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Article 2 - Application of the Convention

from Part I - General Provisions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2021

Compiled by
International Committee of the Red Cross
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Summary

This provision is a central pillar of the Geneva Conventions as it establishesthe circumstances and conditions under which the Conventions apply. Article 2,common to the four Geneva Conventions, constituted a major step forward whenadopted in 1949 as it addressed a lacuna in earlier international humanitarianlaw instruments. Indeed, neither the 1899 and 1907 Hague Conventions nor the1864, 1906 and 1929 Geneva Conventions specified under what conditions theirapplication would be triggered. In the absence of any explicit indication, itwas generally understood that these instruments applied only during a declaredwar, with recognition by the belligerents that a state of war existed betweenthem.

Type
Chapter
Information
Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention
Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
 , pp. 81 - 140
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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