GENEVA CONVENTION

GENEVA CONVENTION

TOPIC: IR

Context- Geneva Conventions and the Russia-Ukraine war.

Concept-

What are the Geneva Conventions guidelines during wartime?

• The Geneva Conventions are a set of four treaties, formalised in 1949, and three additional protocols, which codify widely accepted ethical and legal international standards for humanitarian treatment of those impacted by war.
• The focus of the Conventions is the treatment of non-combatants and prisoners of war, and not the use of conventional or biological and chemical weapons, the use of which is governed respectively by the Hague Conventions and the Geneva Protocol.
• The First Geneva Convention protects wounded and sick soldiers on land during war.
• The Second Geneva Convention protects wounded, sick and shipwrecked military personnel at sea during war.
• The Third Geneva Convention applies to prisoners of war, including a wide range of general protections such as humane treatment, maintenance and equality across prisoners, conditions of captivity, questioning and evacuation of prisoners, transit camps, food, clothing, medicines, hygiene and right to religious, intellectual, and physical activities of prisoners.
• The Fourth Geneva Convention protects civilians, including those in occupied territory. The other Geneva Conventions were concerned mainly with combatants rather than civilians.
• Two Protocols of 1977: Additional to the four 1949 Geneva Conventions were adopted in 1977. They strengthen the protection of victims of international (Protocol I) and non-international (Protocol II) armed conflicts and place limits on the way wars are fought.
• In 2005, a third Additional Protocol was adopted creating an additional emblem, the Red Crystal, which has the same international status as the Red Cross and Red Crescent emblems.

Which countries are signatories?

• The Geneva Conventions have been ratified by 196 states, including all UN member states.
• The four conventions and first two protocols of the Geneva Conventions were ratified by the Soviet Union, not Russia.

What would be the steps for potential prosecution under the Conventions?

• Under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the ICC, it is the ICC that has jurisdiction in respect of war crimes, in particular.
• Under the statute, ‘war crimes’ refers to Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions including
  • wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
  • wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
  • extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
  • compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;
  • wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
  • unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement; taking of hostages.