Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War

Accusations of violation of the Geneva Conventions on the part of signatory nations are brought before the International Court of Justice at the Hague.

The conventions and their agreements are as follows:

• First Geneva Convention (1864): Treatment of battlefield casualties.
• Second Geneva Convention (1906): Extended the principles from the first convention to apply also to war at sea.
• Third Geneva Convention (1929): Treatment of prisoners of war.
• Fourth Geneva Convention (1949): Treatment of civilians during wartime.

In addition, there are two additional protocols to the Geneva Convention

• Protocol I (1977): Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts
• Protocol II (1977): Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts

This First Convention also mandated the foundation of the International Committee of the Red Cross. The text is given in the Resolutions of the Geneva International Conference.

The first three conventions were revised, a fourth was added, and the entire set was ratified in 1949; the whole is referred to as the "Geneva Conventions of 1949" or simply the "Geneva Conventions". Later conferences have added provisions prohibiting certain methods of warfare and addressing issues of civil wars. Nearly all 200 countries of the world are "signatory" nations, in that they have ratified these conventions.

Clara Barton was instrumental in campaigning for the ratification of the First Geneva Convention by the United States; the U.S. signed in 1882. By the Fourth Geneva Convention some 47 nations had ratified the agreements.

See also

• International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
• Laws of war
• War crime
• Collateral damage
• Atrocity
• Human rights
• Attacks on humanitarian workers
• Geneva Conference
• Reprisals