RED CROSS IDEAL RE-AFFIRMED AT STOCKHOLM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 13, Issue 14, 1 November 1948, Page 4

RED CROSS IDEAL RE-AFFIRMED AT STOCKHOLM

The Red Cross Societies of the world have just met; in Stockholm; their discussions extended over a fortnight and made one realise that the Governments and the peoples of the nations there assembled, regarded the preservation of the Red Cross as a matter of international importance, states the chairman of the Executive Committee 'of the British Red Cross Society, Lord Woolton, in a report on the conference.

The Swedish people, including their King, Crowh Prince and Princess, gave the conference every welcome. The conference really was a remarkable assembly, Lord Woolton continued. This band of people, under the badge of the Red Cross, were drawn together for the sole purpose of relieving suffering wherever it might be found, and particularly in time of war. Red Cross knew, in this matter, nothing of national boundaries or racial Hatreds; on this basis it gave to its workers the protection of all parties in War. Fifty-six nations were represented and in all things there "was harmony. The Balkan States did not attend, while, although the Russians came late, they refused to take part because of some past disagreement. They preferred to remain in the even though a unanimous resolution was passed urging them to come on to the floor of the hall and state their grievances in open session, letting the conference judge them on their merits. They did not come. Appeals were received to assist the Greek children and the many refugees in Palestine, while the suffering of children generally was left in the hands of the junior branch of the Red Cross, who also met.

The conference ended, concludes Lord Woolton’s report, by urging all nations to bind themselves to abandon the use of rockets and atomic bombs. These instruments entail'the destruction of human values, which it is the mission of the Red Cross Society to defend. Their use would imperil civilisation itself.