The Geneva Conventions (1)

After wars and millions of lives lost and ravaged, it seems national leaders tend to take a kinder look at the world and humanity’s inclination to self-destruct, and perhaps concluded, rightly then and rightly so now on hindsight, that there are more civilized ways of undertaking war as a means of self-defense outside of reciprocal destruction.

Europe led the way after its countries went through a thousand years of mutual slaughter.  Even without taking into account the wars and skirmishes fought within Europe in previous centuries, the second half of the 19th century alone saw European countries fighting at least five wars against each other.

The Crimean War of 1854-1856 had Great Britain, France, Turkey and Sardinia arrayed against Russia.  Three years after, in 1859, France and Sardinia fought Austria.  Then it was Prussia’s turn against Denmark in 1864, and Prussia allied with Italy against Austria in 1866.  Austria again fought France in 1870.  And all this was before the Great War of 1914-1918, which later came to be known as World War I.

The Geneva Conventions, so called because the conventions were made and concluded in Geneva, Switzerland, is any of a series of international treaties between 1864 and 1949. Their purpose was to correct the dreadful effects of war on soldiers and civilians.  Convention here refers specifically to “an agreement between two or more states arranging for the regulation of matters affecting all of them.”  It is something akin to a covenant.

But the idea of humane treatment for those involved in wars was initiated by the Swiss Jean-Henri Dunant (1828-1910), founder of the Red Cross, now known as both the Red Cross and Red Crescent, and founder of the World’s Young Men’s Christian Association.

Dunant was an eyewitness to the June 24, 1859 Battle of Solferino in the war of France and Sardinia against Austria.  The battle had thousands of casualties and Dunant organized emergency aid services for the wounded of both warring sides.  In 1862, he proposed the formation in all countries of voluntary relief organizations aimed at preventing and easing suffering in both war and peace, without merit to race or creed.

He also proposed an international agreement covering the war wounded.  In 1864, the year he founded the Red Cross, the first national relief organizations and the first Geneva Convention also took form.  That first convention was ratified in three years by all the European great powers and a number of other states.

It was also Dunant who initiated international consultations and dialogues that led to the Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded in Time of War in 1884.  That convention provided for the immunity from capture and destruction of all establishments and personnel that treat wounded and sick soldiers, the impartial reception and treatment of all combatants, the protection of civilians aiding the wounded, and the recognition of the Red Cross symbol (or Red Crescent in Islamic countries) as a means of identifying persons and equipment covered by the immunity.

The first Geneva Convention of 1864 was amended by the second Geneva Convention of 1906.  Meanwhile, the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 applied the provisions of the Geneva Convention to maritime warfare.

In 1929 the third Geneva Convention, the Convention Relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, made provisions for the protection of prisoners of war.  It provides that belligerents, which in this context refer to countries at war, must “treat prisoners humanely, supply information about them, and permit visits to prison camps by representatives of neutral states.”

Yet it appeared that the principles of the three Geneva Conventions are manifested more by neglect rather than adherence by countries at war, especially during World War II when warring countries were more disposed to disregard the conventions’ humanitarian principles.

(2004)