Background

The four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their Additional Protocols of 1977 form the cornerstone of modern international humanitarian law (IHL), the body of international law that regulates the conduct of armed conflict and seeks to limit its effects. IHL protects people who do not take part in the fighting, including civilians, medics, and aid workers, and those who are no longer participating in hostilities, such as prisoners of war and wounded, sick and shipwrecked military personnel. Contemporary IHL came into being with the original Geneva Convention of 1864 and has continued to develop in response to advances in weapons technology and changes in the nature of armed conflict. In 1949, the international community responded to the shocking civilian casualty rates experienced during World War II, and more particularly to the terrible effects that the war had on civilians, by revising the conventions then in force and adopting a new instrument: the Fourth Geneva Convention for the protection of civilians. 

In 2011, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and a team of renowned international experts embarked on a major project: updating the Commentaries on the 1949 Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocols. Since the ICRC published the original Commentaries in the 1950s and 1980s, respectively, the Geneva Conventions and Protocols have been put to the test, and there have been significant developments in how they are applied and interpreted in practice. The updated Commentaries seek to document these developments in the application and interpretations of these treaties and to serve as a tool for practitioners, by providing them with an understanding of the law as it is currently interpreted so that it can be applied effectively in today’s armed conflicts. The ICRC published the updated Commentary on the First Geneva Convention on protection of the wounded and sick in the field in 2016, the updated Commentary on the Second Geneva Convention on the protection of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked at sea in 2017, and the updated Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war was published online in 2020 and in print in 2021. 

The updated Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention will be published online in September 2025. This event marks the launch of this Commentary in the United States.

Speakers

The event is part of GW Law’s Brand-Manatt Lecture Series and will take place at The George Washington University Law School in the Jacob Burns Moot Court Room. It will start with a welcome address from Dean Dayna Bowen Matthew, Dean & Harold H. Green Professor of Law. This will be followed by a conversation between Dr. Jean-Marie Henckaerts, Head of the project to update the ICRC’s Commentaries on the 1949 Geneva Conventions and their 1977 Additional Protocols, and Dr. Sean Murphy, Manatt/Ahn Professor of International Law, on the updated Commentary on the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

The conversation will be followed by a moderated panel on select topics covered in the Fourth Geneva Convention. The panel will feature:

• Dr. Rosa Celorio, Associate Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies and Burnett Family Distinguished Professional Lecturer in International Comparative Law and Policy, George Washington University School of Law (moderator);
• Dr. Beth van Schaack, Distinguished Fellow at the Center for Human Rights and International Justice, Stanford University (panelist and peer reviewer of the updated GCIV Commentary);
• Eric Young, retired U.S. Army Colonel and former judge advocate (panelist); and
• Dr. Tess Bridgeman, Co-Editor-in-Chief of Just Security and Senior Fellow, New York University School of Law Reiss Center on Law and Security (panelist).

The event will be followed by an informal lunch reception in the Tasher Great Room.