Protocol II

"Geneva Protocol II" redirects here. For other topics, see Geneva Protocol (disambiguation).

Geneva Conventions Protocol II

Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts (Protocol II)
Type	Protocol
Drafted	20 February 1974 – 8 June 1977
Signed	8 June 1977 (1977-06-08)
Location	Geneva
Effective	7 December 1978 (1978-12-07)
Condition	Six months after two instruments ratification or accession were deposited
Signatories	3 States Islamic Republic of Iran Pakistan United States of America
Parties	169 States Afghanistan Albania Algeria Angola Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Armenia Australia Austria Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belarus Belgium Belize Benin Bolivia Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brazil Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria Burkina Faso Burundi Cabo Verde Cambodia Cameroon Canada Central African Republic Chad Chile China Colombia Comoros Congo Costa Rica Côte d'Ivoire Croatia Cuba Cyprus Czech Republic DR Congo Denmark Djibouti Dominica Dominican Republic Ecuador Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guinea Estonia Eswatini Ethiopia Fiji Finland France Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Greece Grenada Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Holy See Honduras Hungary Iceland Ireland Italy Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Libya Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Madagascar Malawi Maldives Mali Malta Mauritania Mauritius Micronesia (Federated States of) Monaco Mongolia Montenegro Morocco Mozambique Namibia Nauru Netherlands New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria North Macedonia Norway Oman Palau Palestine Panama Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Republic of Korea Republic of Moldova Romania Russian Federation Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saint Lucia Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Samoa San Marino São Tomé and Príncipe Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia Seychelles Sierra Leone Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands South Africa South Sudan Spain Sudan Suriname Sweden Switzerland Tajikistan East Timor Togo Tonga Trinidad and Tobago Tunisia Turkmenistan Uganda Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland United Republic of Tanzania Uruguay Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe
Depositary	Swiss Federal Council
Languages	English, Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, Russian
Full text
Geneva Convention/Protocol II at Wikisource

A map showing the current status of Protocol by country, as of July 2020:

  State parties (169)

  State signatories (3)

  Neither

Protocol II is a 1977 amendment protocol to the Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts. It defines certain international laws that strive to provide better protection for victims of internal armed conflicts that take place within the borders of a single country. The scope of these laws is more limited than those of the rest of the Geneva Conventions out of respect for sovereign rights and duties of national governments.

As of July 2024, the Protocol had been ratified by 169 countries, with the United States, India, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Israel being notable exceptions. However, the United States, Iran, and Pakistan signed it on 12 December 1977, which signifies an intention to work towards ratifying it. The Iranian signature was given prior to the 1979 Iranian Revolution.

Overview

Historically, international law of armed conflict addressed traditional declarations of war between nations. When the Geneva Conventions were updated in 1949 after the Second World War, delegates sought to define certain minimum humanitarian standards to situations that had all the characteristics of war, without being an international war.

These negotiations resulted in Article 3, common to all four of the basic treaties of the Geneva Conventions of 1949. Common Article 3 applies to armed conflicts that are not of an international character, but that are contained within the boundaries of a single country. It provides limited protection to victims, including:

• Persons taking no active part in hostilities should be treated humanely (including military persons who have ceased to be active as a result of sickness, injury, or detention).
• The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.

By the 1970s, diplomats were attempting to negotiate clarifications to the brief language of Article 3, and to extend the scope of international law to cover additional humanitarian rights in the context of internal conflicts. These efforts resulted in Protocol II of the Geneva Conventions. The debate over this protocol centered on two conflicting ideas. First, that the distinction between internal and international armed conflict is artificial from the point of view of a victim. Humanitarian principles should apply regardless of the identity of the combatants. Second, that international law does not apply to non-international situations. A nation has sovereignty within its borders, and must not accept judgments by and orders from other countries. And Article 6, section 2, also prohibits collective punishment.

See also

• Geneva Conventions
• First Geneva Convention, on the treatment of battlefield casualties.
• Second Geneva Convention, on the treatment of casualties in war at sea.
• Third Geneva Convention, on the treatment of prisoners of war.
• Fourth Geneva Convention, on the treatment of civilians during wartime.
• Protocol I, a 1977 amendment adopted addressing the protection of victims in international conflicts.
• Protocol III, a 2005 amendment adopted specifying the adoption of the Red Crystal emblem.

External links

• Committee of the Red Cross: Full text of Protocol II with commentaries
• List of countries that have signed or ratified Protocol II
• International Review of the Red Cross, 1997 – No. 320 Special issue: 20th anniversary of the 1977 Additional Protocols
• President Reagan's message to the Senate on Protocols I & II Archived 7 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine