15 - Decolonizing the Geneva Conventions

Summary

This chapter investigates the shifting politics of humanitarianism, and the way that decolonization processes and related ideologies influenced the evolution of human rights and humanitarian norms. It explores these issues by returning to the debates of the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts, which took place in Geneva in four sessions from 1974 to 1977, resulting in Additional Protocols I and II to the Geneva Conventions and the elevation of wars of national liberation to the status of international conflicts. The Conference was remarkable for the participation of thirteen national liberation movements. Their participation attests to the importance of decolonization ideologies and the influence of supporters of decolonization – both those seeking independence and, crucially, newly independent states themselves – in international forums. The chapter assesses how concepts of national liberation were deployed and understood during the Conference, in order to elucidate how humanitarian and human rights ideas and practices interacted with the politics of decolonization.