Happy birthday to the 1949 #GenevaConventions! 69 years ago, after the horrific experiences of World War II, States gathered and adopted 4 Conventions at the Diplomatic Conference in #Geneva. Thread 👇🏼
One year before (in 1948), drafts of the Geneva Conventions were discussed at the 17th International conference of the Red Cross in Stockholm. #GenevaConventions 
Sadly, Count Folke Bernadotte - the president of the Swedish Red Cross and president of the International Conference - was killed in Jerusalem a month after the conference.
Read the original minutes of the 1st meeting held by the heads of delegations at the Diplomatic Conference (moderated by Max Petitpierre). It took place in Old Town Geneva in the Alabama Room where -by the way- the 1864 Geneva Convention was also signed!
library.icrc.org/library/Direct…
library.icrc.org/library/Direct…
The Geneva Conventions entered into force in 1950. Today, they are universally ratified with 196 State parties. They form the core of #IHL and are the backbone of @ICRC’s work. Happy anniversary! ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl…
