The Martens Clause has formed a part of the laws of armed conflict since its first appearance in the preamble to the 1899 Hague Convention (II) with respect to the laws and customs of war on land:

“Until a more complete code of the laws of war is issued, the High Contracting Parties think it right to declare that in cases not included in the Regulations adopted by them, populations and belligerents remain under the protection and empire of the principles of international law, as they result from the usages established between civilized nations, from the laws of humanity and the requirements of the public conscience.”

The unprecedented tragedy that befell the ICRC in Chechnya has underscored the vital importance of security in ensuring the success of any humanitarian operation and has prompted the adoption of measures aimed at affording better protection for ICRC personnel.

There were six of them. Six individuals who with their skills, their hands and their hearts brought shelter, care, comfort and a smile to the wounded of the conflict in Chechnya. They came from Norway, Spain, Canada, the Netherlands and New Zealand, all under the banner of the Red Cross. They worked in the ICRC hospital at Novye Atagi. And they are no longer with us. A seventh lies wounded by the bullet which was intended to kill him. The grief of those who witnessed that carnage is felt by us all.

In the early hours of 17 December 1996, six delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross were assassinated in a brutal attack by gunmen at the ICRC hospital in Novye Atagi, near Grozny.

In late summer 1996, the ICRC had decided to open a field hospital in Chechnya because the main hospitals in Grozny had been seriously damaged, thus leaving large numbers of war-wounded without proper care.

“The security [of humanitarian personnel in the field] is a political rather than a technical issue. No rule or protective measure can replace the establishment of a network of contacts among all the parties to a conflict, to convince every one of them of the ICRC's neutrality, impartiality and independence. If those in charge of combatants perceive the ICRC as taking sides, then the organization becomes a potential target. Conversely, neutrality, and above all the combatants' perception of that neutrality, offer the warring parties their best assurance that the ICRC poses no threat to them. The neutral stance of its delegates convinces combatants that the ICRC's humanitarian action has no effect on military operations.” This is one of the basic premises of the guidelines on security that the ICRC drew up a few years ago for use in its action in the midst of armed conflict.

The meeting of heads of delegation and regional delegates held in Glion from 19 to 22 January 1997 was a milestone in the recent history of the ICRC. Its aim was to mobilize senior operational staff around security issues in situations where humanitarian operations are undertaken. The recent tragic events affecting the ICRC (the assassination of ten staff members in Burundi, Chechnya and Cambodia) and the murder of three members of Médecins du monde as well as four United Nations human rights monitors in Rwanda, have highlighted the need to reassess security and humanitarian action on behalf of conflict victims.

Following allegations that appeared in the press last summer, calling into question the actions of some of its delegates during the Second World War, the ICRC resolved to shed full light on that period in its history. The allegations were based on a number of reports by agents of the US Office of Strategic Services (OSS), the predecessor of today's CIA, and suggested that ICRC delegates had been involved in activities that were inconsistent with the organization's humanitarian mandate.

It is an honour and a privilege for me to address this Conference devoted to a topic of great importance to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). As a humanitarian organization, whose mandate it is to provide protection and assistance for victims of armed conflicts and which is operational worldwide, the ICRC has been directly concerned with many peace-keeping missions undertaken by the United Nations.

In the past few years there has been a growing awareness of the need to strengthen implementation of international humanitarian law. States thus have to create the means enabling them to fulfil their obligation to respect and ensure respect for humanitarian law. This requires them to take action in peacetime and to adopt national measures to guarantee compliance with the law in all circumstances.

Following widespread disappointment with the modest amendments made in 1996 to Protocol II relating to landmines, of the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW), hopes have risen that 1997 may see the adoption and signing of a new international treaty prohibiting the production, export, transfer and use of anti-personnel landmines. Although such a treaty might not attract universal adherence at the outset, it would nevertheless establish a significant international legal norm and represent a major advance towards the ICRC's goal of bringing the scourge of landmines to an end.

Armed forces have for many years developed new methods of observation in order to increase their capacity to fight at any time of day or night and in any weather conditions. Some have thus equipped themselves with thermal imaging or infrared (IR) cameras, which make it possible to recognize and detect people and objects not only at night but also in poor daytime visibility conditions (for example, through smoke, foliage or light rain).

The Convention on the prohibition of the development, production, stockpiling and use of chemical weapons and on their destruction, of 13 January 1993 (Chemical Weapons Convention - CWC) enters into force on 29 April 1997, following the deposit by Hungary on 31 October 1996 of the 65th instrument of ratification. This landmark Convention complements and reinforces the 1925 Geneva Protocol prohibiting the use of chemical and biological weapons by also banning the development, production and stockpiling of chemical weapons — as well as their use — and requiring the destruction of existing stockpiles. The 1925 Geneva Protocol was adopted following a dramatic appeal against chemical warfare by the ICRC at the end of the First World War. The Biological Weapons Convention, in force since 1975, has outlawed the development, production and stockpiling of these weapons.

On 17 January 1997 the Republic of Chad deposited an instrument of “ratification” of the Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I) and Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II), adopted in Geneva on 8 June 1977. The document was not accompanied by any declaration or reservation. Since the Republic of Chad did not sign the Protocols, the depositary State considers this document to be an instrument of accession.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has officially recognized the Red Crescent Society of Kyrgyzstan. This recognition, which took effect on 19 March 1997, brings to 171 the number of National Societies that are members of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

The names of countries given in the following list may differ from the official names of States.

The dates indicated are those on which the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs received the official instrument from the State that was ratifying, acceding to or succeeding to the Conventions or Protocols or accepting the competence of the Commission provided for under Article 90 of Protocol I. They thus represent neither the date on which ratification, accession, succession or acceptance of the Commission was decided upon nor that on which the corresponding instrument was sent.

In order to guarantee the protection of victims of armed conflict, Article 90 of Protocol I additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions provides for the establishment of an International Fact-Finding Commission, which was officially constituted in 1991. The Commission is a permanent body and an important mechanism in ensuring implementation of and respect for international humanitarian law in times of armed conflict.