Red Cross chief: Geneva Conventions are not being respected

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross says 70 years after countries adopted the Geneva Conventions to limit the barbarity of war, the terrible suffering in conflicts today shows they are not being respected.

Peter Maurer told a U.N. Security Council meeting Tuesday marking the anniversary that continued violations of the rules in the conventions doesn’t mean they are inadequate, “but rather that efforts to ensure respect are inadequate.”

He said that “we can — and must — do more.”

The four conventions protect wounded and sick soldiers on land and sea, prisoners of war and civilians.

German Foreign Minister Heiko Maas called the conventions “the cornerstone of international humanitarian law.” But he said respect for the conventions is declining.

The Associated Press

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