At present, 168 States are party to Additional Protocol I and 164 States to Additional Protocol II, this still places the 1977 Additional Protocols among the most widely accepted legal instruments in the world. While the 1949 Geneva Conventions have been universally ratified, the Additional Protocols have not.

Seven new ratifications since 2000 have brought the total number of States Party to 194, making the Geneva Conventions universally applicable. Twenty-six countries ratified the Conventions in the early 1990s, largely in the aftermath of the break-up of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and the former Yugoslavia. Ratification grew steadily through the decades: 74 States ratified the Conventions during the 1950s, 48 States did so during the 1960s, 20 States signed on during the 1970s, and another 20 States did so during the 1980s. In 1949, after World War II, two new Conventions were added, and the Geneva Conventions entered into force on 21 October 1950. The Swiss Government agreed to hold the Conventions in Geneva, and a few years later, a similar agreement to protect shipwrecked soldiers was produced. This convention produced a treaty designed to protect wounded and sick soldiers during wartime. The first Convention was initiated by what is now the International Committee for the Red Cross and Red Crescent (ICRC). The Geneva Conventions are a series of treaties on the treatment of civilians, prisoners of war (POWs) and soldiers who are otherwise rendered hors de combat (French, literally 'outside the fight'), or incapable of fighting. 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. Other emblems were later recognized, and the Geneva Conventions of 1949, the main topic of this article, confirmed them all.

The original Geneva Convention was adopted in 1864 to establish the red cross emblem signifying neutral status and protection of medical services and volunteers. For information on immigration and links to the 1951 Convention and 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, see the article about Immigration. Note: This article addresses the international humanitarian law, or law of war.

4 principles of law of armed conflicts