A Winding Road to the Additional Protocols (1950–1968)

This chapter traces the events that followed the adoption of Common Article 3 (CA3) in 1949 until 1968. It analyzes formal debates that resurfaced in the United Nations (UN) about revising and developing the international legal rules for armed conflict, which lead to the negotiation of the two Additional Protocols (APs) that complement the 1949 Geneva Conventions. It also explains how the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) rested on its laurels through the extension of CA3 on situations of internal violence that could not be plausibly characterized as armed conflict. The chapter mentions ICRC activities between 1950 and the mid-1960s that reveal persistent efforts to make up for the operation of CA3 in the gray zones. It examines interruption of the reflection of the ICRC by episodes of frustration and abuse that involve concerns about detained persons in diverse internal violent contexts.

Normative Gatekeeping (1863–1921)

This chapter demonstrates how the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) faced important hurdles in its early years which threatened its position as a humanitarian broker and locked a certain conservatism inside it. It recounts the history and politics of international debate on the international regulation of armed conflict until 1921. It also discusses proposals regarding humanitarian conduct in internal conflict from 1863 to 1921 and highlights the elements that generate the social pressure that is essential to rule making. The chapter refers to the importance of norm entrepreneurs, who forcefully seize on the creation of new rules, and bring and promote rules in public forums, such as rallying others around a common cause. It describes the norms of sovereignty that prevailed in Europe in the second half of the nineteenth century and militated against the emergence of legal proposals regarding internal conflicts.