The Geneva Conventions—An important Anniversary—1949–1969

1969 ◽  
Vol 9 (101) ◽  
pp. 399-410
Author(s):  
C. Pilloud
Keyword(s):  
Geneva Convention ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
The Individual

The date of 12 August 1949 takes its place amongst the important historic events of which the Red Cross can be justly proud: on 22 August 1864 there was the signing of the First Geneva Convention; the second revision of that Convention and the signing of the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war were made on 27 July 1929 and on 12 August 1949 there were the revision of the old Conventions and the adoption of the Geneva Convention for the protection of civilian persons in time of war. On each occasion protection of the individual was extended to further categories of victims.

The Protection of prisoners of war

1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (157) ◽  
pp. 191-193
Keyword(s):  
Geneva Convention ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
The Third ◽  
Geneva Conventions

Before the existence of the Red Cross and the Geneva Conventions, any soldier fallen into enemy hands was entirely at his captor's mercy. Now the Third 1949 Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war—recognized by 133 States—clearly lays down how he must be treated during captivity.

The updated ICRC Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention: A new tool to protect prisoners of war in the twenty-first century

2020 ◽  
Vol 102 (913) ◽  
pp. 389-416
Author(s):  
Jemma Arman ◽  
Jean-Marie Henckaerts ◽  
Heleen Hiemstra ◽  
Kvitoslava Krotiuk
Keyword(s):  
Geneva Convention ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
First Century ◽  
Historical Background ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
The Third ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Key Points ◽  
Scope Of Application

AbstractSince their publication in the 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 those treaties. The International Committee of the Red Cross, together with a team of renowned experts, is currently updating these Commentaries in order to document developments and provide up-to-date interpretations of the treaty texts. This article highlights key points of interest covered in the updated Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention. It explains the fundamentals of the Convention: the historical background, the personal scope of application of the Convention and the fundamental protections that apply to all prisoners of war (PoWs). It then looks at the timing under which certain obligations are triggered, those prior to holding PoWs, those triggered by the taking of PoWs and during their captivity, and those at the end of a PoW's captivity. Finally, the article summarizes key substantive protections provided in the Third Convention.

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).

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.

Red Cross Society of China: The 1977 Geneva Protocols and the development of international humanitarian law

1987 ◽  
Vol 27 (258) ◽  
pp. 282-287
Author(s):  
Su Wei
Keyword(s):  
Geneva Convention ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
The Other ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
National Liberation ◽  
Outstanding Problem ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Occupied Territories

Ten years ago, two Protocols additional to the Four Geneva Conventions were adopted in Geneva: one relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts, the other to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts. This marked a forward step in the development of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts. The most outstanding problem confronting international humanitarian lawyers in the postwar years has been the protection of civilians in circumstances of armed conflicts, particularly in a period characterized by wars of national liberation. The two Protocols scored achievements on two points. First, provisions were elaborated aiming at protecting civilians from the effects of hostilities as opposed to simply protecting civilians in occupied territories as had been the case of the Fourth Geneva Convention of 1949. Secondly, the scope of the application of humanitarian law was greatly widened so as to bring a greater number of victims of armed conflicts under the protection of humanitarian law. This should in turn facilitate the observance and implementation of humanitarian law in conflicts. It is attempted in this paper to make some comments on the achievements of the Protocols, especially Protocol I relating to international armed conflicts.

India and Pakistan—Viet Nam—The President of the ICRC in the Irish Republic and in Great Britain

1965 ◽  
Vol 5 (56) ◽  
pp. 599-601
Keyword(s):  
Great Britain ◽  
Country Of Origin ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Viet Nam ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Irish Republic ◽  
The Government

Prisoners of War. — Delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross in both India and Pakistan have been permitted to visit prisoners of war; both governments have demonstrated their intention to apply the Geneva Conventions of 1949 on the protection of victims of war. Mr. Roger Du Pasquier in India and Mr. Michel Martin in Pakistan were therefore given access to several places of internment and were authorized to interview prisoners without witnesses. The delegates' reports were conveyed each time to the Detaining Power and the government of the prisoners' country of origin. Mr. Du Pasquier was also able to see prisoners of war who had been wounded in the course of the fighting.

Means of identification for protected medical transports

1994 ◽  
Vol 34 (300) ◽  
pp. 266-278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gérald C. Cauderay
Keyword(s):  
Geneva Convention ◽  
Medical Personnel ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Lower Upper ◽  
Geneva Conventions ◽  
Modern Methods ◽  
Hospital Ships

The Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 provide that medical personnel and equipment shall in general be identified by the distinctive emblem of the red cross or red crescent. The Second Geneva Convention, applicable to the victims of conflict at sea, specifies that the exterior surfaces of hospital ships and smaller craft used for medical purposes shall be white and recommends that the parties to the conflict use “the most modern methods” to facilitate identification of medical transports at sea (Art. 43). It is also recommended that medical aircraft should be clearly marked with both the distinctive emblem and their national colours on their lower, upper and lateral surfaces. They should moreover be provided with “any other markings or means of identification” agreed upon between the belligerents from the outbreak or during the course of hostilities (First Convention, Art. 36, and Second Convention, Art. 39).

Application in the Middle East of the 1949 Geneva Conventions

1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (155) ◽  
pp. 76-77
Keyword(s):  
Middle East ◽  
International Committee ◽  
Prisoners Of War ◽  
Red Cross ◽  
Geneva Conventions

On 21 January 1974, the International Committee of the Red Cross issued the following appeal to the 135 States parties to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949:On the resumption of hostilities in the Middle East, the ICRC renewed its offer of services to the States concerned, with a view to the discharge of all the duties assigned it under the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. In so far as permitted by the competent authorities, it has been able to acquit itself of part of its mandate: several thousand prisoners of war have been visited and repatriated; casualties have been cared for; and civilian victims have been given assistance.

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