War Crimes and the Geneva Convention
Though it might be difficult to believe that there are rules for warfare, today countries do have to abide by humanitarian laws when they go to war.
One of the first international agreements regarding war in 1863 led to the creation of the Red Cross. Updates and agreements were later held in 1907 and 1929. However, wartime atrocities and misconduct continued, especially during World War 2.
Countless appalling massacres and war crimes occurred in just a short span. The Holocaust, in which millions of Jewish people were killed at the hands of the Nazi regime; the Rape of Nanking, a mass homicide and mass rape on the part of the Japanese soldiers in China; the Bataan Death March, in which Japanese soldiers forced Allied prisoners of war along a brutal 60 mile march to a prison camp on the Bataan Peninsula in 1942; and the other documented incidents of horrendous torture and treatment of prisoners.
Following the end of World War 2, two major trials brought greater attention this widespread brutality.
The Tokyo Trials, which convened in 1946, were an attempt to hold Japan accountable for the violent acts committed during their campaigns in Asia. Japan was seen as the aggressor and therefore in violation of humanitarian rules that the convention sought to create.
The Nuremberg Trials in Germany were held for nearly a full year between 1945 and 1946. The aim of the trials was to prosecute any government leaders and military personnel involved in the Holocaust and concentration camps. Smaller trials in various cities and zones also took place to ensure justice would be served.
In 1949, a series of conferences were held known as the Geneva Conventions. These led to a series of agreements that dictated what was considered humane and what was considered unacceptable during war.
One of the main goals of the meetings, named for the city in Switzerland where they were held, was to ensure that prisoners of war would be treated fairly.
The Geneva Conventions defined the basic rights of wartime prisoners. They also established protections for the sick and wounded on the battlefield, and provided protections for civilians in and around war-zones.
Once ratified, all countries who signed the agreements were expected to follow the rules of warfare. In total, 196 countries ratified the agreements.
As a result of the Geneva Convention and these trials, Japan was held accountable, as the defendants were convicted of war crimes and punished. After Nuremberg, executions of Nazi war leaders took place.
From these trials and the convention, concepts such as “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity” gained greater international attention.
