Geneva Conventions

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The Geneva Conventions is a term used to collectively refer to the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 along with their two optional protocols (Additional Protocols I and II), which form the core of international humanitarian law and establish international legal standards for the treatment of non-combatants in war. Negotiated in the aftermath of the World War II, the Geneva Conventions of 1949 consist of four agreements, which replaced three earlier humanitarian conventions of 1906 and 1929 and added two new conventions. The First Geneva Convention addresses the treatment of sick and wounded field soldiers, Second Geneva Convention addresses the treatment of sick and wounded sailors, Third Geneva Convention addresses the treatment of prisoners of war, and Fourth Geneva Convention addresses the treatment of civilians during armed conflict.

Aside from the UN Charter, the Geneva Conventions are among the most widely ratified international agreements. The 1949 conventions were ratified, in their entirety or with reservations, by 196 countries. Much of the international humanitarian law contained in the Geneva Conventions has become customary international law, and therefore would apply to all states and non-state armed groups, even those that are not a party to the Geneva Conventions. The legal obligations created under the Geneva Conventions are somewhat different from other international treaties in that a breach of the Geneva Conventions by one party does ''not'' furnish a directly affected party with the option to cease complying with its treaty obligations.

The Geneva Conventions define the basic rights and protections afforded to those non-combatants who fulfill the criteria of being protected persons. The Geneva Conventions concern only protected non-combatants in war. The Geneva Conventions define the rights of civilians, prisoners of war, and military personnel; establish protections for the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked; and provide humanitarian protections for civilians in and around war zones. The use of conventional weapons in wartime is addressed by the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, while the use of biological and chemical weapons in international armed conflicts is addressed by the 1925 Geneva Protocol.

Violations of these earlier conventions constituted some of the grounds for the judgments of the Nuremberg, Tokyo, and other war crimes tribunals. For grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, states are obligated to establish and exercise universal jurisdiction. All four of the 1949 Geneva Conventions — in Articles 49, 50, 129, and 146 (respectively) — all contain provisions obligating parties to search for alleged violators, regardless of their nationality or place of offense, and to either try violators before their own courts or to hand them over to another party for trial. This principle of universal jurisdiction is rooted in the belief that grave breaches of the Geneva Convention are such serious crimes that all states have an obligation to bring those responsible to justice. Provided by Wikipedia