The International Institute of Humanitarian Law in San Remo held its fourth Round Table on Present Problems of International Humanitarian Law from 30 August to 4 September 1977. The meeting was opened by Mr. Jean Pictet, Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross; some extracts from his address are given below.

The author of the article printed below is Vice–President of the Institute of International Law and had attended the 1949 Diplomatic Conference in Geneva as a delegate. In October 1974 he organized at the Institut d'Etudes politiques d'Aix-en-Provence a colloquium on Las Casas and Human Rights. The article is reproduced, with the author's permission, from a paper presented at the colloquium.

The Central Tracing Agency is a permanent and integral part of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Yet it retains an autonomous character during conflicts, as laid down in the four Geneva Conventions.

It is the duty of the Central Tracing Agency to carry out the mandate entrusted in time of war to the two central information agencies mentioned in Article 123 of the Third Convention and Article 140 of the Fourth Convention, namely: the central information agency for prisoners of war, and the central information agency for civilian internees and other protected persons. The Geneva Conventions contain about twenty–five articles relating to the role of these agencies, their relations with the Detaining Power, with the “Power of origin”, with the captives and with their families.