At its 75th anniversary, the world’s best-known rulebook on the protection of civilians, detainees and wounded soldiers in war has been widely ignored — from Gaza to Syria to Ukraine to Myanmar and beyond — and its defenders are calling for a new commitment to international humanitarian law.
The Geneva Conventions, which have been adopted by nearly all the world’s countries since they were finalized on Aug. 12, 1949, are back on their heels as armed militia groups and national forces regularly disregard the rules of war.
“International humanitarian law is under strain, disregarded, undermined to justify violence,” President Mirjana Spoljaric of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which oversees the conventions, said Monday.
“The world must recommit to this robust protective framework for armed conflict, one that follows the premise of protecting life instead of justifying death,” she said.
The conventions, with roots dating to the 19th century, aims to set rules around the conduct of war: They ban torture and sexual violence, require humane treatment of detainees and mandate searches for missing persons.
The conventions “reflect a global consensus that all wars have limits,” Spoljaric told reporters at ICRC headquarters in Geneva. “The dehumanization of both enemy fighters and civilian populations is a path to ruin and disaster.”
The Red Cross says the conventions are needed now more than ever: It has counted more than 120 active conflicts around the world, a six-fold increase from the half-century anniversary in 1999.
These days, many countries and combatants exploit loopholes in international humanitarian law or interpret it as they see fit. Hospitals, schools and ambulances have come under fire, aid workers and civilians are killed, and countries refuse access to detainees.
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