On the occasion of the coming celebration of the tenth anniversary of the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, the editor of the International Review of the Red Cross has very kindly invited the Mexican Red Cross to prepare an article on this event, bringing out the importance of these legal instruments for the Society, the measures it has taken to promote the dissemination of the Protocols and, perhaps more important, the work done by the National Society in favour of their ratification.

In November and December 1986, the President of the International Committee of the Red Cross went on several missions which took him to London, Brussels, The Hague and Brasilia.

In southern Sudan, relief supplies were distributed in January in the Narus region, where 10,200 persons received 145 tonnes of sorghum, 28 tonnes of beans and 18 tonnes of oil. Further distributions of foodstuffs were carried out in the first week of February (291 tonnes). On 18 February the recipients of the “seed and implements” project were once more registered systematically: 22,800 persons were registered in Narus and the three neighbouring camps. Distributions began at the end of February. The Narus feeding centre continued to admit children suffering from malnutrition: in January, 476 children were cared for at the centre. A surgical hospital, gift of the Finnish Red Cross, was set up at Lokichokio, in Kenya, to treat wounded persons arriving from southern Sudan. The despatch of food aid to Tigray and Eritrea was continued as in the past. In January, 1,230 tonnes were sent to Tigray and 730 tonnes to Eritrea.

At its session of 21 January 1987, the ICRC Assembly took leave of two of its members: Dr. Jacques de Rougemont, who is withdrawing for health reasons, and Mr. Henry Huguenin, who did not wish to renew his mandate. The Assembly expressed its gratitude to them both for the eminent services they had rendered to the Red Cross and made them honorary members.

The Netherlands contributed vigorously to the drafting of the Protocols of 1977, and it was among the States that signed these instruments at the first opportunity, on 12 December 1977 in Berne. Yet, up to the present day, it has not ratified the Protocols. Why the delay?

According to the final surveys there was a definite improvement in the nutritional status of the population in practically all the assisted areas, except for a few pockets in the provinces of Eritrea, Hararghe and Gondar.

Norway took an active part in the discussions which led to the 1977 Additional Protocols. The Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and the Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts (Geneva, 1974–1977) as well as the meetings of experts which preceded it were attended by numerous representatives from Norway.