Origins of the Geneva Conventions
The Rules of War were Written for a Different Time and Place
Sep 1, 2009
The Battle of Solferino was a horrible business. France and Austria were at war and their armies had fought before. On June 24, 1859, they faced each other again outside the town of Solferino in northern Italy, not far to the west of Verona. The two armies combined numbered 270,000 men, of whom probably 80,000 died during and after the battle.
Henri Dunant Witnessed the Aftermath of the Battle
By coincidence, a young Swiss businessman named Henri Dunant was in Solferino at the time. The day after the fighting he ventured out onto the field of combat and was utterly horrified by what he saw.
Later, he wrote about his sobering experience in A Memory of Solferino. “When the sun came up on the 25th,” wrote Dunant, “it disclosed the most dreadful sights imaginable…"
“The poor, wounded men were ghostly pale and exhausted. Some, who had been the most badly hurt, had a stupefied look. Others were anxious and excited by nervous strain and shaken by spasmodic trembling. Some, who had gaping wounds already beginning to show infection, were almost crazed with suffering. They begged to be put out of their misery; and writhed with faces distorted in the grip of the death struggle.”
Book Marks the Beginning of Geneva Conventions
Afterwards Dunant wrote his book to promote the “adoption by all civilized nations of an international and sacred principle which would be assured and placed on record by a convention to be concluded between governments. This would serve as a safeguard for all official and unofficial persons engaged in nursing war victims.”
Back in Switzerland, and with the help of four friends, he set up what would eventually become the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1863.
A year later, these same five men organized a conference in Geneva, Switzerland. Representatives from 13 nations attended the conference, which wound up with the signing, in August 1864, of the first Geneva Convention.
Geneva Conventions Expanded
The first convention was concerned with providing safety for people involved in the dangerous chore of helping the wounded. It also said that prisoners of war who were no longer capable of fighting should be returned to their own countries.
Since then, the Geneva Conventions have been added to, providing for humane treatment of prisoners and non-combatants alike. However, they are still a long way from Henri Dunant’s fondest wish, which was for war itself to be made illegal.
In 1901, he received the first Nobel Peace Prize ever awarded, which he shared with the French economist Frederic Passy. Henri Dunant died in 1910.
Geneva Conventions frequently Ignored
For commanders in the field following the rules of combat laid out in the Conventions is a difficult task, particularly when the opponent pays no attention to them.
All too often, the Geneva Conventions are ignored. Among the most egregious examples are those of Nazi Germany, Japan, and the Soviet Union during the Second World War. For many civil conflicts – Sudan, Somalia, Rwanda, the Balkans – the Conventions might just as well have not been written. And the same is true in trying to deal with terrorists.
It is unfortunate that there is much truth in the Latin saying “inter arma silent leges” – “in time of war the law is silent.”
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