Mr. Henri Coursier, of the Legal Department of the ICRC, published some time ago a study on “Francis Lieber and the Laws of War” in the International Review, together with a French translation of Orders No. 100 relative to the behaviour of the United States Armies in the field (the famous “Lieber Laws”), the object of which was to have the principles of international law applied during the American civil war (1861–1865). These orders which were immediately recognized and appreciated by the principal lawyers of the time, had a great influence on the future of the law of nations, since it can be said that the Hague Regulations, which sprang from the 1899 and 1907 Peace Conferences, were very largely inspired by them, and several provisions of the Geneva Conventions of August 12, 1949, stem from the same source. It was to Lieber that the President of the United States, Abraham Lincoln, appealed to establish this Code which was promulgated in 1863, thus preceding by one year the First Geneva Convention.

The International Committee has received from the Saudi Arabian authorities a further list of prisoners captured by the Royalist Yemeni forces fighting to re-establish the Imam El Badr on the throne of Sanaa. This list comprises the names of 24 Egyptian military personnel. These, after having been captured on Yemen territory, were handed over to the Saudi Arabian authorities who interned them in conformity with international practice. Dr. Beretta, delegate of the ICRC, to whom the list was handed, took steps to enable him to visit these prisoners.

On February 17, 1963 the International Committee, as we know, celebrated the hundredth anniversary of its foundation. It received numerous messages on that occasion and last month we published those from National Red Cross Societies which reached Geneva by the end of February. Since then further testimonies have been arriving in large numbers, congratulatory messages from National Societies together with thanks for the silver-gilt medal presented to them by the ICRC in recognition of their services. We therefore now continue to publish the letters and telegrams received in Geneva and signed for the most part by the Presidents of National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.