By Neena Bhandari
Oct 14 1999 (IPS)

Amidst the celebration of the 50th year of the adoption of the Geneva Conventions 1949, there is mounting evidence of increased violations of the respect and dignity for human life, soldiers and civilians, enshrined in the Conventions.

People are being massacred or driven out of their homes, women raped and subjected to indignities, young children forced to take up arms, prisoners are tortured or even executed and environmental and cultural heritage bombed.

These and other atrocities of armed conflict were examined at a one-day seminar ôThe Geneva Conventions of 1949: Do They Protect War Victims Today?ö held in London on October 6.

Organised by the British Red Cross, the seminar drew about 150 participants who agreed that despite their relevance, the Conventions are being breached in today’s armed conflictsfrom the low-tech factional war as in Burundi and Chechnya to the high-tech NATO campaign in Serbia.

Paul Berman, senior assistant legal adviser at the Foreign and Commonwealth office, London, says, ” The Conventions are infringed because it applies when political and social structures are breaking down. It depends on individuals not governments for its implementation unlike treaties on environment, trade or transport. Also, its application depends on regular combatants, who are fatigued and ill-informed”.

As many as 188 countries are parties to the GC and over 140 countries have accepted the two Additional Protocols.

The Geneva Conventions owe their origin to the activism of a Geneva citizen, Henry Dunant who was so horrified by the human suffering in the aftermath of the Battle of Solferino of 1859 that he led the founding of the Red Cross.

There are four Geneva Convention (GC) drawn up in 1949, covering the armed forces on land, at sea, prisoners of war and civilians, which have been accepted by virtually every state in the world.

The First Protocol extends the GC, taking into consideration modern means of warfare and transport and aiming to give additional protection to civilians. The Second Protocol provides a code of minimum protection for the combatants and the civilian population during internal conflicts.

There are specific rules on targeting military objects only. However, in recent wars in Iraq and Kosovo many missiles and bombs hit hospitals, homes and TV centres.

The Conventions represent a paradox as they are ratified by more States than any other humanitarian law other than Rights of the Child. At the same time, it is largely violated .

Speaking of his own experience during the 1991 war between Yugoslavia and Croatia, Ferid Kevric, project officer with the Derby Bosnia & Herzegovina Community Association and Bosnian Mines Awareness Trainer for the British Red Cross explained how his wounded friend was being left to die by enemy soldiers, but an enemy doctor performed surgery and saved his life.

A related instrument to the GC is the International Humanitarian Law (IHL) contained in the UN Charter, to protect those who are not or are no longer taking part in fighting such as civilians, medical and religious personnel, wounded or shipwrecked, sick and those who have been taken prisoners.

Secondly, the IHL provides restrictions on the means of warfare, notably weapons and the methods of warfare such as military tactics. It has banned the use of exploding bullets, chemical and biological weapons and laser-blinding weapons.

” In banning inhumane weapons, we have had some success, but there should be control on future use of uranium, chemical and laser weapons. In the Kosovo war, NATO forces used cluster bombs. Bombing makes one detached and impersonal. We need proper application of the existing Conventions”, observed seminar participant Tony Rogers.

Anna Segall, legal adviser on IHL at the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) says, “Dissemination of the IHL is the responsibility of the States. Every state has appropriate structures to make sure rules are applied and enforced. They can be tested during regular armed exercises and one needn’t wait for an actual war”.

Emphasising the importance of media in disseminating awareness about the Conventions in society, Roy Gutman, journalist and author covering issues and institutions of international security for ‘Newsday’ in the United States feels the media should do more in reporting war crime.

ôThe media has immense power in reporting war as it influences the warring parties. Also, conflict is the outgrowth of politics. There has to be a political will to report a particular war. East Timor has been brewing for 20 years, but it has just come up in the Press. Once the Conventions come alive, they will influence political decision making while serving as a ready reckoner on limits of war for States”.

Under the IHL, tribunals have been set up to deal with violations in Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

There is also a Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) adopted in 1988 showing the resolve of the international community to ensure that those who commit grave crimes don’t go unpunished.

Under the GC and the Protocols states must prosecute persons accused of war crimes before their own national courts or extradite them for trial elsewhere. The trial of Gen. Augosto Pinochet of Chile exemplifies this provision.

Commenting on the dilemmas facing the humanitarian organisations, Michael Ignatieff, historian and author said, ” their task is very difficult because they have to reach out to the victims and at the same time implore combatants to observe the Conventions.

ôThe Red Cross in Pristina faced this dilemma during the NATO bombings of March 1999 whether to stay or go. If these aid organisations leave they make the local domestic staff, who are left behind, more vulnerable”.

According to the seminar participants, States must take their obligation to respect the GC more seriously and also show collective commitment through the United Nations peacekeeping or peace enforcement mechanisms.

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