At its Assembly on 16 January 1975, the International Committee of the Red Cross appointed three new members, Mr. Jakob Burckhardt, Mr. Thomas Fleiner and Mr. Alexandre Hay.

Mr. Jakob Burckhardt, who was born in Basle in 1913, read law at the universities of Basle and Munich. As Doctor of Laws he entered the service of the Federal Political Department in 1940 and was stationed in different countries. In 1958 he was appointed the Federal Council's delegate for questions relating to atomic energy and president of the Federal Commission on Atomic Energy. Three years later he became head of the Division of International Organizations in the Federal Political Department, with the title of minister plenipotentiary, and since 1966 he has been chairman of the Council of Federal Polytechnic Schools.

The ICRC announces the publication of a new work in Arabic, “Course of Five Lesson on the Geneva Conventions” by Henri Coursier, translated by the Saudi Arabian Red Crescent Society and priced at 10 Swiss francs. In order to disseminate broader understanding throughout the Arab world of the humanitarian principles and activities of the Red Cross movement, the ICRC Documentation and Dissemination Division, in cooperation with the various Red Crescent Societies, has published some 15 works in Arabic.

A report, which was originally published in French soon after the Second World War, has just been issued by the ICRC in its English version under the title The work of the ICRC for civilian detainees in German concentration camps from 1939 to 1945. It gives details of ICRC action on behalf of the detainees in German concentration camps and contains extracts of various documents and reports drafted by ICRC delegates. This 125-page volume may be obtained from the ICRC Documentation Service, Geneva, price 10 Swiss francs.

The ICRC has appointed Dr. Reinhold Käser to succeed Dr. Roland Marti as Chief Physician.

Dr. Käser, a specialist in otorhinolaryngology, has practised in Soleure and Bern for 20 years, during which time he also served as chief physician for the Swiss Red Cross, before being appointed as surgeongeneral of the army. He was a member of the Swiss delegation to the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law.

A man whose intelligence and kindliness left a living mark on the ICRC, even though his activities in the institution ceased some thirty years ago, passed away in Geneva on 5 March 1975.

Henri Reverdin was appointed a member of the editorial staff of the Revue internationale de la Croix-Rouge in 1926, and in 1943 he became Editor. Two years later he left to devote himself entirely to university teaching, and in the ICRC publication at that time we find the following tribute: “The Review stands as a token of his character, intellectual honesty and profound erudition”. While he was in charge of the Review, he also contributed a number of outstanding articles on humanitarian events in the world, essays and book reviews.

The new radio station of the International Committee of the Red Cross is installed in a small building in the countryside at Versoix, some 10 kilometers from Geneva, in a field from which rise four lofty antennas.

The station was inaugurated on 4 December 1974 with a direct conversation between Mr. Eric Martin, President of the ICRC, and Mr. Walter Bargatzky, President of the German Red Cross in the Federal Republic of Germany, who was inaugurating his Society's radio station at the same time.

On the eve of the Diplomatic Conference, which is to hold its second session in Geneva at the beginning of February, we think it worth while to recall the titles of some books and documents published by the ICRC about the Geneva Conventions, their dissemination and the development of international humanitarian law.

With the aim of renewing and completing its travelling exhibition, the Division for Documentation and Dissemination has prepared a set of eighteen panels for displays to be presented first in Zurich and later in Montreal. In the former city, the Swiss National Museum is putting on an exhibition on the theme “The Good Offices of Switzerland,” relating to activities of various kinds designed to limit international conflicts, and in this connection asked the ICRC to provide material illustrating its activities for the Humanitarian Action section. The panels deal with the following: the history of the Red Cross; the role of the ICRC; the Geneva Conventions; and the Central Tracing Agency. In addition, two showcases display documents relating to the Conventions and the Agency.