The Honourable Sergio Jaramillo Caro is the Colombian Vice-Minister of Defence. Mr Jaramillo Caro studied philosophy and philology at Trinity College, University of Toronto, and Corpus Christi College, University of Oxford. He has an M. Phil. in philosophy from Cambridge University and was a doctoral candidate in Greek at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. He has been an adviser to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, was in charge of diplomacy for peace (2000–1), and was political counsellor at the Colombian embassy in Paris (2001–2). He was also adviser for political and strategic affairs at the Ministry of Defence (2002–3) and drafted the policy of Democratic Security. From 2004 to 2006 he served as director of the Ideas for Peace Foundation in Bogotá.

Le 14 mai 1954, les représentants de 37 Puissances, réunis à La Haye, ont signé la Convention pour la protection des biens culturels en cas de conflit armé, dont la Revue Internationale de la Croix-Rouge est heureuse de reproduire le texte dans ce même numéro. Cet événement a passé presque inaperçu dans l'opinion publique, en raison de l'attention attachée, alors, à la Conférence asiatique de Genève. Il mérite, cependant, qu'on lui donne toute son importance.

« Ah! la guerre n'est pas morte! » s'est écrié Henry Dunant à la fin du siècle passé, constatant avec une rigueur impitoyable: « Quand on étudie la longue suite des siècles tout remplis de guerres perpétuelles, juger le passé selon la Parole divine, c'est faire faire à l'Histoire un acte d'accusation indélébile contre le genre humain ».

The ICRC actively developed its relief operation in Algeria in June. Acute medical and sanitary problems are facing its delegates, especially in Oran. As reported earlier the ICRC has sent a medical team of three to the Moslem city of Oran, where medicines, surgical instruments and equipment, and dietetic milk for new-born children, are most urgently needed. Following urgent requests by its delegates on the spot the ICRC immediately despatched by air two tons of dietetic powdered milk: Two further shipments were also sent by the French Red Cross, one of eight crates of sugared concentrated milk, the other of one and a half tons of standardised milk.

The names of countries given in the following list may differ from the official names of States.

The dates indicated are those on which the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs received the official instrument from the State that was ratifying, acceding to or succeeding to the Conventions or Protocols or accepting the competence of the Commission provided for under Article 90 of Protocol I. They thus represent neither the date on which ratification, accession, succession or acceptance of the Commission was decided upon nor that on which the corresponding instrument was sent.

Le principe de proportionnalité, qui paraît pourtant évident, est difficile à appliquer pleinement dans la pratique; il se heurte à maints obstacles.

The early years of the Review, then called the Bulletin International des Sociétés de la Croix-Rouge, provide numerous insights into the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which edited the journal. Since the ICRC was very small in those days and without support staff, one learns a great deal, especially about Gustave Moynier, who led the organization and carried out most of the editing duties at the Bulletin. The reader can trace the role of religious and other motivations, attitudes toward colonialism, the evolving nature of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and the ICRC's place therein, and complex relations with States. This early era, as richly recorded in the journal, stimulates a number of questions about further research into ICRC and Red Cross history.

Inter-State wars seem to have come to an end in the late 1990s; ever since, the global reality of collective violence has come down to the chaos of contemporary civil wars and terrorist attacks. In this article, it will be argued that in today's civil wars, as well as in terrorist violence, the traditional warrior ethos is fading, giving way to types of violence governed by a new psychological and social paradigm. In other words, it is assumed that the very set of values that has universally determined the male gender role and the frame of hegemonic masculinity since time immemorial has also informed the waging of war according to a “heroic regime of violence”, and this phenomenon has made war a desirable option for countless generations of young men. On the other hand, the global changes entailed by modernity seem to have undermined this warrior ethos, giving way to a “post-heroic regime” in which extermination-oriented violence, rather than combat-oriented violence, is fostered. In this article, the author will scrutinize the founding psychological and social determinants that have so far upheld the cultural construct of the heroic model, in order to illuminate the ominous consequences of the deculturation of war in today's chaotic conflicts. In such contexts, the men who are fighting1 suffer from a loss of meaning and the impossibility of gaining dignity and social recognition in an ecosystem of humiliation and ubiquitous violence that has little to do with the expectations of pride and dignity conveyed by the past ideals of heroism associated with a certain vision of masculinity. The article will also discuss ways and means of getting the message of international humanitarian law through to men on the front lines caught up in such circumstances.

En 1945, au sortir de la Seconde Guerre mondiale, le gouvernement britannique manifeste clairement son intention d'octroyer l'indépendance aux Indes.

Dès lors, le conflit entre Anglais et nationalistes indiens passe au second plan, tandis que l'antagonisme entre hindous et musulmans s'accentue. Les premiers, regroupés au sein du Parti du Congrès dirigé par Jawaharlal Nehru, souhaitent maintenir l'unité de l'Inde, en mettant sur pied un gouvernement comprenant des représentants des deux communautés. Les seconds, sous l'égide de la Ligue musulmane présidée par Mohammed Ali Jinnah, exigent la création d'un État musulman séparé, le Pakistan. Le problème est d'autant plus complexe que les quelque trois cents millions d'hindous, six millions de sikhs et cent millions de musulmans que comptent les Indes britanniques ne sont pas implantés géographiquement dans des régions nettement départagées, en particulier au Pendjab et au Bengale, où la population est mixte.

Quelques heures avant son départ pour Sarajevo, en mai dernier, Frédéric Maurice nous remettait les derniers feuillets d'un article destiné à la Revue. Il voulait encore y réfléchir et parfaire son texte. Le destin en a décidé autrement puisque Frédéric devait tomber dans des circonstances tragiques aux portes de Sarajevo, le 19 mai 1992.

Most of the provisions of the 1977 Protocols to the Geneva Conventions are applicable only in time of armed conflict.

However, there are two types of provisions which may require States Parties to the Protocols to adopt certain measures upon ratification or accession, that is to say already in peacetime. These are:

— provisions which lay down a standing obligation, such as Article 83 of Protocol I and Article 19 of Protocol II, relating to dissemination of the Protocols;

— provisions which need to be supplemented by domestic legislation or regulations, or which require practical action to be taken at an early stage so that they may be applied when the need arises.

La LXII Conferencia Interparlamentaria, reunida en Londres el mes de septiembre de 1975, aprobó una resolutión cuyo párrafo II alude al Protocolo de Ginebra de 1925, que es este:

La LXII Conferencia Interparlamentaria insta a todos los Estados, en particular a los que ya disponen de estas armas, a que hagan lo posible para conseguir una prohibición y la destrucción efectiva de las armas químicas, incluidas las armas para las cuales se utilizan las nuevas técnicas binarias, y además para garantizar un control internacional satisfactorio con miras a la prohibición de la puesta a punto, de la fabricación y del almacenamiento de armas químicas;