The Geneva Convention Is 150 Years Old Today

On 22 August 1864, many European states congregated in Geneva, Switzerland, and signed the First Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field. ~~~~~ The 1864 Geneva Convention was signed at a critical period in European political and military history. There had been peace in western Europe between the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 and the rise of his nephew, Emperor Napoleon III, in the Italian campaign for unification of 1859. Yet, with the 1856 conflict in the Crimea, war had returned to Europe, and while those troubles were "in a distant and inaccessible region," the 1859 campaign on northern Italy was "so accessible from all parts of western Europe that it instantly filled with curious observers," and the sight of war was unfamiliar and shocking. ~~~~~ Despite its intent of ameliorating the ravages of war, the 1864 Geneva Convention came at the beginning of "a renewal of military activity on a large scale, to which the people of western Europe…had not been accustomed since Napoleon [Bonaparte] had been eliminated." The movement for an international set of laws governing the treatment and care for the wounded and prisoners of war began when the Swiss relief activist Henri Dunant witnessed the Battle of Solferino in 1859, fought between French-Piedmontese and Austrian armies in Northern Italy. The Battle of Solferino, 24 June 1859, resulted in the victory of the allied French Army under Napoleon III and the Sardinian Army under Victor Emmanuel II (together known as the Franco-Sardinian Alliance) against the Austrian Army under Emperor Franz Joseph I. It was the last major battle in world history where all the armies were under the personal command of their monarchs. An estimated 300,000 soldiers fought in this important battle, the largest since the Battle of Leipzig in 1813. There were about 130,000 Austrian troops and a combined total of 140,000 French and allied Piedmontese troops. The Battle ked to 4,000 deaths, 20,000 to 40,000 wounded (depending on which account one accepts), and as many as 10,000 missing in action. The suffering of the wounded soldiers left on the field due to lack of facilities, personnel, and truces to give them medical aid moved Dunant to action. Upon his return to Geneva, Dunant published his account, "Un Souvenir de Solferino," and, through his membership in the Geneva Society for Public Welfare, he urged the convening of an international conference, which led to the founding of the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863 and the First Geneva Convention in 1864. ~~~~~ The International Committee of the Red Cross, while stating that it is "primarily the duty and responsibility of a nation to safeguard the health and physical well-being of its own people," knew there would always, especially in times of war, be a "need for voluntary agencies to supplement…the official agencies charged with these responsibilities in every country." Thus was born the idea of an international convention to regulate the care of wounded soldiers and noncombatant personnel during wars. The 1864 Geneva Convention was the first modern effort to make the treatment of military personnel and noncombatants subject to agreed international humanitarian rules. To ensure that its mission was widely accepted, the 1864 Geneva Convention required a body of rules to govern its own activities and those of the involved belligerent parties. It was signed by many of the major European powers - Italy, France, states that are now Germany, Belgium, The Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, and Norway-Sweden. Not only was it the first such accord, it was also the most basic of rules and "derived its obligatory force from the implied consent of the states which accepted and applied them in the conduct of their military operations." ~~~~~ The 1864 Geneva Convention provided only for : *immunity from capture and from the destruction of all establishments for the treatment of wounded and sick soldiers, *impartial reception and treatment of all combatants, *protection of all noncombatants giving aid to the wounded, and *the use of the Red Cross as a symbol as a means of identifying persons and equipment covered by the agreement. Despite its basic mandates, it was successful in effecting significant and rapid reforms on the European continent which had experienced war for a thousand years. ~~~~~ Dear readers, the Geneva Convention has been updated many times to try to keep up with the changing nature of warfare. Today, there are signatory countries worldwide. But, as we watch the barbaric fighting sweeping across Syria and Iraq, we can appreciate more fully that the Geneva Convention works only when its signatories honor their humanitarian commitments. And it does not work at all with groups that specialize in barbaric combat and have no regard for humanitarian concepts. But, Henri Dunant was right to try to insert humane treatment of the wounded and noncombatants into the rules of warfare. War is not humane. It is not easy to regulate. But those who are caught up in war and injured or captured by hostile forces, as well as those who care for the injured on battlefields and in field hospitals, deserve compassion and the assurance that the warring factions will not disturb their humanitarian work.