Published online by Cambridge University Press: 13 January 2010
The Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions, adopted in 1977, broaden the protection afforded by international law to wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of armed forces and to medical personnel, medical units and military medical transports in certain circumstances. Their main purpose, however, is to extend to civilians, civilian medical personnel etc. the protection which hitherto was enjoyed only by military personnel. Thanks to the Additional Protocols, military personnel and civilians today enjoy equal protection.
Prof. Dr. Michael Bothe, Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt am Main. Karin Janssen, research assistant