Happy 60th Anniversary

To the Geneva Convention of 1949 -- the fourth and final treaty to come from the diplomatic meetings at Geneva that began in 1864. This fourth treaty reaffirmed the agreements made in the other three, but added protections for civilians. Together with its subsequent Additional Protocols it has been ratified by 194 countries, all of whom have agreed to be bound by its rules, regardless of the behavior of opposition forces with whom they are engaged in conflict.

The United States' War on Terror has frequently come under fire in the past eight years for what its critics see as a disregard of the terms of the Geneva Convention (GC). A common assertion of the Bush White House was that the GC simply didn't apply to a war on stateless terrorist criminals. Opponents have argued that Common Article 3 of the conventions addresses specifically that situation.

In Hamdan v. Rumsfeld, 548 U.S. 557 (2006), the US Supreme Court ruled 5-3 that the Bush administration had indeed violated not only Common Article 3, but our own country's Uniform Code of Military Justice as well. (Click here for oral argument transcript.) Debate on aspects of prisoner treatment and case disposition continue, and President Obama's Justice Department has argued for detainee conditions at Bagram Air Base and various other sites that some say continue to violate the Geneva Conventions.

Northwestern University has the be-all, end-all Reference Guide to the Geneva Conventions. So have a glass of champagne, (use it to toast the Red Cross, established at the first Geneva meeting) and enjoy.