Final Record of the Diplomatic Conference of Geneva of 1949, Volume 2, Section A

882 Pages·2008·58.01 MB·English

FINAL RECORD
OF THE
DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE OF GENEVA
OF 1949
VOL. II
SECTION A
•
On sale at the" Central Stationary and Materials Office", Berne. and at the booksellers.
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FINAL RECORD
OF THE
DIPLOMATIC CONFERENCE OF GENEVA
OF 1949
VOL. II
SECTION A
FEDERAL POLITICAL DEPARTMENT
BERNE
'-...-
.. i
V
VOL. I I
SECTION A
,
CONTENTS
Minutes of the first seven Plenary meetings. 9
Committee I Summary Records of 39 meetings. 45
Report to the Plenary Assembly . 183
Text drafted for the Wounded and Sick Convention 207
Text drafted for the Maritime Convention. . . . . 221
Committee II Summary Records of 36 meetings. . . . . . . . . . . . . 235
Summary Records of 26 meetings of the Special Committee. 413
Summary Records of 16 meetings of the Sub-Committee on Penal (disci-
plinary) Sanctions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 483
Summary Records of 10 meetings of the Sub-Committee of Financial
Experts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 529
Report of the Committee of Financial Experts to the Special Committee 553
Report to the Plenary Assembly . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 559
Committee III Summary Records of 51 meetings. . . . 619
Report to the Plenary Assembly . . . . 812
Text drafted for the Civilians Convention 847
5
MINUTES
OF
PLENARY MEETINGS
MEETINGS OF:
21, 22, 25, 28 APRIL, 10 and IS MAY 1949
. .
The following meetings took place at the indicated date, after the submission of the Summary Records
and Reports by the Committees.
7
PLENARY MEETINGS
FIRST MEETING
Thursday, 2I April I949, II a.m.
The meeting was declared open at II a.m. by has not ceased to grow. It was revised in 1906,
Mr. Max PETITPIERRE, Federal Councillor, Head and again in 1929 when a Convention relative
of the Swiss Federal Political Department, who to Prisoners of War was added to it. The work
proceeded to make the following speech : of the present Conference will consist in revising
the two Conventions of 1929, as well as the Xth
Fellow Delegates, Ladies and Gentlemen,
Hague Convention of 1907, and in adapting them
Your Governments have been good enough to to the conditions of modern warfare.
accept the invitation issued by the Federal Council The last war, more than any earlier ones, ex-
some months ago. They have appointed you as posed humanity to indescribable sufferings. Total
their delegates at Geneva to establish new Con- warfare strikes cruelly and at random. It spares
ventions for the protection of war victims. May no one. The evils and disasters which it brings
I first ask you to thank them warmly on my in its train are appalling. Unfortunately, the
behalf, and then wish you a cordial welcome in the Conventions of 1929 have often proved inadequate
name of the Federal C..ouncil and Switzerland as to alleviate those sufferings. It is our duty never
.a whole? to lose sight of the tragic experiences the world
On August 22nd next, it will be exactly eighty- has seen and to remedy as far as possible the
five years since the first Convention for the relief deficiencies revealed in the texts of 1929.
of wounded members of armies in the field was There are many such deficiencies. It would
signed in the Salle de l'Alabama, the historic hall be impossible for me to enumerate them all here.
in which the heads of your delegations met yester- Yet there are some whose importance is such that
day. With this Convention, a new conception I wish to call attention to them now, at the open-
was introduced into the law of nations-that of ing of our Conference.
human solidarity prevailing over warfare during Firstly, the bearing of the Conventions and their
and in spite of war. The idea of mitigating, as field of application have not yet been sufficiently
far as possible, the sufferings inseparable from clearly defined. From the humanitarian point of
war responded to so profound a feeling among view, which is ours, the application of the Con-
the nations .of the whole world that the first ventions should be as wide as possible. They
. Geneva Convention has become the most widely should be able to exercise their influence whenever
known, the most highly valued and certainly one circumstances require. We should do all that
of the most enduring the modern world has lies in our power to prevent those who suffered
known. in the last war because the Conventions of Geneva
The .Convention . of 1864, first conceived by were not applicable to them from having such
Henry Dunant, a citizen of Geneva, has come sufferings inflicted on them a second time.
to form part, as it were, of the spiritual heritage Again, the Agreements of 1929 made practically
of mankind. It is one of the steps mankind has no provision for the repression of violations of
climbed in its endeavours to raise the standard the Conventions. This deficiency must be reme-
of civilization. One by one, almost every State died .if the Conventions are to have their full
in the world has come to adhere to the Act of value. The problem is one of great difficulty,
1864. For all its shortcomings and imperfections, but I trust that we shall succeed in finding a
it has become the foundation of an edifice which solution.
9