First Geneva Convention

First Geneva Cоnvention

Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field
Type	Multilateral treaty
Signed	12 August 1949 (1949-08-12)
Location	Geneva, Switzerland
Effective	21 October 1950 (1950-10-21)
Parties	196 states Afghanistan Albania Algeria Andorra Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Azerbaijan Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bhutan Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cambodia Cameroon Canada Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Cook Islands Costa Rica Ivory Coast Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic DR Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Eritrea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Federated States of Micronesia Fiji Finland France Gabon Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea-Bissau Guinea Guyana Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Iran Iraq Ireland Israel Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kiribati Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Mauritania Mauritius Mexico Moldova Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Myanmar Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Korea North Macedonia Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Palestine Panama Papua New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Congo Romania Russia Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino São Tomé and Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea South Sudan Spain Sri Lanka Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Syria Tajikistan Tanzania Thailand Gambia Timor-Leste Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Vietnam Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
Depositary	Swiss Federal Council

The Geneva Convention (I) for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field (French: Convention pour l'amélioration du sort des blessés et des malades dans les forces armées en campagne), more commonly referred to as the First Geneva Convention or Geneva Convention I and abbreviated as GCI, is the first of the four treaties of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. It defines "the basis on which rest the rules of international law for the protection of the victims of armed conflicts."

GCI is the fourth iteration of a series of Geneva Conventions, all of which sought to implement binding international arrangements for the protection of wounded armies. The first iteration was adopted in 1864, which was then significantly revised and replaced in 1906, 1929, and finally 1949

Geneva Convention I is inextricably linked to the International Committee of the Red Cross, which is both the instigator for the inception and enforcer of the articles in these conventions.

Henry Dunant, co-founder of the Red Cross

Application

The convention "derived its obligatory force from the implied consent of the states which accepted and applied them in the conduct of their military operations." Despite its basic mandates, listed below, it was successful in effecting significant and rapid reforms. This first effort provided only for:

1. the immunity from capture and destruction of all establishments for the treatment of wounded and sick soldiers,
2. the impartial reception and treatment of all combatants,
3. the protection of civilians providing aid to the wounded, and
4. the recognition of the Red Cross symbol as a means of identifying persons and equipment covered by the agreement.

Summary of provisions and revisions

Parties to Geneva Conventions and Protocols

Parties to GC I–IV and P I–III	Parties to GC I–IV and P I–II
Parties to GC I–IV and P I and III	Parties to GC I–IV and P I
Parties to GC I–IV and P III	Parties to GC I–IV and no P

The original ten articles of the 1864 treaty have been expanded to the current 64 articles. This lengthy treaty protects soldiers that are hors de combat (out of the battle due to sickness or injury), as well as medical and religious personnel, and civilians in the zone of battle. Among its principal provisions:

• Article 12 mandates that wounded and sick soldiers who are out of the battle should be humanely treated, and in particular should not be killed, injured, tortured, or subjected to biological experimentation. This article is the keystone of the treaty, and defines the principles from which most of the treaty is derived, including the obligation to respect medical units and establishments (Chapter III), the personnel entrusted with the care of the wounded (Chapter IV), buildings and material (Chapter V), medical transports (Chapter VI), and the protective sign (Chapter VII).
• Article 15 mandates that wounded and sick soldiers should be collected, cared for, and protected, though they may also become prisoners of war.
• Article 16 mandates that parties to the conflict should record the identity of the dead and wounded, and transmit this information to the opposing party.
• Article 9 allows the International Red Cross "or any other impartial humanitarian organization" to provide protection and relief of wounded and sick soldiers, as well as medical and religious personnel.

Due to significant ambiguities in the articles with certain terms and concepts and even more so to the rapidly developing nature of war and military technology, the original articles had to be revised and expanded, largely at the Second Geneva Conference in 1906 and Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 which extended the articles to maritime warfare. The 1906 version was updated and replaced by the 1929 version when minor modifications were made to it. It was again updated and replaced by the 1949 version, better known as the Final Act of Geneva Conference, 1949.

However, as Jean S. Pictet, Director of the International Committee of the Red Cross, noted in 1951, "the law, however, always lags behind charity; it is tardy in conforming with life's realities and the needs of humankind", as such it is the duty of the Red Cross "to assist in the widening the scope of law, on the assumption that…law will retain its value", principally through the revision and expansion of these basic principles of the original Geneva Convention.

For a detailed discussion of each article of the treaty, see the original text and the commentary. There are currently 196 countries party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including this first treaty but also including the other three.

See also

• Geneva Conventions of 1949
• International Committee of the Red Cross
• International humanitarian law
• Non-combatant
• Hors de combat
• List of parties to the Geneva Conventions
• Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868
• Geneva Convention II
• Geneva Convention III
• Geneva Convention IV

Further reading

• Chandler P. Anderson, "International Red Cross Organization", The American Journal of International Law, 1920
• Richard Baxter, "Human Rights in War", Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1977
• Bennett, Angela, "The Geneva Convention, the Hidden Origins of the Red Cross", Sutton Publishing, 2005
• George B. Davis, "The Geneva Convention", The American Journal of International Law, 1907
• Jean S. Pictet, "The New Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims", The American Journal of International Law, 1951
• Francis Lieber, "Instructions for the Government of Armies of the United States in the Field", Lincoln General Orders, 24 April 1863

External links

• Facsimile of the original document
• 150 years of the 1864 Geneva Convention – 150 years of humanitarian action