Violations of international humanitarian law must not be normalized, warns the ICRC, citing 120 global conflicts as it marks the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has called on the world to respect the Geneva Conventions, as the international treaties establishing the rules of war mark their 75th anniversary.
The set of rules for conducting war is under pressure and is often disregarded, ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric said on Monday. Conduct in conflicts such as Gaza, Ukraine, Syria and Myanmar illustrates that conventions are being largely ignored and that a new commitment to international humanitarian law is needed, advocates say.
The Geneva Conventions, which set out rules on the protection of civilians, detainees and wounded soldiers, were adopted by most of the world after they were finalized in 1949.
“The world must recommit to this robust protection framework for armed conflict, which follows the premise of protecting life rather than justifying death,” Spoljaric told journalists at ICRC headquarters in Geneva.
Today we mark the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. Since August 12, 1949, they have safeguarded human dignity in the darkest of times.
States and non-state armed groups must ensure that these rules continue to save lives. pic.twitter.com/DRnukK09IX
— ICRC (@ICRC) August 12, 2024
“Today we mark the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions,” wrote the ICRC in X. “They safeguarded human dignity in the darkest of times. States and non-state armed groups must ensure that these rules continue to save lives.”
The conventions prohibit torture and sexual violence, require humane treatment of detainees and require the search for missing people.
They “reflect a global consensus that all wars have limits,” Spoljaric said. “The dehumanization of both enemy combatants and civilian populations is a path to ruin and disaster.”
The Red Cross said the rulebook is needed now more than ever. More than 120 active conflicts persist around the world, he noted, a sixfold increase since the half-century anniversary of the conventions in 1999.
Modern armed conflicts have become more dangerous since the 20th century due to new technologies, the urbanization of warfare and “the deliberate dehumanization of the enemy through labels such as ‘terrorist’”, he continued.
The Red Cross said violations – including shootings at hospitals, schools and ambulances and the killing of aid workers and civilians – should not become the norm.
When violations of international humanitarian law “are committed with impunity, this fuels new cycles of violence, often resulting in protracted armed conflicts that last decades,” the organization said.
Currently, actors in many conflicts are accused of violating conventions, from Gaza to Ukraine.
The United Nations special rapporteur for the occupied Palestinian territory accused Israel of violating three of the five acts listed in the UN Genocide Conventions during the war in Gaza.
South Africa also took Israel to the International Court of Justice, accusing it of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza – with 12 other countries supporting the case.
Russia’s actions in Ukraine, however, should be investigated as war crimes, organizations such as Human Rights Watch said.
This story originally appeared on Aljazeera.com read the full story
