A/RES/59/36 expressing concern about all violations of the Geneva Conventions and the two Additional Protocols, 4 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, Noting with appreciation the meetings of representatives of those bodies organized by the International Committee of the Red Cross to facilitate the sharing of concrete experience and the exchange of views on their roles and on the challenges they face, 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-eighth International Conference of the Red Cross and Red Crescent stressed the need to reinforce the implementation of and respect for international humanitarian law, Noting the fiftieth anniversary of the Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, adopted at The Hague in 1954, 5 which was observed in May 2004, as well as the commemorative events organized in particular by or in cooperation with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the International Committee of the Red Cross, and recalling the important achievement of enhancing the protection of cultural property in the event of armed conflicts, Recalling the entry into force, on 9 March 2004, of the second Protocol 6 to the 1954 Hague Convention, and appreciating the ratifications received so far, Acknowledging the fact that the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 7 which entered into force on 1 July 2002, 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, Acknowledging also the usefulness of discussing in the General Assembly the status of instruments of international humanitarian law relevant to the protection of victims of armed conflicts, Appreciates the virtually universal acceptance of the Geneva 1. Conventions of 1949,3 and notes the trend towards a similarly wide acceptance of the two Additional Protocols of 1977;4 _______________ 4 Ibid., vol. 1125, Nos. 17512 and 17513. Ibid., vol. 249, No. 3511. 6 International Legal Materials, vol. XXXVIII, p. 769. 7 Official Records of the United Nations Diplomatic Conference of Plenipotentiaries on the Establishment of an International Criminal Court, Rome, 15 June-17 July 1998, vol. I: Final documents (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.02.I.5), sect. A. 5 2