Geneva Conventions
Wartime humanitarian law
The Geneva Conventions are a series of international treaties establishing humanitarian standards for the treatment of victims of armed conflict.
First adopted in 1864 and expanded through subsequent agreements, they protect wounded soldiers, prisoners of war, and civilians during wartime, prohibiting torture, summary execution, and other abuses.
The conventions are binding on nearly all nations and form the foundation of international humanitarian law.
The treatment of detainees violated the Geneva Conventions.
Military combat between groups
- combatantsThose engaged in warfare
- prisoners of warCaptured combatants held during hostilities
- POWsCaptured military personnel
- wounded soldiersCombatants injured in battle
shipwrecked · military necessity · proportionality · prohibited weapons · perfidy · surrender · internment · repatriation
International emergency relief organization
- Red CrescentHumanitarian symbol in Islamic countries
- ICRCWartime humanitarian organization
- humanitarian lawRules governing armed conflict
- human dignityIntrinsic worth of persons
mercy · compassion · relief · aid workers · field hospitals · humanitarian corridors · medical personnel · chaplains
Illegal acts during conflict
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- tribunalJudicial decision-making body
- NurembergGerman trial city
- HagueDutch administrative capital
ICC · jurisprudence · codification · ratification · compliance · enforcement · legal protections · accountability
Established codes of conduct
- signatoriesThose who signed officially
- ratificationFormal approval by authority
- articlesWritten works or items
- provisionsStockpiled food and supplies
amendments · accession · reservations · depositary · multilateral · binding · obligations · revision
Non-military population
- detaineesPeople held in custody
- refugeesPeople seeking safety elsewhere
- woundedHaving sustained harm
- sickUnwell or impressively cool
medical units · hospital ships · white flag · safe passage · evacuation · internees · occupied territories · women
armed conflict
Military combat between groups
- combatantsThose engaged in warfare
- prisoners of warCaptured combatants held during hostilities
- POWsCaptured military personnel
wounded soldiers · shipwrecked · military necessity · proportionality · prohibited weapons · perfidy · surrender · internment · repatriation · armistice
Red Cross
International emergency relief organization
- Red CrescentHumanitarian symbol in Islamic countries
- ICRCWartime humanitarian organization
- humanitarian lawRules governing armed conflict
human dignity · mercy · compassion · relief · aid workers · field hospitals · humanitarian corridors · medical personnel · chaplains · neutral zones
war crimes
Illegal acts during conflict
- prosecutionPursuing legal charges
- tribunalJudicial decision-making body
- NurembergGerman trial city
Hague · ICC · jurisprudence · codification · ratification · compliance · enforcement · legal protections · accountability · indictment
protocols
Established codes of conduct
- signatoriesThose who signed officially
- ratificationFormal approval by authority
- articlesWritten works or items
provisions · amendments · accession · reservations · depositary · multilateral · binding · obligations · revision
civilians
Non-military population
sick · medical units · hospital ships · white flag · safe passage · evacuation · internees · occupied territories · women · children
- UN TreatiesUN Charter, Paris Agreement, Kyoto Protocol, CRC, CITES
- humanitarian aidaid, aid organizations, aid workers, disaster relief, aid agencies
- Foreign Affairsforeign affairs, foreign relations, diplomatic relations, embassies, ambassadors
- international lawinternational law, treaty, treaties, protocols, declarations
- 1949NATO, Mao Zedong, China, Berlin Airlift, apartheid
- GenevaUnited Nations, Red Cross, WHO, watchmaking, humanitarian law
Geneva Conventionswar crimes
Illegal acts during conflict
genocide · crimes against humanity · death camps · ethnic cleansing · torture
Geneva Conventionstotal war
Conflict engaging entire nations
lawlessness · no quarter · barbarism · law of the jungle · scorched earth policy
Geneva Conventionscivil law
Law governing private disputes
convention, conventional, conventions, unconventional, Geneva, reconvene, nonconventional, Geneva Convention