Geneva Conventions

Geneva Conventions, international agreements which sprang from the founding of the Red Cross in Geneva in 1863. The first, signed in 1864 and eventually agreed to by 48 states, dealt solely with the ‘Amelioration of the Wounded in the Armies in Field’ in a few simple sentences. The second, signed in 1906, widened the original convention, extended its protection to those who treated the sick and wounded, and to the treatment of wounded and sick prisoners-of-war. The third, signed in 1929, further extended the earlier conventions and, for the first time, incorporated a separate convention on the rights and treatment of prisoners-of-war which updated, and superseded, the 1907Hague Convention on the treatment of prisoners. Among the 97 articles were items which delineated the work of the International Red Cross Committee and the Red Cross generally; established that sick and wounded combatants had to be respected and cared for whatever their nationality; and that the personnel, buildings, equipment, and transport used to succour them should be marked with a red cross to give them immunity from attack—though this only applied if they were part of the medical services of the armed forces of a belligerent. In 1939 the conventions had not been ratified by several states, most notably Japan and the USSR.

A protocol which prohibited the use in war of asphyxiating, poisonous, and other gases, and of bacteriological methods of warfare (see biological and chemical warfare), was also signed in Geneva by 29 countries in June 1925, with the USSR signing in 1928. The USA adhered to the protocol in 1925 but did not ratify it until January 1975. The current Geneva Conventions were signed in 1949.