Geneva Conventions

The first Geneva Convention was adopted in 1864 after efforts to improve care for wounded soldiers, and it introduced a common emblem for military medical services. The four conventions now commonly called the Geneva Conventions were adopted on 12 August 1949, revising and developing earlier treaty protections. States later adopted two Additional Protocols on 8 June 1977, and a third on 8 December 2005. These instruments extend or develop parts of the treaty framework; they are not a fifth through seventh Geneva Convention.

The First Geneva Convention protects wounded and sick members of armed forces on land, as well as medical and religious personnel and medical units and transport. The Second extends protection to wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea and to associated medical services. The Third sets out protections and standards for prisoners of war, including treatment in captivity and release and repatriation after active hostilities cease. The Fourth concerns the protection and treatment of civilians in wartime, including civilians in occupied territory. Their subjects are distinct, but the treaties share a concern with humane treatment and protection for people affected by conflict.

The Conventions are a central part of international humanitarian law (IHL), which regulates how parties conduct themselves during armed conflict; IHL does not decide whether resorting to force is lawful. The rules protect people who are not participating in hostilities, including civilians, health workers and aid workers, and people who can no longer fight, such as wounded, sick or shipwrecked troops and prisoners of war. Common Article 3, included in all four Conventions, sets minimum protections in armed conflicts not of an international character. It requires humane treatment of people not actively taking part and prohibits, among other acts, murder, torture, hostage-taking and humiliating or degrading treatment; it also requires that the wounded and sick be collected and cared for. The Conventions and IHL more broadly operate alongside other treaties and rules of customary international law.

Additional Protocol I (1977) develops protections in international armed conflicts, including rules on medical services and the civilian population. Additional Protocol II (1977) addresses non-international armed conflicts, but its scope is narrower than that of Common Article 3. Additional Protocol III (2005) recognizes the red crystal as an additional protective emblem. Treaty obligations under the Additional Protocols differ according to which instruments a state has joined; the International Committee of the Red Cross treaty database records parties, signatures, reservations and declarations. Customary international law may also apply beyond treaty provisions. The Conventions also define certain serious violations as grave breaches and require states to search for people alleged to have committed them and bring them before their courts or hand them over for trial, regardless of nationality.