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THE AMERICAN RED CROSS BACKGROUND, FEDERAL COORDINATION, AND OVERSIGHT ISSUES -- THE AMERICAN RED CROSS BACKGROUND, FEDERAL COORDINATION, AND OVERSIGHT ISSUES -- CONTENTS -- PREFACE -- Chapter 1 AMERICAN RED CROSS: DISASTER ASSISTANCE WOULD BENEFIT FROM OVERSIGHT THROUGH REGULAR FEDERAL EVALUATION* -- WHY GAO DID THIS STUDY -- WHAT GAO RECOMMENDS -- WHAT GAO FOUND -- ABBREVIATIONS -- BACKGROUND -- Red Cross's Federal Charter -- The Nation's Disaster Response System and Red Cross's Role

We must be grateful to the organizers of this conference for choosing as its theme one of the major concerns of everyone who is devoted to the Red Cross—work on behalf of peace. Indeed, we should never forget that the fundamental reason for the existence of the Red Cross is to work for peace. It is also useful to recall what the Red Cross means by that glorious word: peace.

The commemoration of the 125th Anniversary of the Movement will last until October 1989 and will provide a unique opportunity to make the general public, and especially young people, aware of the ideals and the humanitarian activities of the Red Cross and Red Crescent; it must also be a time to reflect upon the task accomplished by the Movement in 125 years of existence and on its prospects for the future.

In the October, November and December 1970 numbers, International Review published articles on the assistance provided to victims as soon as civil war had broken out in Jordan. An extensive action, undertaken by the Red Cross, became pòssible thanks to the generous aid supplied by many National Societies after the ICRC had launched on 24 September an appeal to their sense of solidarity. The action by the Red Cross co-ordination group in Jordan terminated on 10 December 1970.

In its last issue, the International Review published an article on the assistance provided to victims of the civil war in. Jordan since it broke out. We gave some details of the development of the vast and swift relief action undertaken by the Red Cross, up to the end of September 1970 and which was rendered possible thanks to the generous aid from a great number of Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Lion and Sun National Societies, to which the ICRC had appealed on 24 September. In order to give a more vivid picture of the growing and increasingly imperative undertaking, we shall set forth the more significant events as they succeeded each other during October, bringing our summary up to the end of that month.

The subject I shall deal with is one that traditionally comes up for discussion, to the point of growing stale. Innumerable resolutions and recommendations on "Red Cross and Peace" have been voted by delegates to International Red Cross Conferences. One might even say that this type of recommendation, which of course is addressed to all responsible governments, has become a feature of every Red Cross gathering.

Assistance is the essence of all Red Cross actions; protection and assistance are the essence of all ICRC actions.To approach the subject of this paper "Red Cross assistance and protection", one should recall a few basic rules and concepts as guidelines in this study.Firstly it should be clear that we shall not deal here with situations of natural disasters, which normally require Red Cross assistance only. Nor shall we deal with situations of internal disturbances or tensions, which involve mainly the ICRC and its activities in favour of persons detained for political or security reasons.