Geneva Conventions 75th anniversary: Foundational treaties save lives and dignity, but massive humanitarian suffering shows the world must recommit

Geneva (ICRC) – On the 75^th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, the president of the International Committee of the Red Cross made a call to make the Geneva Conventions a political priority. 

“In a divided world, the Geneva Conventions and international humanitarian law embody universal values that preserve lives and dignity,” said ICRC President Mirjana Spoljaric. “They are essential to preventing and protecting against the worst effects of war, and ensuring that everyone, even an enemy, is treated as a human being.” 

The Conventions, the foundational treaties of international humanitarian law, are a remarkable success in many ways. They save lives. They prohibit torture and sexual violence. They require humane treatment of detainees. Most fundamentally, they reflect a global consensus that all wars have limits.

Nevertheless, 75 years after their adoption, international humanitarian law is under strain, and at times even used to justify violence. And that’s why the world must recommit to this robust, protective framework for armed conflict—one that saves lives rather than rationalizes death.

In 1999, the ICRC spoke of 20 active conflicts. Today, we see more than 120. Given the scale, President Spoljaric is proposing four means to reduce suffering: 

1. Parties to armed conflict must make a renewed and profound commitment to the Geneva Conventions, adhering to the letter and the spirit of the law. 
2. Tangible humanitarian improvements in places affected by armed conflict must be made. 
3. States should ratify and uphold IHL treaties, especially the Geneva Conventions’ additional protocols. 
4. States must affirm that the use of new technologies of warfare – AI, cyber and information operations – strictly adhere to IHL, and develop new limits on autonomous weapon systems.

The world has witnessed massive suffering in the armed conflicts between Israel and Gaza, and Russia and Ukraine. Violence in Ethiopia has claimed hundreds of thousands of lives. Fighting has displaced 8 million in Sudan. Protracted conflicts in the Central African Republic, Colombia, DRC, Myanmar, Syria, and Yemen all take a grinding human cost.

“Where are the peacemakers? Where are the men and women leading the negotiations and preserving the space to do so?” President Spoljaric said. “I urge world leaders to negotiate. Respect for IHL during conflict can contribute to the transition to peace by removing at least some obstacles to peacemaking.” 

Around the world’s war zones, the sanctity of hospitals is disregarded. Humanitarian access is impeded. Enemy fighters and civilian populations are dehumanized. Humanitarian workers – including ICRC and Red Cross Red Crescent Movement colleagues – are killed. 

The deployment of new technologies may worsen these dangerous tendencies. If algorithms are trained on lax targeting rules, civilian casualties will increase. Without new legal limits, autonomous weapons might operate with little restraint, making life-and-death decisions without human oversight.

Over the next 75 years the world needs to see robust adherence to the Geneva Conventions. Any other path is a betrayal of the commitment taken on August 12, 1949.