In all the understandable attention given to the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall this week, there is a risk that another important anniversary will be overlooked. Sixty years ago, the Geneva Conventions were signed, giving force to a simple but enduring idea – the belief that we should do everything we can to reduce human suffering in war.
But while the Conventions have been a remarkable force for good, this commemoration should galvanise us to do more to protect people. Around the world, we see continued evidence of the callous inhumanity of those waging war.
In the Democratic Republic of Congo, for example, militias and soldiers are carrying out mass killing and rape. In Sri Lanka, thousands of civilians were killed in the fighting between the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil Tigers. Many more remain interned in camps. The people of Somalia are once again caught between the guns of rival militias and foreign forces. And, of course, the terrible tragedy of Darfur continues.
We also see in many parts of the world, terrorists deliberately detonating bombs to kill hundreds of civilians. The state response too often is indiscriminate attacks and the abuse of detainees. There are some who claim that the blame for this inhumanity lies, in part, with the failure of international law. They argue that it has not kept pace with conflicts no longer predominantly waged between states or with conventional forces or weapons.
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