Geneva Conventions (1949) The Geneva Conventions consist of four
treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland, that set the
standards for international law for humanitarian concerns. They
chiefly concern the treatment of non-combatants and prisoners of
war. They do not affect the use of weapons in war, which are
covered by the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 and the Geneva
Protocol on the use of gas and biological weapons of 1925. They
were founded by two young men—Henry Dunant, founder of the Red
Cross movement and Gustave Moynier, a co-founder—who cordially
loathed each other. The role of the Red Cross and Red Crescent,
a voluntary humanitarian organization as a non-state actor in
monitoring the treatment of prisoners of war, and the conduct of
war according to international law, is an example of how civil
society, because it is sometimes more neutral than states, can
play a pivotal part in helping to create a better, more humane
world. The Conventions were the results of efforts by Henry
Dunant, who was m