Book contents
- Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the Rise of Global Human Rights Politics
- Human Rights in History
- Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the Rise of Global Human Rights Politics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Anti-Colonial Struggles and the Right to Self-Determination
- Part II Postcolonial Statehood and Global Human Rights Norms
- Part III Colonial and Neocolonial Responses
- 11 The Inventors of Human Rights in Africa
- 12 “A World Made Safe for Diversity”
- 13 Between Humanitarian Rights and Human Rights
- 14 The End of the Vietnam War and the Rise of Human Rights
- 15 Decolonizing the Geneva Conventions
- 16 Liberté sans Frontières, French Humanitarianism, and the Neoliberal Critique of Third Worldism
- Index
15 - Decolonizing the Geneva Conventions
National Liberation and the Development of Humanitarian Law
from Part III - Colonial and Neocolonial Responses
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 24 June 2020
- Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the Rise of Global Human Rights Politics
- Human Rights in History
- Decolonization, Self-Determination, and the Rise of Global Human Rights Politics
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Notes on Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- Part I Anti-Colonial Struggles and the Right to Self-Determination
- Part II Postcolonial Statehood and Global Human Rights Norms
- Part III Colonial and Neocolonial Responses
- 11 The Inventors of Human Rights in Africa
- 12 “A World Made Safe for Diversity”
- 13 Between Humanitarian Rights and Human Rights
- 14 The End of the Vietnam War and the Rise of Human Rights
- 15 Decolonizing the Geneva Conventions
- 16 Liberté sans Frontières, French Humanitarianism, and the Neoliberal Critique of Third Worldism
- Index
Summary
This chapter investigates the shifting politics of humanitarianism, and the way that decolonization processes and related ideologies influenced the evolution of human rights and humanitarian norms. It explores these issues by returning to the debates of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, which took place in Geneva in four sessions from 1974 to 1977, resulting in Additional Protocols I and II to the Geneva Conventions and the elevation of wars of national liberation to the status of international conflicts. The Conference was remarkable for the participation of thirteen national liberation movements. Their participation attests to the importance of decolonization ideologies and the influence of supporters of decolonization – both those seeking independence and, crucially, newly independent states themselves – in international forums. The chapter assesses how concepts of national liberation were deployed and understood during the Conference, in order to elucidate how humanitarian and human rights ideas and practices interacted with the politics of decolonization.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2020