On August 12, 2024, the world observed the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. The 1949 Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols are international treaties that contain the most important rules limiting the barbarity of war. They protect people who do not take part in the fighting (civilians, medics, aid workers, reporters and journalists), and those who can no longer fight (wounded, sick and shipwrecked troops, prisoners of war, etc.). All UN Members have signed on to the conventions, but some countries, like the USA, have not signed on to all the protocols. Guyana is a signatory to the conventions and all three protocols.
The Geneva Conventions, inspired by the brutality of World Wars 1 and 2, represent the foundation of the International Humanitarian Laws (IHL). While the conventions were motivated by events surrounding World Wars 1 and 2, they are also applicable to internal conflicts in a country. The Rwanda Genocide, the crisis in the Sudan, Haiti, and now Venezuela fall squarely under the remit of the conventions.
Free and fair elections in countries are important to prevent internal conflicts. While free and fair elections cannot guarantee freedom from internal conflicts, free and fair elections significantly reduce the number of internal conflicts. A good example is Venezuela. After years of an evolving humanitarian crisis that has seen millions of Venezuelans fleeing their country, Venezuela held an election in July that many had hoped would ease the internal conflicts. But President Nicolas Maduro and his allies in Venezuela, including those that control the electoral machinery, the Supreme Court, and the armed forces, have rigged the election results. Even close allies such as Brazil and Colombia cannot accept the results.
Weeks after declaration of the bogus results, the internal conflicts have intensified, and more people are fleeing the land of their birth.
The Geneva Conventions and other IHLs, if honoured by all countries, can prevent such crises. The global system must hold accountable those who conspire to rig elections. Whether or not they are our friends, a single global instrument must hold accountable those who take away the fundamental rights of citizens anywhere in the world. It is disappointing therefore that, just because Maduro is a friend of some countries, those countries have squeezed their noses so they cannot smell the stench coming from Maduro’s rigging of an election. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) must be able to hold criminally responsible those persons who deprive people of their fundamental voting rights.
I was proud to stand with my colleague Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues as we joined foreign affairs ministers and ambassadors and other prominent individuals in Geneva to observe or celebrate the 75th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions. The Swiss Government, together with the Security Council and the International Committee of Red Cross, collaborated in highlighting the need for greater compliance with the Conventions, in order to reduce or eliminate humanitarian crises around the world.
Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues attended the various events in her capacity as the Permanent Representative of Guyana to the UN, New York, and as a Member of the Security Council of the UN in New York. Ambassador Leslie Ramsammy, in his capacity as the Permanent Representative to the UN, Geneva, attended also. Both Guyanese ambassadors were invited to be part of a select high-level team that attended a reception hosted by the State Secretary in Geneva.
A distinguished panel addressed the challenges, and made recommendations to ensure that there is less impunity in violating the conventions. Afterwards, members of the Security Council of the UN had an opportunity to comment.
Guyana’s Security Council Representative, Ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues, spoke on behalf of Guyana. Our country should be proud of its ambassador, and particularly OF our country’s posture, both on the conventions and the growing number of global humanitarian crises.
Together with Algeria, Guyana raised the issue of Gaza. While the panelists and opening addresses by the hosts did raise Gaza briefly, I was disappointed that other security council members chose to ignore Gaza as an example where the Geneva Conventions are violated with shameless impunity.
But Guyana’s ambassador also highlighted the increasing risks that the people who tell the agonizing stories around the many global humanitarian crises – reporters and journalists – are confronted with. More reporters and journalists have been killed in the Gaza humanitarian crises than the combined total in World Wars 1 and 2. Guyana was the only country among the security council members to raise the issue of the media and how violations of the conventions have led to an unprecedented number of deaths in Gaza alone. I sat there proud of the statement that was made in the name of Guyana by our distinguished ambassador Carolyn Rodrigues.
One of the events that Ambassadors Rodrigues and Leslie Ramsammy attended was an event at the Broken Chair Monument. In 1997, a treaty to ban the use of anti-personnel mines was signed into action. It became known as the Ottawa Treaty, or the Mine Ban Treaty. At the same time, to encourage nations to sign on to the treaty and stop the use of landmines, the non-governmental organization Handicap International commissioned Swiss sculptor Daniel Berset to create the Broken Chair to draw attention to the victims of mines. The result was the 40-foot-high, 5.5-ton sculpture with its left leg broken in half that now stands over Place des Nations. It has now become a symbol of the horrors of wars and conflict.
Wars and other conflicts have now become a leading cause of disabilities in the world. The Broken Chair Monument stands as a global indictment of the violations of the Geneva Conventions, and of those nations – America, Russia, China and others – that have refused to sign the 1997 Ottawa Treaty.
Clearly, we need the Geneva Conventions, but 75 years after they came into being, we still have no reason to celebrate.
