“Voluntary work, less and less an activity undertaken by a small minority for the benefit of the majority, is becoming a natural means for the majority to participate in the life of the community, through pressure groups or directly influencing their environment or by other means.”

This definition, in a British Government paper to the United Nations Environment Conference in Stockholm in June 1972, well summarizes the significance and scope of voluntary work in society today and the way in which the concept of voluntary service has evolved.

When trying, in very popular terms, to explain what the Red Cross is, we sometimes define it in three ways: it is an emblem, a symbol, protecting or designating a movement; it is a world organization with 230 million members, almost all of them volunteers, brought together into 126 National Societies; but it is also an ideal, inspiring action to make this ideal a reality, based on a firm belief in a global, human solidarity, active in the fight against suffering.

“Tutti fratelli”, cried with emotion the women of Castiglione when, with Henry Dunant, they tended the wounded after the battle of Solferino. In this cry from the heart, this testimony to human solidarity in distress and to voluntary assistance to men who surfer, is to be found the origin of a movement which has so widely expanded during the years and which is called the Red Cross

We have said that this requirement is absolute. However, in exceptional circumstances, it may be necessary to make a choice; for instance, when a doctor or nurse, for want of medicines in sufficient quantities, is only in a position to cure a certain number of patients in his care. This is frequently a tragedy for the Red Cross, comparable to that of a raft which will sink if any more castaways cling to it. Can one, in all conscience, use an oar and rap the knuckles of human beings, children perhaps, whose misfortune it is to have not arrived first ? I know of several cases where doctors have only treated the sick, wounded or starving who still had a chance of survival, leaving those for whom there was no longer any hope to die. All this represents a matter of conscience, as it is called, because the decision must be left to the individual responsible, who will reach it after deep reflection and carefully weighing the pros and cons.

At its meeting of 13 September 1979, the ICRC Assembly appointed to the Executive Board Mr. Rudolf Jackli, who had been elected a member of the Assembly on 1 March 1979.

The following States deposited with the Swiss Government their instruments of ratification of the two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949:

Under the provisions of the Protocols, they will enter into force on 8 December 1979 for the Republic of the Niger, on 11 December 1979 for the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, on 9 February 1980 for the Republic of Tunisia, and on 29 February 1980 for the Kingdom of Sweden, that is six months after deposit of the instruments of ratification.

On 23 May 1979, the Republic of Botswana deposited with the Swiss Government its instruments of accession to the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

On 1 June 1979, the Republic of Cyprus deposited with the Swiss Government its instrument of ratification of Protocol I.

In its November-December 1978 issue, International Review announced that in October 1978 the ICRC had launched an information campaign in Southern Africa. This was a new venture, conducted by ICRC delegates based on Lusaka and Salisbury, which by now has gathered momentum. Its aim is to impart, as widely as possible, better knowledge and understanding of the red cross emblem and of its significance, and in this way to create conditions favouring the safety of Red Cross personnel in regions where their lives might be exposed to considerable danger because of military operations.