The first Convention (1864) was initiated by what is now

the International Committee for the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC). This

convention produced a treaty designed to protect wounded and sick soldiers

during wartime. The Swiss Government agreed to hold the Conventions in Geneva,

and a few years later, a similar agreement to protect shipwrecked soldiers was

produced. In 1949, after World War II, two new Conventions were added, and the

Geneva Conventions entered into force on 21 October 1950.