Geneva Protocol

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States parties to the Geneva Protocol

The Geneva Protocol (with the full title: Protocol on the prohibition of the use of asphyxiating, poisonous or similar gases and bacteriological agents in war ) is an international treaty that was signed on June 17, 1925 in the Swiss city ​​of Geneva . It prohibits the use of chemical and biological weapons , but does not contain any requirements for their development, manufacture and storage. For this reason, two further treaties, the Bioweapons Convention (1972) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (1993), were concluded, which contain corresponding regulations on arms restrictions and disarmament obligations. 137 contracting parties have acceded to the Geneva Protocol, the provisions of which were previously considered customary international law .

Historical information

The first large-scale use of chemical weapons in a war took place during the First World War , when chlorine gas was used by German troops near the Belgian city ​​of Ypres . At the time, this already represented a breach of existing international law , as the use of poison as a means of waging war was explicitly prohibited by the Hague Land Warfare Regulations, concluded in 1899 and 1907, and by customary international law.

After the First World War, the Versailles Peace Treaty of 1919 contained a ban on Germany producing or importing chemical weapons. Similar restrictions also applied to the other Central Powers , i.e. Austria , Bulgaria and Hungary . The states allied in the Triple Entente also negotiated the Washington Naval Treaty in 1922 . However, due to objections from France to the regulations on the use of submarines, the corresponding contract, which also contained a ban on poison gas, did not come into force.

At the Geneva Conference on the Supervision of the International Arms Trade , held from May 4 to June 17, 1925 , France proposed the adoption of a protocol banning the use of chemical weapons. At the suggestion of the Polish delegation under Kazimierz Sosnkowski , the scope of the agreement was extended to include bacteriological weapons . The corresponding protocol was signed on June 17, 1925 and entered into force on February 8, 1928.

Content and acceptance

With regard to the prohibition of the use of asphyxiating and toxic gases and comparable liquids or other substances, the text of the protocol expressly refers to their customary ban, which was already accepted at the time the contract was signed , by condemning the use of these substances by the "general opinion of the civilized world" is mentioned as a yardstick. In addition, the “conscience and action of nations” is named as the basis of the prohibition. The protocol explicitly obliges the contracting parties to recognize this prohibition and to extend it to bacteriological weapons. The signatory states are also required to induce other states to join.

As of March 2012, 142 states and the Holy See are parties to the agreement, including the United States , Russia , the United Kingdom , France and the People's Republic of China, all five permanent members of the United Nations Security Council . France is the depositary state of the agreement. Austria joined the agreement on May 9, 1928, Germany on April 25, 1929 and Switzerland on July 12, 1932. The last accession so far was on March 13, 2018 by Armenia . The Geneva Protocol is one of the longest unchanged agreements in the field of international humanitarian law .

literature

  • Dietrich Schindler , Jiří Toman (Eds.): The Laws of Armed Conflicts: A Collection of Conventions, Resolutions, and Other Documents. Third revised edition. Sijthoff & Noordhoff International Publishers, Alphen aan den Rijn 1988, ISBN 90-247-3306-5 , p. 116.

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