Convention for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded in armies in the field, Geneva, 22nd August 1864

Abstract

Geneva Convention for Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, from August 22nd 1864 is considered as the first major international instrument of military law, which protects wounded and sick. The Convention consists of 10 Articles. Origin of this Geneva Convention is related to the International Red Cross in Geneva, as well as its founder Swiss writer J. Henry Dunant. On June 24th, 1859, Dunant found himself in Northern Italy and witnessed the Battle of Solferino. Dunant immediately began organizing local inhabitants to carry the wounded from the battlefield. They were taken to local churches where local doctors and their assistants and nurses helped relieve their suffering and this was the idea for writing this Convention. After this battlefield, Henry Dunant decided to write a book about his experiences in Solferino. The name of this book is A Memory of Solferino (1862)and his intention was to promote humanization of war, protection of sick and wounded combatants, making and adopting of convention about protection of wounded and sick combatants which would be signed between the countries. The Convention had a powerful influence in the entire world. It is considered that this Convention was the base for later Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War from 1929 and Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field from 1929, and later Four Geneva Convention of 1949 and their Additional Protocols I and II from 1977. In our literature this Convention from 1864 is only summarily treated, and unjustly forgotten. The original text of the Convention was published on French language. In our legal literature the French version of this Convention was never published and it is the first time it is published integrally on French and Serbian Language. Serbia signed this Convention on March 24th 1876, and very shortly it was accepted in the Serbia legal system. This international convention regulated the status and legal protection of wounded or sick combats. In the very short period of time many countries signed this Convention from 1864, but unfortunately it was breached very soon in the wars during the end of nineteenth Century, as well as on the beginning of the twentieth Century, especially during the Great War, that is, First World War started in 1914 and grave breaches of this Convention occurred. This paper gives a presentation, legal aspects and analysis of the Geneva Convention for Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field, from August 22nd 1864.