Library Guides: International Humanitarian Law: Treaties and Conventions

Sources of IHL: Treaties and Conventions

The most significant sources of International Humanitarian Law are the pertinent international treaties.

Online/Electronic Sources for IHLTreaties

International Committee of the Red Cross Treaty Database
This website offers access to over seventy IHL treaties, conventions and protocols, browseable by keyword, topic, date or state. A separate page offers historical treaties, beginning with the 1856 Paris Declaration. For available treaties, charts are attached showing which states are party to each treaty. Treaties are only available in HTML format on this website
EISIL International Humanitarian Law page
This website doesn’t maintain any full-text treaties itself, but offers direct links to full-text versions of treaties hosted on other websites in International Humanitarian Law based on the following four subtopics: Protection of Persons, Protection of Environment, War Crimes and Protection of Cultural Property.
World Treaty Library (Hein Online)
For older treaties, this database offers access to United States treaties from 1776 to present, and to other treaties as early as 1648. The “Treaty Index” offers search options such as keyword, title, country, citation, treaty number and others.

Treaty-Related Materials

Law Library of Congress's Geneva Conventions Materials
A collection of full-text conference proceedings, reports and drafts related to the adoption of the Geneva Conventions, as well as the complete Proceedings of the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907, which can be directly accessed at this link. This collection is useful for researchers looking for more context and discussion about the creation of particular treaties and specifically offers U.S. Government Documents articulating its position with regard to international obligations under relevant treaties.

Citation Information for Geneva Conventions and Protocols

The four Geneva Conventions and their additional Protocols form the modern framework for the treatment of soldiers, prisoners of war and non-combatants during wartime. All except Protocol III should be cited to United States Treaties and/or United Nations Treaty Series.

United States Treaties and Other International Agreements (U.S.T.) is available in HeinOnline.

United Nations Treaty Series (U.N.T.S.) is available on HeinOnline.

Title	Date	UST citation	UN TS citation
“Geneva I” Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field	Aug. 12, 1949	6 U.S.T. 3114	75 U.N.T.S. 31
“Geneva II” Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea	Aug. 12, 1949	6 U.S.T. 3217	75 U.N.T.S. 85
“Geneva III” Geneva Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War	Aug. 12, 1949	6 U.S.T. 3316	75 U.N.T.S. 135
“Geneva IV” Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Times of War	Aug. 12, 1949	6 U.S.T. 3516	75 U.N.T.S. 287
“Protocol I” Protocol Additions to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts	June 8, 1977	No U.S.T. citation	1125 U.N.T.S. 3
“Protocol II” Protocol II Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and Relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts	June 8, 1977	No U.S.T. citation	1125 U.N.T.S. 609
“Protocol III” Protocol III Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem.	Dec. 8, 2005	No U.S.T. citation; can be found on the ICRC website at: http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/615	No U.N.T.S. citation