Suchergebnisse

The 1974 Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts was the first attempt by a full-fledged diplomatic conference in 25 years to create new law for the protection of victims of wars. It was also the first time in some 40 years that a diplomatic conference has taken up the question of restricting the use of conventional weapons. And it was the first time since before World War I that an international conference had looked extensively at the question of methods of attack and had weighed their impact on the civilian population.

Notwithstanding the volume reached by the Geneva Conventions in 1949, they do not cover the whole field of human misfortunes. It is now more than twenty years since they were drafted. Moreover, although Geneva Law was developed in detail in 1949, The Hague Law, on the contrary, which deals more with the regulation of hostilities and of the utilization of weapons, goes back to 1907, when bomber aircraft had not yet come into existence.

As announced in a previous issue, the ICRC is organizing the second session of the Conference of Government Experts on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, to be held from 3 May to 3 June 1972.Last year, the first session was preceded by a meeting of Red Cross experts at The Hague in March. A similar meeting will be held in 1972, to permit National Societies to keep abreast of developments in the work in hand.

Like all other European countries with a historic and cultural tradition, Spain contributed to the birth and evolution of humanitarian law as applied to war. Its contribution, like that of every country, had certain special aspects striking a characteristic note in the composition as a whole and anticipating what were later to become generally applicable provisions.

In a memorandum distributed during the meeting of the Council of Delegates in October 1975, the ICRC asked, in particular, National Societies whether they wished to send members to Geneva for instruction in problems relating to the dissemination of knowledge of the Geneva Conventions. Of the 52 National Societies which replied, 27 gave an affirmative answer to this question.