The Geneva Conventions provide for universal

jurisdiction, as opposed to a more traditional (and limited) territorial

jurisdiction that was designed to respect the sovereignty of States over their

citizens.  The doctrine of universal

jurisdiction is based on the notion that some crimes, such as genocide, crimes

against humanity, torture, and war crimes, are so exceptionally grave that they

affect the fundamental interests of the international community as a whole. It

renders the convicts or accused of such crimes to the jurisdiction of all

signatory States, regardless of their nationality or territoriality of their

crime.

Every State bound by the treaties is under the legal

obligation to search for and prosecute those in its territory suspected of

committing such crimes, regardless of the nationality of the suspect or victim,

or of the place where the act was allegedly committed. The State may hand the

suspect over to another State or an international tribunal for trial. Where

domestic law does not allow for the exercise of universal jurisdiction, a State

must introduce the necessary domestic legislative provisions before it can do

so, and must actually exercise the jurisdiction, unless it hands the suspect

over to another country or international tribunal.

 Disputes

over and about children are some of the hardest issues in the transnational

context. The questions that authorities are asked to resolve in these cases,

e.g., what particular custodial arrangements would be in the best interests of

a particular child, should a parent be permitted to relocate with a child, when

and how should a parent be permitted to exercise rights of access, do not turn

on the kinds of fact/law determinations that characterise other types of

litigation. Nor is a judicial proceeding, with its formal rules, likely to

produce an accurate snapshot of the real family dynamic. Resolution of these

matters is part of a value-laden decision-making process that necessarily

brings into play differences in culture, attitudes, and moral standards. The

role of culture and values and stereotypes is magnified even more dramatically

in the transboundary context. 

Disputes over children presuppose answering the

question about

The Conventions apply to all cases of declared war

between signatory nations. This is the original sense of applicability, which

predates the 1949 version.

The Conventions apply to all cases of armed conflict

between two or more signatory nations, even in the absence of a declaration of

war. This language was added in 1949 to accommodate situations that have all

the characteristics of war without the existence of a formal declaration of

war, such as a police action (a military action undertaken without a formal

declaration of war). The Conventions apply to a signatory nation even if the

opposing nation is not a signatory, but only if the opposing nation “accepts

and applies the provisions” of the Conventions.

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.

It is an inter-governmental body within the United Nations system made

up of 47 States responsible for the promotion and protection of all human

rights around the globe. It has the ability to discuss all thematic human

rights issues and situations that require its attention throughout the year. It

meets at the UN Office at Geneva.

The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols

is a body of Public International Law, also known as the Humanitarian Law of

Armed Conflicts, whose purpose is to provide minimum protections, standards of

humane treatment, and fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals who

become victims of armed conflicts.  The

Geneva Conventions are a series of treaties on the treatment of civilians,

prisoners of war (POWs) and soldiers who are otherwise rendered