October 1965: At the XXth International Conference of the Red Cross in Vienna the delegates stood and listened in deep silence to the solemn proclamation of the Fundamental Principles of the Red Cross, which they subsequently adopted unanimously in a storm of applause. I swore then that I would be faithful to those Principles for the whole of my Red Cross life. It seemed easy enough at the time; it was only what Red Cross workers had been doing ever since the Red Cross was founded.

In the town of Moena, Italy, province of Trent, not far from the Austrian border, there is preserved a handwritten document entitled «A Soldier's Life—the Campaign of 1859». In it are described the advance and retreat of the 6th Rhaetian (Alpine) Kaiserjaeger Battalion of the Austro-Hungarian army, terminating in the battles of Morando and Solferino and the armistice of Verona. The author, Pellegrino Chiocchetti (1835-1892), took part in the campaign of 1859 as a simple soldier, conscripted to fight on the Austrian side, against the French and Italian armies. At that time, his home province in northern Italy was under Austrian domination and the official language was German.

Red Cross doctrine and human rights doctrine have gradually converged, revealing spheres of activity and formal research common to both. It may be interesting to consider to what degree the idea of protection of human rights was present in the minds of the founders of the Red Cross, and how their original purposes were extended until they included some basic aspects of protection of the human individual.

The International Museum of the Red Cross will be inaugurated in a few days' time. This is an important event for the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement—now the world's most universal humanitarian movement will have a place of its own where its past achievements and present activities will be brought to life.

Ambassador Paul Ruegger, who died in Florence on 9 August 1988 at the age of 91, was President of the International Committee of the Red Cross from 1948 to 1955 and continued to be an active member of the Committee from 1955 to 1973. Following his retirement to Florence in 1973 he still took a close interest in day-to-day international events, in particular those concerning the ICRC, of which he remained an honorary member.

Mr. Otto Stich, President of the Swiss Confederation, visited on 11 August 1988 the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

Mr. Otto Stich was received by the President of the ICRC, Mr. Cornelio Sommaruga, together with members of the Committee and senior ICRC staff.

At its meeting of 28 and 29 September 1988 the Assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross co-opted Mr. Jacques Moreillon as a member of the Committee. This appointment will take effect from 1 November 1988, at which time Mr. Moreillon will have left his current post as Director General at the ICRC.

The rapatriation of prisoners of war and civilian internees began following the agreement signed on 3 April 1988 between Ethiopia and Somalia. During July, ICRC delegates visited and registered the prisoners of war and civilian internees in both countries. For many of those held in Somalia, this was the first visit by the ICRC in eleven years of captivity. The repatriation operation was organized in co-operation with the authorities and the National Societies of the two countries concerned. On 23 August, the first flight left Mogadishu for Dire Dawa (Ethiopia) with an initial group of 176 Ethiopians and a Cuban prisoner of war who had been held in Somalia for over ten years.