The Fourth Geneva Convention for Civilians : The History of International Humanitarian Law

The Fourth Geneva Convention, signed on 12th August 1949, defines necessary humanitarian protections for civilians during armed conflict and occupation. One-hundred-and-ninety-six countries are signatories to the Geneva Conventions, and this particular facet has laid the foundations for all subsequent humanitarian global law. How did the world – against seemingly insurmountable odds – draft and legislate this landmark in humanitarian international law? The Fourth Geneva Convention for Civilians draws on archival research across seven countries to bring together the Cold War interventions, founding motives and global idealisms that shaped its conception. Gilad Ben-Nun draws on the three key principles that the convention brought about to consider the recent events where its application has either been successfully applied or circumvented, from the 2009 Gaza War, the war crimes tribunal in the former Yugoslavia and Nicaragua vs. the United States to the contemporary conflict in Syria. Weaving historical archival research, a grounding in the concepts of international law, and insightful analysis of recent events, this book will appeal to a broad range of students, academics and legal practitioners. Title Page Copyright Page Contents Illustrations Acknowledgements Introduction: ‘A Treaty After Trauma’ The miracle that was Geneva – August 1949 The Fourth Geneva Convention for Civilians – a full and comprehensive picture of its drafting history The structure of this book 1 Background: Significant historical omissions in the Current gC-IV Literature Omission 1: Jewish Holocaust-surviving delegates and the impact of the Second World War experiences on the GC-IV drafters Omission 2: The French draft – the Civilian Convention’s very first state-endorsed blueprint Omission 3: The Soviet bloc’s crucial role which enabled the creation of the Civilian Convention Omission 4: The context of the Berlin Blockade and ‘compromising under duress’ – the imminence of the next war Omission 5: The influence of the Greek Civil War on the elaboration of Common Article 3 Omission 6: The failed Soviet attempt to outlaw the use of nuclear weapons as a trigger for their nuclear test The troubled ICRC post Second World War, and its admirable resurrection GC-IV’s drafting history revisited – the full historical picture Chapter 1: Background: Significant Historical Omissions in the Current GC-IV Literature Omission 1: Jewish Holocaust-surviving delegates and the impact of the Second World War experiences on the GC-IV drafters Omission 2: The French draft – the Civilian Convention’s very first state-endorsed blueprint Omission 3: The Soviet bloc’s crucial role which enabled the creation of the Civilian Convention Omission 4: The context of the Berlin Blockade and ‘compromising under duress’ – the imminence of the next war Omission 5: The influence of the Greek Civil War on the elaboration of Common Article 3 Omission 6: The failed Soviet attempt to outlaw the use of nuclear weapons as a trigger for their nuclear test The troubled ICRC post Second World War, and its admirable resurrection GC-IV’s drafting history revisited – the full historical picture Part 1: Protection for All: The Making of Common Article 3 Chapter 2: Initial Ideas for Civilian Protection: The Dilemma of State Consent Resistance combatants, civilians targeted by their own government and all prisoners of war Lamarle’s failed attempt to convince the Geneva Government Experts’ Conference of April 1947 World Jewish Congress efforts to extend protection to civilian nationals targeted by their own government Chapter 3: Stockholm’s Universalist Revolution: Protections to all Civilians No civilian in conflict beyond the pale of Common Article 3 – August 1948 Stockholm’s human and political landscape – and the ‘Swedes of Palestine’ The WJC’s draft changes to Stockholm’s proposed GC-IV text Cahen-Salvador’s drafting genius and the final securement of Common Article 3’s protective purview over civilians targeted by their own governments Chapter 4: The Final Act: The Soviets Come on Board – Geneva 1949 ‘I dare not think what would have become of the “Civilian” Convention’ France and the Soviets’ traumatic experiences which brought them to GC-IV’s drafting table before Stockholm From Stockholm to the Geneva Plenipotentiaries’ Conference: The Greek Civil War and the Soviet Securement of Common Article 3 Nissim Mevorah, Common Article 3 as the ‘Mini-Convention’ and the lost preamble’s replacement with Cahen-Salvador’s Article 32 Part 2: The Inherent Illegitimacy of Occupation: Articles 49 and 68 Chapter 5: Conquest Contested: Georg Cohn, Carl Schmitt and Non-Recognition The most Utopian idea of them all The problem with neutrality Georg Cohn invents the non-recognition principle From ‘conquest’ to ‘occupation’: The imperial-fascists strike back ‘Grossraum theory’ – Carl Schmitt’s aggressive conquest answer to non-recognition and the Briand-Kellogg Pact Werner Best’s execution of the Grossraum doctrine in Germany, France and Denmark Georg Cohn, Werner Best, Carl Schmitt and the final unfolding of Grossraum Chapter 6: Cohn’s Drafting of the Prohibition on Settlements – Article 49 Paragraph 6 From conquest to colonization Grossraum’s aftermath: Potsdam, Nuremberg, the Genocide Convention and GC-IV The post-war continuation of ‘occupy-annex-deport’ Georg Cohn drafts the prohibition on settlements and conquest-based colonization: The insertion of Article 49’s paragraph 6 at Stockholm The international criminalization of Cohn’s prohibition on settlements: 1977–98 Article 49 paragraph 6 as seen with the benefit of hindsight Chapter 7: Georg Cohn’s Crusade Against the Death Penalty – Article 68 A resurgent colonialism The limitation of the death-penalty clause at Stockholm George Cohn’s struggle to limit the death penalty’s application in Geneva 1949 The illegitimacy of the occupier’s justice when applied by his military courts The mandating of Israeli military courts to issue the death penalty against Palestinians in the occupied territories – 2018 Part 3: The struggle Against Non-Applicability Chapter 8: Arbitration, Judicial Settlement and the Icj’s Roles Vis-à-Vis GC-IV The International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on ‘The Wall’ in the West Bank The meandering nature of treaty-making and the ‘compromise paradigm’ Arbitration – the initial French ideas for an ICJ oversight mechanism for GC-IV’s ultimate resolution of disputes From arbitration to judicial settlement in France’s first ‘blueprint’ for GC-IV The removal of the ICJ oversight clause – from Geneva (April 1947) to Stockholm (1948) The ICJ enforcement mechanism at the Geneva Conference of Plenipotentiaries – from April to August 1949 Morosov’s ultimatum and the Soviet veto over UN memberships at the UN Security Council The ICJ’s weakness during its early years, and Cahen-Salvador’s coerced compromise The afterlife of GC-IV’s judicial oversight – Nicaragua, the Rome Statutes and beyond Chapter 9: Non-application from Colonialism to Terrorism: 1950s–2000s GC-IV as the ICRC’s global ‘credo’ GC-IV, the ICRC and decolonization: Kenya’s Mau Mau and Algeria’s independence struggle during the 1950s The internationalization of human rights post Second World War and GC-IV’s intertwining with other contemporary international legal instruments Territorial arguments for non-application: Israel ‘crosses a legal Rubicon’ in Palestine Conclusion: Excluding the Exclusions Appendix GC-IV’s French First Draft Adopted in Geneva – April 1947 Bibliography and Sources Archives Primary Sources Bibliography Index "The Fourth Geneva Convention, signed on 12th August 1949, defines necessary humanitarian protections for civilians during armed conflict and occupation. One-hundred-and-ninety-six countries are signatories to the Geneva Conventions, and this particular facet has laid the foundations for all subsequent humanitarian global law. How did the world - against seemingly insurmountable odds - draft and legislate this landmark in humanitarian international law? The Fourth Geneva Convention for Civilians draws on archival research across seven countries to bring together the Cold War interventions, founding motives and global idealisms that shaped its conception. Gilad Ben-Nun draws on the three key principles that the convention brought about to consider the recent events where its application has either been successfully applied or circumvented, from the 2009 Gaza War, the war crimes tribunal in the former Yugoslavia and Nicaragua vs. the United States to the contemporary conflict in Syria. Weaving historical archival research, a grounding in the concepts of international law, and insightful analysis of recent events, this book will appeal to a broad range of students, academics and legal practitioners."-- Provided by publisher