Les bombes, qui, au cours de la guerre d'Ethiopie, ont atteint des hôpitaux de la Croix-Rouge, devraient rappeler à tous les pays qui sont exposés aux dangers d'une attaque aérienne, l'intérêt qui s'attaehe aux mesures destinées à assurer la sécurité de leurs hôpitaux contre les périls de l'air.

À plusieures reprises depuis la fin de la guerre froide, les gouvernements et les organisations intergouvernementales ont justifié, notamment à travers le Conseil de sécurité, la menace ou le recours à la force par le biais d'arguments à caractère «humanitaire». Trois types de violations de normes humanitaires ont été régulièrement invoqués pour déclencher une intervention par la force, soit dans le cadre d'un conflit armé en cours, soit contre un régime brutal : atteintes graves à la vie de la population civile, refus d'autoriser des actions d'assistance à une population dans le besoin et violence exercée à l'encontre du personnel d'organisations humanitaires. Après avoir passé en revue différentes interventions ayant impliqué l'usage de la force, l'auteur examine la position des États et des organisations internationales, notamment les Nations Unies. La question de la légitimité d'un recours à des arguments humanitaires pour justifier l'usage de la force reste cependant posée. L'auteur est convaincu quʼa l'avenir, «l'humanitaire» jouera un rôle plus important que par le passé dans les considérations relatives à l'usage de la force. Il souhaite une réflexion approfondie à ce sujet.

The subject I shall deal with is one that traditionally comes up for discussion, to the point of growing stale. Innumerable resolutions and recommendations on “Red Cross and Peace” have been voted by delegates to International Red Cross Conferences. One might even say that this type of recommendation, which of course is addressed to all responsible governments, has become a feature of every Red Cross gathering.

Cartagena de Chairá, 15 June 1997: the five Russian helicopters churned up clouds of dust as they deposited their precious cargo —70 soldiers of the government army who had been defeated and captured by the guerrillas nine-and-a-half months earlier. The spectacular landing in the jungle hideout gave them their first taste of freedom and marked the end of an episode in the war which had humiliated the military high command and kept the whole country in suspense. Hence the rejoicing was all the greater as the 70 soldiers, who had been presumed dead, were finally reunited with their mothers in an emotional scene, and the whole of Colombia briefly savoured the sweet illusion that peace was just around the corner. In front of international observers and countless journalists, the guerrilla commanders completed the handover of the soldiers to the ICRC with a moving ceremony. Then the soldiers boarded the helicopters again. Accompanied by an ICRC delegate and a member of the National Reconciliation Commission, they were flown to the army base at nearby Larandia, where the military leadership gave them an official reception with a brass band and laid on a buffet meal.

Depuis longtemps les Sociétés de la Croix-Rouge ont été appelées à porter secours aux victimes de la guerre civile.

As already announced in International Review, the ICRC is organizing a second session of the Conference of Government Experts on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts for the spring of 1972, as it had not been found possible to deal fully with all the subjects at the first session and some topics had not even been broached. The experts had, therefore, unanimously recommended that the work begun at the last Conference should be pursued at a further meeting.

The paper quoted below was submitted, under agenda item 21, to the League Board of Governors at its Mexico meeting in October 1971. We take pleasure in bringing it to the knowledge of our readers, in view of the importance and topical aspect of nature conservancy to which the Red Cross is known to be giving increasing attention in various countries. Several National Societies are drawing up plans for the protection and improvement of the environment. Others have already taken action and some co-operate with other organizations concerned about the subject and which often conduct their own publicity campaigns.

Further on, we give extracts from another communication which was presented by Professor Maurice Marois to the same meeting of the Board of Governors. It deals with the same problem as viewed by the Institut de la Vie from the angle of its own work for the protection of nature.

De manera episódica desde 1919 y sistemáticamente desde finales del decenio de los 60, el CICR ha procurado desplegar su acción humanitaria en circunstancias de disturbios y de tensiones interiores y, muy especialmente, proteger y asistir a las personas encarceladas en tales circunstancias, denominadas comúnmente «detenidos políticos».

La línea de conducta del CICR a este respecto fue presentada con motivo de la celebración de la XXIII Conferencia Internacional de la Cruz Roja (Bucarest, 1977), en el marco de un documento titulado «E1 CICR, la Liga y el Informe sobre la Reevaluación del Cometido de la Cruz Roja».

El presente documento es una actualización de la doctrina del CICR en la materia, que tiene en cuenta la evolución cuantitativa y cualitativa de su acción humanitaria en circunstancias que no está cubiertas por los Convenios de Ginebra de 1949, ni por sus Protocolos adicionales de 1977, pero en las que los problemas de índole humanitaria justifican la labor de un organismo independiente como el CICR.

“I Know of no part of jurisprudence or of the humanities to which the institution calling itself the Geneva Committee can be connected”, declared the renowned Russian jurist Fiodor Fiodorovitch de Martens, legal adviser to the Imperial Russian Government, at the Fourth International Conference of Red Cross Societies held in Karlsruhe in September 1887.

No wonder he was puzzled, for although the International Committee is an international institution by reason of its activities and duties, its composition is still that of a private association under Swiss law.

Le travail social est un champ d'activité et de connaissances relativement récent. Aussi les notions sont-elles, dans ce domaine, en constante évolution. Outre un certain nombre d'assistants sociaux et d'associations d'assistants sociaux, les Nations Unies ainsi que la Conférence internationale de Service social se sont efforcees de les fixer. De plus en plus on en vient, dans les différents pays, à faire la distinction entre le travail social (Sozialwesen, Social welfare) d'une part, et le service social (Sozialarbeit, Social work) d'autre part.

Los derechos humanos y especialmente los derechos civiles y políticos han influenciado la reciente evolución del derecho internacional humanitario. Esta comprobación es válida sobre todo para el Protocolo II, relativo a los conflictos armados no internacionales. El año 1978, en la Conferencia celebrada en Teherán, las Naciones Unidas asociaron por primera vez estas dos ramas del derecho internacional. A partir de ese momento, el derecho internacional humanitario se denomina también «derechos humanos en período de conflicto armado». Esta relación se concretó ulteriormente con la inclusión, en los Protocolos adicionales, de ciertas normas fundamentales, idénticas a las de las Convenciones de los derechos humanos; contribuye a reforzar la protección de la persona humana en las situaciones de conflicto armado.

En el segundo considerando del Preámbulo del Protocolo II se establece una relatión con los derechos humanos, «recordando, asimismo que los instrumentos internacionales relativos a los derechos humanos ofrecen a la persona humana una protectión fundamental«. Se trata de una toma de posición importante, si se tiene en cuenta que la función de un preámbulo es orientar, mediante directrices, la interpretatión de un tratado. Por primera vez, en un instrumento de derecho internacional humanitario, se incluyó una mention explicita a los derechos humanos. Ello no significa necesariamente que no haya habido antes relaciones entre las dos ramas del derecho internacional.

At the twentieth meeting of jurists of the German Red Cross in the Federal Republic of Germany, held in Münster last September, the President of the Swiss Red Cross, Professor Hans Haug, spoke on the International Red Cross. Extensive extracts from his paper are given below, as we feel that the problems discussed are of lively and topical interest for all sections of the Red Cross movement.