Status of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts

A/RES/71/144View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 81 Status of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts, published in 2016.

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report · 2018

Year	Symbol	Title		Mandate resolution
2018	A/73/277	Status of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts report of the Secretary-General		A/RES/71/144

What subjects does this mandate have?

4 subjects

Human Rights in Armed Conflicts Information Dissemination International Humanitarian Law War Victims

What’s in this document?

14 operative paragraphs

Welcomes the universal acceptance of the Geneva Conventions of 1949,2 and notes the trend towards a similarly wide acceptance of the two Additional Protocols of 1977 in the context of their upcoming fortieth anniversary;⁸

⁸Ibid., vol. 1125, Nos. 17512 and 17513.

Calls upon all States parties to the Geneva Conventions that have not yet done so to consider becoming parties to the Additional Protocols3 at the earliest possible date;

Calls upon all States that are already parties to Protocol I,4 or those States not parties, on becoming parties to Protocol I, to make the declaration provided for under article 90 of that Protocol and to consider making use, where appropriate, of the services of the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission in accordance with the provisions of article 90 of Protocol I;

Calls upon all States that have not yet done so to consider becoming parties to the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict and the two Protocols thereto and to other relevant treaties on international humanitarian law relating to the protection of victims of armed conflict;

⁹Ibid., vol. 249, No. 3511, and vol. 2253, No. 3511.

¹⁰

Calls upon States to consider becoming parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of children in armed conflict;¹¹10

¹¹10 Ibid., vol. 2173, No. 27531.

Calls upon all States parties to the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions to ensure their wide dissemination and full implementation;

Affirms the necessity of making the implementation of international humanitarian law more effective, and supports its further strengthening and development;

Notes with appreciation the 10 resolutions adopted at the Thirty-second International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent, held in Geneva from 8 to 10 December 2015, in particular resolutions 1 to 4, recalls their importance, as well as the recommendations for further actions therein, in strengthening international humanitarian law, and notes with appreciation in this regard resolution 2, entitled “Strengthening compliance with international humanitarian law”, in which the Conference, inter alia, recommended the continuation of an inclusive, State-driven intergovernmental process based on the principle of consensus and in line with the guiding principles of the consultation process to find agreement on features and functions of a potential forum of States and to find ways to enhance the implementation of international humanitarian law;

Welcomes the activities of the Advisory Service on International Humanitarian Law of the International Committee of the Red Cross in supporting efforts made by Member States to take legislative and administrative action to implement international humanitarian law and in promoting the exchange of information on those efforts between Governments, and reminds Member States of the availability of the manual on domestic implementation of international humanitarian law;

Also welcomes the increasing number of national commissions or committees for the implementation of international humanitarian law and their work in promoting the incorporation of treaties on international humanitarian law into national law and disseminating the rules of international humanitarian law, and encourages Member States that have not yet done so to consider establishing national commissions or committees with the support of national Red Cross and Red Crescent societies where relevant, to advise and assist Governments in implementing and disseminating knowledge of international humanitarian law;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-third session a comprehensive report on the status of the Additional Protocols relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts, as well as on measures taken to strengthen the existing body of international humanitarian law, inter alia, with respect to its dissemination and full implementation at the national level, based on information received from Member States and the International Committee of the Red Cross;

Encourages Member States and the International Committee of the Red Cross, in transmitting information to the Secretary-General, to focus on new developments and activities during the reporting period;

Encourages Member States to explore ways of facilitating the submission of information for future reports of the Secretary-General and, in this context, to consider the convenience of using a questionnaire as drafted by Member States, with the assistance of the International Committee of the Red Cross and, as appropriate, in consultation with the Secretariat, for submission to the General Assembly at its seventy-third session;

Decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-third session the item entitled “Status of the Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and relating to the protection of victims of armed conflicts”.

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

What subjects does this mandate have?

What’s in this document?

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