In 1949, an international conference of diplomats revised and updated earlier treaties that protected victims of war. Their effort led to the creation of four conventions comprising 429 articles of law. Almost every nation in the world has signed these treaties commonly known as the Geneva Conventions. Additional Protocols adopted in 1977 supplement the Geneva Conventions.

The Geneva Conventions apply in all cases of declared war or other armed conflict between nations. They also apply in cases where a nation is partially or totally occupied by soldiers of another nation, even when there is no armed resistance to that occupation. In addition, they apply in situations of non-international conflicts such as civil wars.

Nations that ratify the Geneva Conventions agree to abide by certain humanitarian principles and impose legal sanctions against those who violate them. Ratifying nations must "enact any legislation necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for persons committing or ordering to be committed any of the grave breaches" of the conventions.

What the Conventions Do

The First Geneva Convention protects soldiers who are hors de combat (out of the fight) because of wounds or sickness.

The Second Geneva Convention protects wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of the armed forces at sea.

The Third Geneva Convention protects prisoners of war (POWs), setting out specific rules for their treatment.

The Fourth Geneva Convention protects civilians in areas of armed conflict and occupied territories.

Protocol I expands protection for the civilian population as well as military and civilian medical workers in international armed conflicts.

Protocol II expands and complements protections contained in Article 3 common to all four Geneva Conventions of 1949 that extend protection to civilian populations during non-international armed conflicts such as civil wars. It does not apply to such disturbances as riots, demonstrations, and isolated acts of violence.

Learn More

A Summary of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols

American Red Cross Study Guide on International Humanitarian Law and the Geneva Conventions

Items marked with are in Adobe Acrobat PDF format. For best results, right-click the link (or click and hold for Macintosh), select "save target as" and save the document to your desktop for viewing and printing.