Law: the conventions that bear Geneva’s name

2What the four Conventions protect

Each of the four Conventions of 1949 covers a different group of people. The First protects wounded and sick soldiers on land, together with medical personnel, ambulances and hospitals. The Second does the same at sea, adding the shipwrecked. The Third protects prisoners of war. The Fourth protects civilians who find themselves in the hands of a party to the conflict of which they are not nationals – for example the population of an occupied territory, or foreigners living in an enemy state.

Most of these rules were written for wars between states. For civil wars and other non-international armed conflicts, the Conventions contain one shared article, Article 3, which sets minimum rules of humane treatment.

The Additional Protocols of 1977 strengthened these rules: Protocol I for international armed conflicts, Protocol II for non-international ones. The Protocol of 2005 added a new protective emblem, the red crystal, alongside the red cross and the red crescent.

3Three emblems, two uses

The red cross, the red crescent and the red crystal are protected by law, and the ICRC distinguishes two ways of using them. In protective use, during armed conflict, the emblem is a visible sign of the protection given to medical services and to certain humanitarian organisations working alongside them. Intentionally attacking people, vehicles or buildings that use the protective emblem in accordance with international law is a war crime.

In indicative use, the emblem shows a link with the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. National Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies may use it, in peacetime also for activities beyond medical support. In wartime they may go on using it, but in a form that cannot be confused with the protective emblem.

Governments adopted the red crystal in 2005 as an additional protective sign. It answered concerns about respect for the neutrality of the red cross and the red crescent in some conflicts; as early as 1992 the ICRC’s president, Cornelio Sommaruga, had called for an emblem free of any national, political or religious connotation.

4From 1864 to 1949

Geneva’s place in humanitarian law goes back to the 1860s. The committee that became the ICRC was founded in the city in 1863, and on 22 August 1864 a diplomatic conference in Geneva adopted the first Geneva Convention, on wounded soldiers in armies in the field. It was revised in 1906 and 1929. The modern Conventions were adopted on 12 August 1949 at another diplomatic conference in Geneva, chaired by the Swiss Federal Councillor Max Petitpierre.

Switzerland continues to promote the Conventions, and the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs explains them on its website. That page, with the full list of what each Convention covers, is in the sources below.

5The International Committee of the Red Cross

The International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICRC, was founded in 1863 and has its headquarters in Geneva. Its mandate comes from the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols, and from the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement: it works for people affected by armed conflict and other violence, and promotes international humanitarian law.

Its legal status is that of an association under Swiss law with an international legal personality.

6Reading the official texts

We explain the Conventions in our own words; we do not republish them. The official texts and commentaries are published by the ICRC and the Swiss authorities, and the sources below lead to them. When a detail matters, for example in study or in court, always rely on the official text.

The story of the Red Cross and its work is told in the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva; see Science Travel.