The 22nd session of the Executive Council of the League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies was held in Geneva on 20 and 21 October 1988 under the chairmanship of Mr. Mario Villarroel, the League President.

The Council members heard a report from Mr. Par Stenback, Secretary General of the League, on the League Secretariat's activities since April 1988. Mr. Stenbäck referred to the series of natural disasters which had occurred during that period and stressed the need to widen the Secretariat's financial base, not only to be able to respond to natural disaster but also to do more for National Society development.

The Central Tracing Agency (CTA) exists to clear away such doubt, and to do so it has fixed as its four main tasks:

1. to obtain, register, process and pass on all information that can identify persons whose case has been taken up by the ICRC;

2. to ensure exchanges of family correspondence where normal communications are interrupted;

3. to trace persons whose relatives have no news of them or who have been reported missing;

4. to organize the reuniting of families, transfers of persons and repatriations.

At the beginning of June the ICRC was compelled to put an end to its protection and assistance operations in aid of the victims of drought and conflict in the provinces of Eritrea, Tigray, Gondar and Wollo. In the interest of these victims, the ICRC sought agreement from the donor governments to transfer its foodstocks and logistic means in Ethiopia to other organizations. This was done after the Ethiopian authorities had confirmed the decisions conveyed to the ICRC in April and May and forced the ICRC to withdraw all its expatriate staff involved in the assistance operation. The ICRC nevertheless maintained a presence in Ethiopia to continue its activities on behalf of Somali prisoners of war. This aspect of its work, which falls within the Geneva Conventions, had not been called in question by the Ethiopian Government.

The League of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has a long tradition of development work. At every new stage the objectives set are therefore not simply the outcome of a purely intellectual process, but are reviewed and adapted in the light of this tradition.

We have the honour of informing you that the Mozambique Red Cross Society has been officially recognized by the International Committee of the Red Cross. This recognition, which took effect on 29 September 1988, brings to 147 the number of National Societies that are members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

Founded on 10 July 1981, the Society officially applied for recognition by the International Committee of the Red Cross on 23 September 1988. In support of its application, it forwarded various documents, including a report on its activities, the text of its Statutes and a copy of Government Decree No. 7/88 of 17 May 1988 attesting that the Mozambique Red Cross Society is recognized by the Government as a voluntary aid society auxiliary to the public authorities in accordance with the provisions of the First Geneva Convention of 1949.

The ICRC learned with deep sadness of the death on 24 September 1988 of General Pietro Verri, President of the Florence Branch of the Italian Red Cross, and the death on 16 October 1988 of Mr. Soehanda Ijas, Co-Chairman of the Indonesian Red Cross.

General Verri, former Vice-Commander of the Arma dei Carabinieri, was an active supporter of the Red Cross and a tireless champion of international humanitarian law (IHL), a subject in which he was well versed. He was a member of the Italian delegation to the Diplomatic Conference which led, in 1977, to the adoption of the Protocols additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions and as a profilic author and translator did much to promote the dissemination of IHL in his country. He drew his ability to do so from a flawless knowledge of the theoretical questions underlying the law of armed conflicts, coupled with a vast experience of the practical problems arising from the implementation of these rules. For several years he also acted as director of the courses set up by the Italian Red Cross to train instructors of humanitarian law and regularly taught the law of armed conflicts to members of the Air Force and Police Officer Academies.

The links between disasters and development have been extensively discussed in recent years among international organizations. It was primarily the African famine during the first half of the 1980s that initiated this discussion. Famine was no longer perceived as the inevitable consequence of drought. Instead, many saw the African disaster as the symptom of serious development failures. Had there been better foresight in earlier development, stronger efforts to reduce vulnerability in the populations, and a better preparedness to meet the crisis, it was observed, the devastating effects of the drought could have been prevented. Eventually, a similar perception began to embrace most disasters affecting developing countries. It led to the conclusion that disaster prevention, and the reduction of human vulnerability in particular, must be among the primary goals of development.