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Since the beginning of the hunger strike started by the Algerian detainees in France, the ICRC's neutral humanitarian intervention was sought from various directions.

The laissez-faire theory in its various European forms is not as simple or clearcut as it is sometimes presented. Nor is it merely the converse of another theory equally complex but which is often taken simply as one of organization and complete state intervention. From the Physiocrats on, the exponents of the theory of laissez-faire, or freedom of industry, set themselves the task not only of freeing the economy and the individual, but also of directing and nurturing activity designed to improve the economy. This aim took the form of the advocacy of a wide variety of social and state actions; for example, the promotion of a stable currency, science and invention, education of the labor force, humanitarian reforms, especially in penology, and cultural, ideological, and even aesthetic advances. In short, the issue of individualism often became the broader issue of civilization.

Last month the International Review published an article on the tasks which the ICRC has undertaken during the past few months in the Yemen. The conflict in that country having been prolonged, the needs of the humanitarian action are consequently increasing. We now recall the various phases of the ICRC's intervention, in particular since November 1963.

The Geneva Conventions having been invoked in numerous requests for intervention received by the International Committee of the Red Cross concerning the recent trial of Cuban prisoners captured during the invasion attempt in April 1961, it is appropriate to make the following statement:

When one studies the rôle of the International Red Cross in favour of so-called international refugees, who do not benefit from the national regime in the country of their residence, it is interesting to attempt to define, from a legal point of view, the character of the interventions which are made by this institution.

In the Yemen the International Committee of the Red Cross is confronted with a particularly difficult task. Intervention is required in a country difficult of access, almost completely without modern means of communication and the population of which has long been isolated from the rest of the world. The war which has been going on for over a year continues to produce its harvest of victims which it is up to the Red Cross movement to assist, for the Red Cross was founded one hundred years ago with the primary task of alleviating suffering caused by armed conflict. Yet, in the Yemen today, conditions are such that victims in vast regions of the country are left completely abandoned.

The International Committee and the League of Red Cross Societies made a point of informing those taking part in the meetings of the International Red Cross in Prague, by means of information sessions and a booklet, of the work undertaken by the Red Cross in the Congo since 1960. This has been dealt with in the International Review on a number of occasions but in a fragmentary manner and we think it would be useful to summarize for our readers some of the successive stages in an operation which has mobilized, and which continues to mobilize, part of the forces of the Red Cross.Here, first of all, are the main points of a speech made by Mr. Gallopin, Executive Director of the ICRC, to which we have added certain details on the interventions which have taken place in recent months, following events in Katanga. Secondly, we are publishing some passages from a booklet edited jointly by the ICRC and the League on medical assistance in the Congo and to finish we are giving a few details on the medal distributed to the members of medical teams to whom the ICRC wished to express its grateful recognition.