since December 1974. We give below some extracts:

Introduction

The instability which still prevails in Cyprus, indicated in particular by major population shifts, has resulted in a great many humanitarian problems, demanding protection, medical and material assistance, and action by the Tracing Agency. The ICRC has therefore maintained in Cyprus a delegation of some forty persons, including ten delegates, four specialists in Agency problems, three relief supply delegates, two doctors nd five mobile medical teams provided by National Red Cross Societies.

The regional delegate of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for Southern Africa was in Angola from 9 to 26 October 1974. He was received by Vice-Admiral Antonio Rosa Coutinho, president of the Angolan Military Junta, and General Altino de Magalhães, chief military commander. He also met the president and members of the Red Cross in Angola.

In its Circular No. 495 of 23 August 1974, 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.

Dr. Eric Martin, President of the ICRC, accompanied by Mr. Melchior Borsinger, Delegate-General for Europe and North America, visited the Federal Republic of Germany from 19 to 25 June, at the invitation of the National Red Cross.

The delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross who have been in Addis Ababa for several weeks have not yet been authorized to go to Asmara. To the ICRC's offers to provide the victims of the conflict in Eritrea with assistance and protection, the Ethiopian Minister for Foreign Affairs has replied that the Government has the situation in hand and that there is no emergency. The ICRC is still prepared to play its traditional humanitarian role on behalf of the victims of the present conflict: the wounded and the sick, prisoners, and the civilian population.

For a number of years, the ICRC has been publishing and offering to National Societies an illustrated school textbook, supplemented by a teacher's manual to help teachers make effective use of the textbook. This has made an active contribution to spreading knowledge of Red Cross principles and the Geneva Conventions among the young people of the world. The two books have been very widely distributed, as the International Review has noted from time to time.

ICRC activities. – In March 1975, the delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) visited seven places of detention and two hospitals in Chile, where 778 detainees were held by order of the military authorities. From 1 to 17 April 1975, they visited thirteen places of detention holding 983 detainees. Medicaments were distributed on several occasions. During March 1975, medicaments, toilet articles, foodstuffs and clothing, to a value of 30,000 dollars were distributed to 2,700 families of detainees (800 of them in Santiago).