Relevance: GS-2:Bilateral, regional and global groupings and agreements involving India and/or affecting India’s interests. Important International institutions, agencies and fora- their structure, mandate

Key Phrases: Russia Ukraine War, International Criminal Court (ICC), Geneva Conventions, Signatory countries to the Geneva Conventions.

Why in News?

• As the Russian military continues to sweep through the country marching on to the capital, Kyiv, there is growing concern surrounding the issue of human rights violations.
• Geneva Convention a set of principles outlining norms for combatant behavior during a war, for standards to which the invading Russian forces can be held.
• Russian President Vladimir Putin has denied any responsibility for harm to civilians.

Key Highlights

• However, as the evidence of casualties in the civilian population continues to mount, the world will increasingly look to the Geneva Conventions.
• Ultimately, if there is a compelling case for prosecuting combatants for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide, and the crime of aggression, evidence could be collected for an investigation and trial at the International Criminal Court (ICC).

Geneva Conventions Guidelines During Wartime

• About
  • The Geneva Conventions are a set of four treaties, formalized in 1949.
  • There are three additional protocols, which codify widely accepted ethical and legal international standards for humanitarian treatment of those impacted by war.
• Objectives
  • The focus of the Conventions is the treatment of non-combatants and prisoners of war.
  • Not the use of conventional or biological and chemical weapons
  • The use of which is governed respectively by the Hague Conventions and the Geneva Protocol.
• The First Geneva Convention
  • It protects wounded and sick soldiers on land during war.
  • This convention extends to medical and religious personnel, medical units, and medical transport.
  • While recognising distinctive emblems of these organizations, the convention has two annexes containing a draft agreement relating to hospital zones and a model identity card for medical and religious personnel.
• The Second Geneva Convention
  • It protects wounded, sick and shipwrecked military personnel at sea during war.
  • This convention also extends to hospital ships and medical transports by sea, with specific commentary on the treatment and protections for their personnel.
• The Third Geneva Convention
  • It applies to prisoners of war.
  • It includes a wide range of general protections such as humane treatment, maintenance and equality across prisoners, conditions of captivity, questioning and evacuation of prisoners, transit camps, food, clothing, medicines, hygiene and right to religious, intellectual, and physical activities of prisoners.
• The Fourth Geneva Convention
  • It is the convention for the protection of Civilians during the time of war.
  • It includes citizens from the areas of occupied territories or armed conflicts.
  • It imminently applies to the invasion of Ukraine by Russian military forces, protecting civilians, including those in occupied territory.
  • The other Geneva Conventions were concerned mainly with combatants rather than civilians.
  • This convention also spells out the obligations of the occupying power vis-à-vis the civilian population and outlines detailed provisions on humanitarian relief for populations in occupied territory.

Signatory Countries

• The Geneva Conventions have been ratified by 196 states, including all UN member states.
• The three Protocols have been ratified by 174, 169 and 79 states respectively.
• Russia as Signatory to the Convention
  • In 2019, perhaps anticipating the possibility of its invading Ukraine in the near future, Russia withdrew its declaration under Article 90 of Protocol 1.
    • By withdrawing this declaration, Russia has pre-emptively left itself with the option to refuse access by any international fact-finding missions to Russian entities, individuals or resources that might potentially find Russia responsible for violations of the Geneva Conventions standards.
  • The four conventions and first two protocols of the Geneva Conventions were ratified by the Soviet Union, not Russia.
    • Hence there is a risk of the Russian government of the day disavowing any responsibility under the Conventions in toto.

India and Geneva Convention

• India is the 5th country in the world to ratify the Geneva Convention in 1960.
• India is also the first country in the region to adopt this convention.
• However, India did not ratify the additional protocols 1 and 2 of 1977, but it ratified the third protocol of 2005.
• In response to a question in parliament in 2019, the government informed that no decision has not yet been taken to ratify protocols 1 and 2.

Steps for Potential Prosecution Under the Conventions

• Under Article 8 of the Rome Statute of the ICC, it is the ICC that has jurisdiction in respect of war crimes, in particular.
• Under the statute, ‘war crimes’ refers to grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions including
  • Wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments;
  • Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health;
  • Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly;
  • Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power;
  • Wilfully depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial;
  • Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement; taking of hostages.

The Extent to which Geneva Conventions been upheld in recent years

• Amnesty International, a human rights advocacy group, noted in 2019 that-
  • There has been a “blatant disregard for civilian protection and international humanitarian law in armed conflicts where four of the five permanent members of the UN Security Council are parties – Russia, the U.S., the U.K. and France.”
• Specifically, Amnesty cited-
  • The U.S.-led coalition’s bombing of Raqqa in Syria, which left more than 1,600 civilians dead;
  • Destruction of civilian infrastructure and lives in Aleppo and Idlib by Russian forces, leading to mass displacement of millions;
  • The war in Yemen where the Saudi Arabia and the UAE-led coalition, backed by the West, killed and injured thousands of civilians, fuelling a full-blown humanitarian crisis.

Conclusion

• These recent cases of wars underscore the grim fact that the Geneva Conventions, even when backed by rulings of the ICC, cannot be enforced by third parties to any conflict.
• However, they have in the past proved effective at raising global awareness of human rights violations across conflict zones, and in some cases led to sanctions or trade embargoes against the belligerents.

Source: The Hindu

Mains Question:

Q. In a climate of uncertainty and open hostility between nations, the Geneva Conventions play an important role in tempering the aggression of war with a touch of compassion. Critically Examine.