Geneva Conventions
The Geneva Conventions consist of treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland that set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns. The conventions were the results of efforts by Henri Dunant, who was motivated by the horrors of war he witnessed at the Battle of Solferino.Accusations of violation of the Geneva Conventions on the part of signatory nations are brought before the International Court of Justice at the Hague.
The conventions and their agreements are as follows:
- First Geneva Convention (1864): Treatment of battlefield casualties.
- Second Geneva Convention (1906): Extended the principles from the first convention to apply also to war at sea.
- Third Geneva Convention (1929): Treatment of prisoners of war.
- Fourth Geneva Convention (1949): Treatment of civilians during wartime.
The first three conventions were revised, a fourth was added, and the entire set was ratified in 1949; the whole is referred to as the "Geneva Conventions of 1949" or simply the "Geneva Conventions". Later conferences have added provisions prohibiting certain methods of warfare and addressing issues of civil wars. Nearly 200 countries are "signatory" nations, in that they have ratified these conventions.
Clara Barton was instrumental in campaigning for the ratification of the First Geneva Convention by the United States; the U.S. signed in 1882. By the Fourth Geneva Convention some 47 nations had ratified the agreements.
See also: International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, laws of war, war crime, collateral damage, atrocity, human rights.
