Geneva Convention - Definition and Overview

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 in enemy hands.

In addition, there are two additional protocols to the Geneva Convention:

• Protocol I (1977): Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts
• Protocol II (1977): Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts

This First Convention also mandated the foundation of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The text is given in the Resolutions of the Geneva International Conference.

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 all 200 countries of the world 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
• Attacks on humanitarian workers
• Geneva Conference
• Reprisals
• Nuremberg Principles

External links

• States party to the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols (http://www.icrc.org/eng/party_gc)
• Red Cross and Geneva Conventions (http://www.redcross.lv/en/conventions.htm)
• Texts of the Conventions Source: ICRC 1949 Conventions and 1977 Protocols (http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/WebCONVFULL!OpenView) Source: Society of Professional Journalists (http://www.globalissuesgroup.com/geneva/texts.html)
• Reference Guide to the Geneva Conventions (http://www.genevaconventions.org/)
• United Nation's Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights - International Human Rights Instruments (http://www.unhchr.ch/html/intlinst.htm)

Other meanings: An important gaming convention is known as Gen Con.