The Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 (3,7-8)

​

The First World War also highlighted the need to care for civilian refugees and to protect civilian internees. The failure of governments to ratify an agreement proposed by the ICRC had its tragic consequences during the Second World War when millions of people died in Nazi concentration camps, and the Red Cross, with no legal right of access, was powerless to intervene. Horrified by

such atrocities, the governments of the world met in a new diplomatic conference in 1949 and agreed to a new convention prepared by the I.C.R.C. relating to "the protection of civilians in wartime".

​

At the same time the texts of earlier conventions were revised and aligned, and the result was the Four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, which respectively guarantee the protection of the wounded and sick in armed forces in the field; of wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea; of prisoners of war; and of civilian persons in time of war (7-8).

​

The Two Additional Protocols (3, 6, 8)

​

New forms of conflict (such as wars of national liberation and civil war) after 1949 showed that the Four Conventions did not provide adequate protection in all circumstances. Hence, two Additional Protocols were adopted on 8 June 1977 after a Diplomatic Conference in Geneva, which simultaneously extended the scope of the Four Conventions to cover these new conflicts.

​

Protocol I covers international armed conflict including wars of liberation. Its provisions give greater protection to civilians, including civilian medical units, transport and personnel, which are now entitled to the same protection as that granted to their military medical counterparts; they also facilitate the channelling of relief supplies to civilians in time of war, and they ban reprisals and the use of weapons which "cause unnecessary suffering or strike without discrimination" - such as the use of starvation.

​

Protocol II covers non-international conflict, such as civiI war. It provides fundamental guarantees for

safeguarding all those not taking part in the conflict, and strengthens the protection due to medical units, transport and personnel.

​

Medical Personnel in Armed Conflicts (9)

​

The Four Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols lay down various provisions for military and civilian medical personnel whose services may be required in armed conflicts. These provisions are designed to help them accomplish their humanitarian mission on behalf of the victims of war, and distinguish between the duties incumbent on them and the rights conceded to them. It is therefore incumbent upon medical personnel to familiarise themselves with these provisions (9).