To receive Your Holiness in the headquarters of our Committee is not merely an honour and a privilege, it is above all a great comfort. In fact, this is a unique opportunity to welcome the Head of a State founded on spiritual strength rather than on military might.

In a world too often ruled by the force of arms, You, as Sovereign Pontiff of the Roman Catholic Church, embody the spiritual values without which no enterprise can be truly described as human.

I thank you most warmly for your kind words about the work of the Holy See and my own personal endeavours. I have listened very carefully to all you have said about my native land, about El Salvador and the Middle East, and about peace in general, for these are matters very close to the hearts of Catholics, whose representative I am, and they are constantly in my prayers.

It is a great joy for me to be able to greet the leading representatives of an organisation to which humanity owes so much, at the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross itself! Since its foundation by Henry Dunant over a century ago, this institution, which took root in the hearts of a few generous Swiss citizens, has met with a commendable response all over the world.

Since the end of the Second World War, technological developments in armaments have produced increasingly sophisticated weapons. The most dangerous of these for air transports protected by the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 are remote controlled missiles equipped with homing devices, the operating raduis of which exceeds the visual range of the protective emblems recognized by these Conventions and carried by medical aircraft. The visual range of the emblem is frequently much less than 1,000 metres.

In its Circular No. 512, dated 20 November 1978, the International Committee of the Red Cross communicated to the National Societies the conditions under which applications for grants could be made in aid of their delegates or nurses who, in the course of their relief work during war operations or natural disasters, had suffered injury and had thereby found themselves in straitened circumstances or in reduced health (article 2 of the Regulations of the Maurice de Madre French Fund, adopted on 19 December 1974 by the ICRC Assembly).

On 12 August 1982, while on holiday in Switzerland, the British Prime Minister, Mrs. Margaret Thatcher, paid a private visit to the International Committee of the Red Cross. She was accompanied by her husband, Mr. Denis Thatcher. In the absence of the President of the ICRC, she was welcomed by Mr. Richard Pestalozzi, its Vice-President.

On 17 June 1982, Denmark deposited with the Swiss Government an instrument of ratification, dated 2 June 1982, of Protocols I and II additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 relating to the protection of the victims of international and non-international armed conflicts, adopted on 8 June 1977.

“Medic-Air 1982”, the international exhibition of medical and general aviation, was held in Geneva from 22 to 25 April. Sponsored by the ICRC and with the object of promoting and developing medical aviation, this event complied with one of the statutory tasks of our institution: to contribute to the preparation of Red Cross medical personnel and equipment, in particular for action in the event of armed conflict. The ICRC had previously held exhibitions of the same type, the first in 1924 and a second one in connection with the celebration, in 1978, of the 150th anniversary of the birth of Henry Dunant.

Mr. Guillaume Bordier, former vice-president and an honorary member of the ICRC, died on 9 July 1982.

Mr. Bordier was born in Geneva in 1901 and did his schooling there. He continued his studies at the Federal Polytechnicum in Zurich where he graduated in engineering. He then went on to study economics in the United States and received his “Master of Business Administration” degree from the University of Harvard in 1929. On his return to Geneva he joined the Banque Bordier et O in an executive capacity and later became a partner in the bank. He was a member of the Swiss Bankers' Association and sat on the Board of Directors of a number of companies.

In June, the delegate general for Africa, Mr. Jean-Marc Bornet, visited Namibia/South West Africa, Sudan and Ethiopia, to discuss current activities with the ICRC delegations in those three countries.