A period of rapid change entails the continual reassessment of problems and values. Some years ago, therefore, it was felt necessary to analyse questions pertaining to the place of the Red Cross in the world today and its role in the future. In 1972, the ICRC and the League, in co-operation with the National Societies, decided to look ahead by studying the situation of the Red Cross from all angles. A joint committee was created for reappraisal of the role of the Red Cross; then, in 1973, the director of what came to be known as the “Big Study”, Mr. Donald D. Tansley, aided by a number of research workers, and with the support of the relevant departments of the ICRC, the League and the National Societies, began his investigations.

The report on the re-appraisal of the role of the Red Cross has brought to light a fact which hitherto had been given no attention, namely that the objectives of the Red Cross movement as a whole have never been denned in writing. This omission is easily explained.

A joint mission of the League of Red Cross Societies and the ICRC in São Tomé and Principe, from 11 to 18 August, was the first since the independence of the islands on 12 July 1975. The League delegate, Mr. M. Toé, and the ICRC representative, Mr. T. Germond, were received by the Prime Minister, Mr. M. Trovoado and the Ministers of Health, Social Affairs and Sports, Information, and Education and Culture. They also had an interview with the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and with the Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Democratic Republic of São Tomé and Principe having acceded to the Geneva Conventions on 29 April 1976, the questions discussed were the dissemination of knowledge of those Conventions and the role of the ICRC in the development of international humanitarian law. ICRC activities in general throughout the world were also reviewed.