Geneva Conventions - The Conventions and Their Agreements

The Conventions and Their Agreements

The Geneva Conventions are rules that apply in times of armed conflict and seek to protect people who are not or are no longer taking part in hostilities, these include the sick and wounded of armed forces on the field, wounded, sick, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea, prisoners of war, and civilians.The first convention dealt with the treatment of wounded and sick and occurred largely because of the motivations of Henri Dunant, after he saw and published a book about the inadequate treatment of wounded and sick men at the battlefield of Solferino. The second convention was proposed to add aid to sick, wounded, and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea. The third convention dealt with the treatment of prisoners of war during times of conflict; the conflict in Vietnam greatly contributed to this revision of the Geneva Convention. The fourth Geneva convention dealt with the treatment of civilians and their protection during wartime.