GENEVA CONVENTION

any of a series of international treaties concluded in Geneva, Switz., between 1864 and 1949, for the purpose of ameliorating the effects of war on soldiers and civilians. The history of the conventions is closely associated with that of the Red Cross, whose founder, Henri Dunant, initiated international negotiations establishing in 1864 the Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded in Time of War. This provided for (1) the immunity from capture and destruction of all establishments for the treatment of wounded and sick soldiers and their personnel, (2) the impartial reception and treatment of all combatants, (3) the protection of civilians rendering aid to the wounded, and (4) recognition of the Red Cross symbol as a means of identifying persons and equipment covered by the agreement. This first convention was ratified within three years by all the European great powers, as well as by many lesser states. It was amended and extended by the second Geneva Convention in 1906. Also, by the Hague conventions of 1899 and 1907, its provisions were applied to maritime warfare. In 1929 the third Geneva Convention, the Convention Relating to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, made provision for the protection of prisoners of war (a subject earlier dealt with in a Hague Convention of 1907), providing that belligerents must treat prisoners humanely, supply information about them, and permit visits to prison camps by representatives of neutral states. After World War II, because some belligerents had abused the principles contained in the earlier conventions, it was decided to extend and codify the existing provisions in an International Red Cross conference in Stockholm held Aug. 2330, 1948. The conference developed four conventions which were approved in Geneva on Aug. 12, 1949: (1) Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field, (2) Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded, Sick, and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea, (3) Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, and (4) Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. The first two conventions were elaborations of the principle of the neutralization of the sick and wounded outlined above. The convention covering prisoners of war further developed that of 1929, requiring humane treatment, adequate feeding, and delivery of relief supplies and forbidding pressure on prisoners to supply more than a minimum of information. The provisions of the fourth convention contained little that was not established in international law prior to World War II. The disregard of humanitarian principles during that conflict, however, made a restatement and reaffirmation timely. The convention contained detailed provisions for the protection of individuals falling under the jurisdiction of a belligerent. The following practices were forbidden: deportation of individuals or groups, regardless of motive; the taking of hostages; outrages upon personal dignity; torture; collective punishment and reprisals; the unjustified destruction of property; and discrimination in treatment on the basis of race, religion, nationality, or political grounds. In the decades following World War II, the growing number of anticolonial and insurrectionary wars threatened to render the Geneva conventions obsolete. After four years of negotiation under the sponsorship of the Red Cross, an international conference on June 8, 1977, approved two protocols to the 1949 conventions. These extended protection under the Geneva and Hague conventions to guerrilla combatants fighting wars of self-determination or civil wars in which they exercised control over significant measures of territory. More than 150 nations (including the United Kingdom and the United States) have become parties to the 1949 conventions, but only slightly more than half that number have signed the 1977 protocols (the United Kingdom and the United States have not). History Foundation and medieval growth The original site of the city was an easily defended hill dominating the outlet of the lake. Human occupation began in the Paleolithic Period and further developed in the Neolithic, which was marked by the growth of a vast lake-dwelling community with habitations built on piles. The original name of Genava (or Geneva) undoubtedly dates back to the pre-Celtic Ligurian peoples. In about 500 BC Geneva was a fortified settlement of the Allobrogian Celts, and as early as 58 BC it served as a departure point in the campaign of the Helvetians and the Romans for Gaul. By AD 379 Geneva was the seat of a bishop and was within the Roman Empire, but when it had been Christianized and when it became a Roman city are uncertain. After the Germanic invasions Geneva became part of the Burgundian kingdom and served as its first capital from 443 to 534. For a time Geneva belonged to Lotharingia and then again to Burgundy (8881032). During the early feudal period the city formed the hub of the lands belonging to the Genevese counts. With the final extinction of their line in 1401, the bishop, who was a direct vassal of the Holy Roman emperor and invested with temporal power, vied for control with the neighbouring counts of Savoy. The 15th to 18th century In the 15th century the counts of Savoy rose to the status of dukes and made strenuous efforts to assert their sovereignty in Geneva at the expense of the bishops, who made correspondingly generous offers to the burghers to win their support against the dukes. But the burghers were slow to forsake the dukes, from whom they secured a contract recognizing their General Councilthe public assembly to which every citizen belongedas the central legislative body of the city.