A/RES/55/148
Noting with satisfaction the increasing number of national commissions and
other bodies involved in advising authorities at the national level on the
implementation, dissemination and development of international humanitarian law,
Mindful of the role of the International Committee of the Red Cross in offering
protection to the victims of armed conflicts,
Noting with appreciation the continuing efforts of the International Committee
of the Red Cross to promote and disseminate knowledge of international
humanitarian law, in particular the Geneva Conventions and the two additional
Protocols,
Recalling that the Twenty-sixth International Conference of the Red Cross and
Red Crescent endorsed the recommendations of the Intergovernmental Group of
Experts on the Protection of War Victims, including the recommendation that the
depositary of the Geneva Conventions should organize periodic meetings of States
parties to the Conventions to consider general problems regarding the application of
international humanitarian law,
Welcoming the adoption, at The Hague on 26 March 1999, of a second
Protocol 5 to the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in
the Event of Armed Conflict, 6
Noting the celebration in 1999 at The Hague and at St. Petersburg of the
centennial of the first International Peace Conference which highlighted the
importance of the Geneva Conventions for the protection of victims of armed
conflicts and the additional Protocols,
Acknowledging the fact that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal
Court, adopted on 17 July 1998, 7 includes the most serious crimes of international
concern under international humanitarian law, and that the Statute, while recalling
that it is the duty of every State to exercise its criminal jurisdiction over those
responsible for such crimes, shows the determination of the international community
to put an end to impunity for the perpetrators of such crimes and thus to contribute
to their prevention,
Noting that international humanitarian law has been an important topic in the
United Nations Decade for International Law, which came to an end in 1999, fifty
years after the adoption of the Geneva Conventions, and acknowledging the
usefulness of discussing in the General Assembly the status of international
humanitarian law instruments relevant to the protection of victims of armed
conflicts,
1.
Appreciates the virtually universal acceptance of the Geneva Conventions
of 1949, 3 and notes the trend towards a similarly wide acceptance of the two
additional Protocols of 1977;4
2.
Appeals to all States parties to the Geneva Conventions that have not yet
done so to consider becoming parties to the additional Protocols at the earliest
possible date;
3.
Calls upon all States that are already parties to Protocol I,2 or those
States not parties, on becoming parties to Protocol I, to make the declaration
provided for under article 90 of that Protocol;
5
International Legal Materials, vol. XXXVIII, p. 769.
United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 249, No. 3511.
7
A/CONF.183/9.
6
2