This August, the world marks the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions.

Fifty-eight countries, hoping to limit the kinds of horrors seen during the Second World War, signed the four Geneva Conventions on 12 August, 1949. The four Conventions have since been universally ratified; they are the only set of rules we all agree on. They represent a global acknowledgement that war needs rules to limit its devastating impact.

As part of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, New Zealand Red Cross shares a commitment to strengthen and promote the laws of war found in the Geneva Conventions.

New Zealand Red Cross Secretary-General Sarah Stuart-Black believes the Conventions remain important to Aotearoa New Zealand and the world, 75 years on.

“The Geneva Conventions form the core of international humanitarian law (IHL), which regulates the conduct of armed conflict. Their aim is to retain a degree of humanity even in the worst of conflicts. When IHL is respected and its humanitarian spirit upheld, lives are saved, and a level of dignity is preserved,” she says.

“In recent years conflicts have grown in number and complexity, with many becoming protracted into decades long strife. The International Committee of the Red Cross is currently working in 100 conflicts zones.”

The Conventions actively protect the civilians, medics, and aid workers protecting humanity in the midst of war. They also protect those who can no longer fight, such as the wounded, sick, or prisoners of war.

The Geneva Conventions have been called the ‘DNA’ of the International Red Cross Red Crescent Movement. They are the legal roots of the Movement’s mandate and a crucial part of its history and identity, which started in the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino in 1859 In 1863 Swiss businessman Henry Dunant responded to the battlefield suffering he had witnessed by founding the first Red Cross organisation to promote neutral medical assistance on the battlefield. Dunant also promoted a new international agreement to protect those objectives, the First Geneva Convention, which 12 countries signed in 1864.

“At the heart of our Movement’s fundamental principles are neutrality, impartiality and independence. These principles are why we are trusted to provide care in conflicts. They are the reason Red Cross is called on to assist with hostage exchanges. They are why it is trusted to ensure prisoners of war are treated in accordance with our shared standards,” Stuart-Black notes.

“We operate in war zones no matter which parties are involved; we operate where people are forcibly displaced; and we operate where disaster has struck.

“What New Zealanders hear about most in the news are instances when international humanitarian law – the law of war – is not respected. War crimes are committed every day with impunity. We are confronted with the use of child soldiers, indiscriminate attacks on civilians, and ill-treatment of detainees. These violations are always unacceptable and must be condemned, eradicated, and prosecuted.”

New Zealand Red Cross works alongside the New Zealand Government, supports the New Zealand International Humanitarian Law Committee, and works with many other interested parties to continue to support and evolve these laws, for the good of all humanity.

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