Four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term Geneva Convention usually denotes the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of the Second World War (1939–1945), which updated the terms of the two 1929 treaties and added two new conventions. The Geneva Conventions extensively define the basic rights of wartime prisoners (civilians and military personnel), established protections for the wounded and sick, and provided protections for the civilians in and around a war zone; moreover, the Geneva Convention also defines the rights and protections afforded to non-combatants. The treaties of 1949 were ratified, in their entirety or with reservations, by 196 countries. The Geneva Conventions concern only prisoners and non-combatants in war; they do not address the use of weapons of war, which are instead addressed by the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, which concern conventional weapons, and the Geneva Protocol, which concerns biological and chemical warfare.
Published in Chapter:
International Humanitarian Law: Protection of Human Rights During Armed Conflicts
Mary Tseruashvili (The Center for International Studies, Georgia)
Copyright: © 2022
|Pages: 16
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-6684-4543-3.ch013
Abstract
The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the international humanitarian law and its effectiveness in contemporary conflicts. In particular, it focuses on the analysis of the challenges that international humanitarian law faces in contemporary international or non-international armed hostilities. While the ongoing progress in the modern world offers new challenges, the issue of the effectiveness of humanitarian law becomes controversial. Therefore, the chapter presents an academic paper, and it is based on the analysis of the various articles, reports, analytical papers, and case studies, depending on which it became possible to answer the main research question and to demonstrate the effectiveness of international humanitarian law enforcement mechanisms in modern conflicts.