Sixteen countries sent a total of twenty-six delegates to Geneva. On 22 August 1864, the Swiss government invited the governments of all European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil, and Mexico, to attend an official diplomatic conference. The latter led to the 1864 Geneva Convention, the first codified international treaty that covered the sick and wounded soldiers on the battlefield. The former proposal led to the establishment of the Red Cross in Geneva.

A government treaty recognizing the neutrality of the agency and allowing it to provide aid in a war zone.A permanent relief agency for humanitarian aid in times of war.His wartime experiences inspired Dunant to propose: As a result, he published his book, A Memory of Solferino, in 1862, on the horrors of war. He was shocked by the lack of facilities, personnel, and medical aid available to help these soldiers. The Swiss businessman Henry Dunant went to visit wounded soldiers after the Battle of Solferino in 1859. A Red Cross poster from the First World War. History The progression of the Geneva Conventions from 1864 to 1949. The use of wartime conventional weapons are addressed by the Hague Conventions of 18 and the 1980 Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons, while the biological and chemical warfare in international armed conflicts are addressed by the 1925 Geneva Protocol.

The Geneva Conventions concern only protected non-combatants in war. The treaties of 1949 were ratified, in their entirety or with reservations, by 196 countries. The Geneva Conventions defines the rights and protections afforded to non-combatants who fulfills the criteria of being protected persons. 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. 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 are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war.

The original document in single pages, 1864. Not to be confused with Geneva Conference, Geneva Protocol (disambiguation), or Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees.Ī facsimile of the signature-and-seals page of the 1864 Geneva Convention, that established humane rules of war.

Armed conflict article