Description

The four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 are international treaties, ratified or acceded to by virtually all States. They protect the wounded and sick in armed forces in the field; wounded and sick and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea; prisoners of war and civilians who find themseleves under the rule of a foreign power in the event of international conflict. An article common to the four Geneva Conventions guarantees a minimum amount of protection to the victims of non-international conflicts. Pre-existing provisions were revised and supplemented, and new ones drawn up by the Diplomatic Conference held in Geneva from 22 April to 12 August 1949.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions neither provided for adequate protection of the civilian population against the effects of hostilities, nor did they cover modern forms of warfare. The work of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts, held in Geneva from 1974 to 1977, resulted in the adoption of two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions. Protocol I, applicable in international armed conflicts, protects civilians against the effects of hostilities, and extends prisoner-or-war status to guerrilla fighters, while Protocol II gives increased protection to the victims of high intensity non-international armed conflicts.