International Committee for the Red Cross: Status of Four Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols I and II

1987 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 553-560
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Geneva Conventions

The four 1949 Geneva Conventions (for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick in armed forces in the field, for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, and relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war) can be found at 6 UST 3114, 3217, 3316, 3516 and 75 UNTS 31, 85, 135, 287. The two 1977 Protocols (I – relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts and II – relating to the protection of victims of noninternational armed conflicts) appear respectively at 16 I.L.M. 1391 and 1442 (1977).

ICRC surgical activities

1991 ◽  
Vol 31 (284) ◽  
pp. 483-490
Author(s):  
Rémi Russbach ◽  
Robin Charles Gray ◽  
Robin Michael Coupland
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Medical Services ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Main Role ◽  
Army Medical ◽  
Geneva Conventions

The surgical activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross stem from the institution's general mandate to protect and assist the victims of armed conflict.The war wounded are thus only one category of the victims included in the ICRC's terms of reference.The ICRC's main role in relation to the war wounded is not to treat them, for this is primarily the responsibility of the governments involved in the conflict and hence their army medical services. The task of the ICRC is first and foremost to ensure that the belligerents are familiar with the provisions of the Geneva Conventions and apply them, that is, care for members of the enemy armed forces as well as their own and afford medical establishments and personnel the protection to which they are entitled.

Respect for fundamental judicial guarantees in time of armed conflict — The part played by ICRC delegates

1992 ◽  
Vol 32 (287) ◽  
pp. 121-142 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hans-Peter Gasser
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Principal Part ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Judicial Procedure ◽  
Harsh Reality

Article 75 of Protocol I additional to the Geneva Conventions lays down with admirable clarity and concision thateven in time of war, or rather especially in time of war, justice must be dispassionate. How does international humanitarian lawpromote this end? What can theInternational Committee of the Red Cross, an independent humanitarian institution, do in the harsh reality of an armed conflict towards maintaining respect for the fundamental judicial guarantees protecting persons accused of crimes, some of them particularly abhorrent?This article will first consider the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols in relation to judicial procedure in time of armed conflicts. Thereafter it will examine the legal bases legitimizing international scrutiny of penal proceedings instituted against persons protected by humanitarian law. The next and principal part of the article will indicate how ICRC delegates appointed to monitor trials as observers do their job. In conclusion the article will try to evaluate this little-known aspect of the ICRC's work of protection.

International humanitarian law and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts: Recommitting to protection in armed conflict on the 70th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions

2019 ◽  
Vol 101 (911) ◽  
pp. 869-949
Keyword(s):  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
70Th Anniversary ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Conference ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Areas Of Interest

This is the fifth report on international humanitarian law (IHL) and the challenges of contemporary armed conflicts prepared by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) for the International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent (International Conference). Similar reports were submitted to the International Conferences held in 2003, 2007, 2011 and 2015. The aim of all these reports is to provide an overview of some of the challenges posed by contemporary armed conflicts for IHL; generate broader reflection on those challenges; and outline current or prospective ICRC action, positions, and areas of interest.

Appeal by the International Committee of the Red Cross on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Additional Protocols of 1977

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (320) ◽  
pp. 471-472
Author(s):  
Cornelio Sommaruga
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
20Th Anniversary ◽  
The Government ◽  
Preparatory Work

Twenty years ago, on 11 June 1977, the plenipotentiaries of over a hundred States and several national liberation movements signed the Final Act of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts. This Conference had been convened by the government of Switzerland, the depositary State of the Geneva Conventions. After four sessions held between 1973 and 1977, themselves preceded by several years of preparatory work, the Conference drew up two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, relating to the protection of the victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol I) and of noninternational armed conflicts (Protocol II).

Keynote Address by Mr Cornelio Sommaruga, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross

1996 ◽  
Vol 36 (310) ◽  
pp. 20-35
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
International Federation ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Technological Disasters ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
The World ◽  
Complementary Nature ◽  
Forms Of Violence ◽  
Day By Day

The world is weighed down by the victims of too many tragedies. Today, at this 26th International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, it is in the name of those victims, the sole reason for our presence here, that I am addressing the representatives of the States party to the Geneva Conventions and those of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. Our Movement is faced with the challenge of protecting and assisting these hapless individuals, whose numbers, alas, are growing day by day. Moreover, the situations in which we have to take action are ever more complex, whether they result from natural or technological disasters, which often occur in developing countries where there is no proper infrastructure, or from armed conflicts and other forms of violence affecting entire populations whose authorities are generally powerless to protect them. It is our solidarity with the victims of these situations that gives us our strength — and this solidarity is expressed through the separate but complementary activities conducted by the National Societies, their International Federation and the ICRC. The complementary nature of our respective tasks, which is the result of experience and is enshrined in our Statutes, is precisely what makes us effective.

scholarly journals The updated Commentary on the First Geneva Convention – a new tool for generating respect for international humanitarian law

2015 ◽  
Vol 97 (900) ◽  
pp. 1209-1226 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lindsey Cameron ◽  
Bruno Demeyere ◽  
Jean-Marie Henckaerts ◽  
Eve La Haye ◽  
Heike Niebergall-Lackner
Keyword(s):  
Geneva Convention ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Major Reference

AbstractSince their publication in 1950s and 1980s, respectively, the Commentaries on the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 have become a major reference for the application and interpretation of these treaties. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), together with a team of renowned experts, is currently updating these Commentaries in order to document developments and provide up-to-date interpretations. The work on the first updated Commentary, the Commentary on the First Geneva Convention relating to the protection of the wounded and sick in the armed forces, has already been finalized. This article provides an overview of the methodology and process of the update and summarizes the main evolutions in the interpretation of the treaty norms reflected in the updated Commentary.

The Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions

1997 ◽  
Vol 37 (320) ◽  
pp. 473-481
Author(s):  
Jean de Preux
Keyword(s):  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Naval Warfare ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
The World ◽  
The Law

The world now has a population of 5 billion, as against 1 billion in 1863 when the Red Cross was founded and the codification of the law of armed conflicts was initiated. For almost a century, the Red Cross concerned itself successively with soldiers wounded in action, victims of naval warfare, prisoners of war and civilians abandoned in wartime to the arbitrariness of foreign rule.

Q&A: The ICRC's engagement on the missing and their families

2017 ◽  
Vol 99 (905) ◽  
pp. 535-545
Keyword(s):  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Technical Standards ◽  
International Conference ◽  
Missing Persons ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
History Of ◽  
Shared Objective ◽  
Family Contact

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has a long history of working with missing persons and their families. Based on its statutory mandate as enshrined in the 1949 Geneva Conventions, their 1977 Additional Protocols, the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and resolutions of the International Conferences of the Red Cross and Red Crescent,1 the ICRC has worked to prevent people from going missing and has facilitated family contact and reunification. It has also worked to clarify the fate and whereabouts of missing persons since 1870, during the Franco-Prussian War, when it pioneered the compilation of lists of prisoners of war and the introduction of “the wearing of a badge so that the dead could be identified”.2The ICRC promoted and strengthened its engagement towards missing persons and their families when it organized the first ever International Conference of Governmental and Non-Governmental Experts on Missing Persons in 2003.3 Today, the ICRC carries out activities in favour of missing persons and their families in around sixty countries worldwide. In 2018, it embarked on a new project setting technical standards in relation to missing persons and their families, together with expert partners and a global community of practitioners who have a shared objective – preventing people from going missing, providing answers on the fate and whereabouts of missing persons, and responding to the specific needs of their families.This Q&A explores the ICRC's current work on the issue of the missing and will, in particular, explore the ways in which the ICRC's Missing Persons Project aims to position the missing and their families at the centre of the humanitarian agenda.

Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts

1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (156) ◽  
pp. 117-129
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Recent Developments

The Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts opened in Geneva on 20 February 1974. This Conference was convened by the Swiss Government and is being attended by plenipotentiary representatives of 118 States Parties to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and Members of the United Nations, as well as by many observers for intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations. The Conference will sit until 29 March to deal with two additional draft protocols to the Geneva Conventions, which the International Committee of the Red Cross has drawn up with a view to supplementing existing international humanitarian law in the light of recent developments in matters of war.

A course on humanitarian law

1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (165) ◽  
pp. 650-650
Keyword(s):  
Armed Forces ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Army Officers

From 4 to 9 November 1974, a group of army officers attended at ICRC headquarters a study course on the Geneva Conventions and on the work of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The purpose of the course was to train officers with the object of entrusting them later on with the task of disseminating knowledge of the Geneva Conventions among members of the armed forces in their own country.

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