The International Red Cross Committee Comity International De La Croix-Rouge

THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS COMMITTEE (COMITY; INTERNATIONAL DE LA CROIX-ROUGE) The objects of the International Red Cross are regarded as being : To extend the Red Cross movement to all countries; to act as guardian of the basic Red Cross principles ; to notify to existing societies the constitution of new Red Cross societies; to induce all civilized States to adhere to the Geneva Convention; to ensure the observance of the Convention, denouncing such violations of it as may occur; to urge Governments to pass legislation or issue army orders to prevent such violations; to create in time of war international agencies for the assistance of prisoners and other war victims; to visit prisoners' camps, afford prisoners of war comfort and consolation, and try to better their situation by use of all available influence ; and in time of peace as well as in time of war, to act as a benevolent intermediary between Governments, peoples and nationalities, for the purpose of itself carrying out or making it possible for others to carry out the humanitarian task of relieving suffering arising out of war, sickness or disaster.

Work in War-time.

A few examples will serve to indicate the extent of the International Red Cross committee's activities. The formation of independent national Red Cross societies and the acceptance of the members of the Geneva Convention made rapid headway from the beginning. In 1870 an information agency was formed by the international committee at Basle for the benefit of French and German wounded or sick soldiers.

In 1912 during the Balkan War the committee constituted a similar agency at Belgrade. When the World War came, in 1914, there was constituted in Geneva an international agency for pris oners of war with a staff of 2,000 persons, mainly volunteers. The 17 different sections of this agency dealt with requests emanating from 3o belligerent countries. From 2,000 to 15,000 letters a day were handled, and the index of requests for infor mation included before the end of the war over 5,000,000 cards.

Thanks to this agency, thousands of missing men of different armies and navies were traced, assistance was forwarded to pris oners of war, regular visits were made to Soo different internment camps, and facilities were obtained for the evacuation of civilians from occupied districts, and for the repatriation or internment in neutral territory of the more severely wounded, of certain cate gories of sick prisoners and of medical personnel. The financial service of the international agency had transmitted to prisoners of war in cash up to Dec. 31, 1917, a sum of over £715,000.

As regards breaches of the Geneva Convention, frequent repre sentations have been made to Governments by the international committee, concerning cases of hospitals being shelled, reprisals exercised, medical personnel or wounded improperly treated, med ical stores belonging to Red Cross societies requisitioned, the Red Cross emblem abused, etc.

Post-war Activities.

At the end of hostilities the interna tional committee, thanks to the generous aid given by the League of Nations, was able to organize arrangements for the repatriation of prisoners of war of all nationalities who remained in Russia and Siberia, and the return of Russian prisoners from the differ ent countries of central Europe. The delegates of the committee were called upon to undertake representations to the Govern ments concerned, to form prisoners into convoys and check their identity, to look after their health, and to arrange for the move ments of convoys between Moscow and the Baltic ports and between Vladivostok, Novorossisk and Trieste. Half a million prisoners were thus repatriated.

At a later date the delegates of the international committee were concerned with the exchange of Polish and German host ages in Upper Silesia, with the return of Bulgarian subjects interned in Greece and with the exchange of prisoners between Greece and Turkey.