Geneva Conventions
Also called: Fourth Geneva Convention, Geneva Conventions 1949 · Topic: India's External Relations, 1947-1999: Non-alignment, Wars and Nuclear Policy · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties signed in 1949. They set the basic rules for treating people humanely in war. They protect people who are not fighting or can no longer fight: wounded soldiers on land and at sea, prisoners of war (enemy soldiers captured in war), and civilians. Together they are the core of international humanitarian law (IHL), which means the rules of war that apply to every side, whatever the reason the war began. The Fourth Geneva Convention protects civilians, including people living under military occupation. Its Article 49(6) says an occupying power may not move its own civilians into the land it occupies. This is the legal basis for calling settlements in occupied land illegal.
Example
In the 1971 war, about 90,000 Pakistani troops surrendered in Dhaka. Once they were captured, the Geneva Conventions gave them the protections owed to prisoners of war. Today, UN bodies use Article 49(6) to call Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank unlawful.
Don't confuse with
- Genocide Convention (1948): it defines genocide and requires proof of intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. The Geneva Conventions cover how people are treated in war, whether or not genocide is involved.
- Rome Statute: it set up the International Criminal Court (ICC), which puts individuals on trial for war crimes. The Geneva Conventions set the rules but did not create a court. India is not a party to the Rome Statute.