This week (12th August) the world celebrates the 60th Anniversary of the Geneva Conventions.

The Conventions set boundaries for warring parties, placing limits on how war is waged and seeking to ensure that civilians are protected. Although the Conventions are not designed to stop wars, they are intended to limit the barbarity of armed conflict. All 194 States are party to the Geneva Conventions, making them universal.

Research commissioned by the ICRC shows that 60 years on, the Conventions are still regarded as relevant and workable. However, turning the legal provisions of the Conventions into a reality on the ground is still a major challenge. Dominique Liengme, ICRC head of delegation in Georgia's capital, Tbilisi says, "What is already written should be respected and that is the problem… the respect of the on-going laws."

The ICRC commissioned the research as part of its "Our World. Your Move." campaign in eight different countries with current or recent experiences of armed conflict including Georgia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The aim of the project was to develop a better understanding of people's needs and expectations, to gather views and opinions and to give a voice to those who have been adversely affected by armed conflict.

Georgia/South Ossetia
Background

One year after hostilities broke out between Georgia and Russia, in August 2008, thousands of civilians are still suffering its effects. Many who fled the fighting have returned to their former homes, but others have had to move on to different regions, and hundreds remain in collective centres.

People who live in villages along the de facto administrative boundary line (ABL) between South Ossetia and Georgia have been particularly disadvantaged. It is no longer possible to cross freely, so there is no local trading and commerce, contact between old friends and families either side of the ABL is difficult if not impossible, and the provision of basic services is severely hampered.

The ICRC survey specifically asked respondents if they believed civilians should be spared in armed conflict. Overwhelmingly the answer was yes. .A decade ago nearly 40 percent of those surveyed thought it was 'OK' to attack enemy combatants in populated villages or towns, knowing many civilians would be killed, now just 12 percent do so.


Video story
Georgia/South Ossetia

In the South Ossetian village of Satskheneti more than 50 houses were burned and destroyed in the fighting of August 2008 and most of the inhabitants fled. Only five of the village's oldest residents remain. They live precariously, dependent on the ICRC for food and medical care.

Volodya is 73 and lives with his wife Natella. Their only income now comes from the sale of walnuts grown on their smallholding. They no longer see their children and grandchildren because they are cut off from family living on the other side of the administrative boundary line. Volodya can't understand what has happened. "We respected each other. We loved each other. We greeted each other. We kissed each other and what has happened now?"

ICRC health delegate, Joyce Hood, is the only regular contact these people have with the outside world. She visits the village every week to tend Volodya's severely ulcerated legs and offer palliative care to another elderly resident suffering from cancer. The weekly phone calls using the ICRC phone are the only contact Volodya and Natella have with their daughter who lives on the other side of the administrative boundary line.

Just a few kilometres away are former neighbours, friends and relatives, now beyond reach.

Natia Gelashvili lives in the village of Tseronisi on the other side of the administrative boundary line. In just a few days of fighting in August last year, a third of the houses in the village were destroyed.

Natia and her family were forced to flee because of the fighting. For Natia and many others, their fields, their source of income, lie the far side of a boundary now impossible to cross. Natia's house was burned and shelled and with it her small shop and bread oven. Her family and many like them, remain dependent on pasta, flour, oil and sugar from the ICRC. They live in a one room shelter with no running water or electricity. With their local economy gone, their dependence on aid handouts for the basic necessities of life is likely to continue for the foreseeable future.

Natia has never heard of the Geneva Conventions, nevertheless she says, "Soldiers do not have the right to destroy the property of ordinary people."

The Democratic Republic of the Congo
Background

In many parts of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the rule of law is an ideal. The civilian population is preyed upon by armed men who seek out both men and women to rape as a tactic to subdue and terrorise the local people. The toll is a terrible one.

Civilians in the DRC conflict zones have suffered massively. Millions have died as a direct or indirect result of the fighting and millions more have been displaced from their homes.

In the ICRC survey, over three-quarters of people questioned in DRC identified actions they believe are unacceptable in wartime. Those actions include "the killing of civilians/children/the innocent", "specific types of violence/oppression, "attacks on buildings/specific areas, including looting and attacks on civilian areas" and "sexual violence"(mentioned by 43 percent of DRC respondents).

Video story

In eastern DRC, in north and south Kivu, crimes against the civilian population continue to be reported with the rape of both women and men apparently increasing. A widespread culture of impunity facilitates the lawlessness.

Arms carriers who prey on civilians make the performance of everyday tasks a deadly lottery. It is estimated that since May, more than 300 thousand people have been displaced by violence in North and South Kivu. Even in areas where the fighting has stopped, arms carriers roam the countryside preying on civilians at will.

17 year old Gloria (not her real name) was raped and seriously injured by armed men. As a result she became pregnant and had a baby boy. She was attacked while she gathered firewood for her mother. Eventually Gloria found the help she needed for herself and her baby through a 'listening house', which is supported by ICRC.

The suffering of victims of sexual violence, both men and women, is often perpetuated by fear of rejection from their families and communities. Health and counselling services for victims are rare. The ICRC, recognising this need, supports "maisons d'ecoute" (listening houses) where victims of sexual violence can talk to trained counsellors who assist in rebuilding relationships with their families and refer them to medical services. The ICRC also supports community awareness programmes encouraging tolerance and understanding towards victims of sexual violence.


SHOTLIST

Georgia/South Ossetia
00.00 Shots from the car of ruined houses in the South Ossetia/Tskhinvali area
00.07 Ruined building at the University in Tskhinvali
00.15 Old lady pushing cart
00.21 Slow pan up from puddle to ruined apartment building
00.28 Details of damage to apartment building
00.31 Ruined apartment building with rusted containers outside
00.37 Children playing
00.41 Woman looking over balcony of damaged building
00.45 Bullet holes in wall
00.49 Damaged building with clothes hanging out window
00.53 Shot of South Ossetian countryside looking across the administrative boundary line to Georgia
00.58 ICRC delegate, Joyce Hood arriving at home of Volodya and Natella in South Ossetian village of Satskheneti
01.03 Joyce open medical kit
01.08 MCU Volodya readies himself to have leg attended to
01.11 CU Volodya bandaged leg

01.16 Volodya interview(Russian)

We shared our happiness, our sadness, weddings, and all our family events and celebrations. We were with them and they were with us. And when you look at what's happening now….aren't we educated people? I don’t understand what they want.

01.38 Joyce hands mobile phone to Volodya so he can call his family in Georgia
01.46 MCU Natella
01.49 Volodya walks up stairs with telephone
01.54 Volodya talks on telephone
01.57 Volodya gives the telephone to Natella
02.07 Natella speaks briefly and turns away crying

2.22 Joyce interview (English)
The only contact they have with their family is the ICRC phone. When I come they use my telephone to speak with their families. There are a couple of people that come by in cars, I've seen once or twice here from another village, who bring them things and also collect the walnuts that they grow and crack open and sell to get basics in life. Because they don’t have a pension they have no income at all.

02.51 Joyce says goodbye
02.56 ICRC vehicle travels highway Georgia – Gori region (other side of administrative boundary line)
03.01 ICRC delegate visits the home of Natia and Koba Gelashvili in the village of Tseronisi, near Gori, less than a kilometre from the administrative boundary line.
03.09 Slow pan to group inside ruined house
03.16 MCU of daughter Mary
03.19 MCU old lady (Grandma)
03.22 House damage
03.25 House damage
03.28 House damage, pan around
03.32 Natia takes ICRC delegate on tour of the house

03.47 Interview Natia (Georgian)

We were very afraid and left the village. We left through the fields and those who had big cars transported the people. They started to beat and kill the people. (crying) Then we watched as the flames went up.

04.35 Cut away

04.39 2nd interview Natia (Georgian)

Soldiers do not have the right to destroy the property of ordinary people.

04.47 Exterior of house.
04.54 Natia and Mary walk towards their fields which can no longer be accessed because they're on the administrative boundary line.
05.01 Reverse of Natia and Mary walking to fields
05.07 Natia and Mary
05.20 Shots of Tskhinvali clearly visible across the administrative boundary line.

05.25 Interview with Dominique Liengme, Head of Delegation, ICRC, Tblisi (English)

I think the law in itself if it is respected is enough but in all the contexts, not only in an armed conflict but you can see that the law itself is not respected. That’s the problem. I don’t think as such the Geneva Convention or the Protocols can always be ameliorated and they can always be some other convention but what is already written should be respected and that is the problem. ..that's the problem..the respect of the on-going laws.

06.11 Interview with Dominique Liengme, Head of Delegation, ICRC Tblisi (French)

Les gouvernements qui ont signés quand même ces conventions, les conventions de Genève, et les protocoles additionnels savent quelles sont leur responsabiltés. Maintenant finalement notre devoir c'est plutôt de faire respecter au maximum, finalement, les conventions de genève en tant que telles, et d utiliser bien sûr des forats pour essayer, en tout cas, d'améliorer le respect de ces conventions de Genève.

Democratic Republic of Congo

06.45 Long shot of vehicle travelling rural road with woman walking in the foreground
06.50 Boys pushing barrow of timber
07.06 Woman crossing dirt road from one field to another
07.10 Very young girl carrying sugar cane

07.18 Interview with (Gloria) 17 year old girl, a victim of a multiple rape who subsequently had a baby (Kiswahili)

I continued to tie up the firewood but my legs were already shaking, I couldn’t see my hands and I started sweating. When I looked up, I saw an armed man. I wondered if I should stand up and try and run. I didn't know what to do. I bent down. He said to me, 'You sit down now'. I refused. Then he grabbed the back of my neck and I fell down. And then they raped me. Afterwards, I lay there like someone dead.

08.06 Cu baby wrapped in blanket

08.09 2ND Interview, Gloria, rape victim ( Kiswahili)

I don't have a problem with the baby. I love my baby. A child is innocent.

08.16 The 17 year old girl and a counsellor walk outside with the baby
Interior home of counsellor, Katungo Kilauri
08.27 CU baby
08.33 Interior Katungo Kilauri's house
08.45 Little boy in Katungo's house

08.48 Interview with Katungo Kilauri (Kiswahili), listening house counsellor

It is important because when you have a problem and you don't have someone to talk to you can die inside. But when you can talk to someone, you let out what is in your heart, and the bad feelings get better.

09.04 Exterior Katungo's house arranging manioc

09.17 Exterior listening house


Historic footage – signing of Geneva Conventions 1949

09.28 Signature of the original Geneva Convention in 1864 (Protection of wounded soldiers on the battlefield)

09.32 Constantinople 1921. Russian refugees

09.44 Second World War. Prisoners of war

09.52 Signing ceremony of the four revised Geneva Conventions in 1949

09.59 Ends


For more information, please contact:
Claire Kaplun, ICRC Geneva on +41 79 2446426 or
Anna Nelson, ICRC Geneva on +41 79 217 3264 or
for more information on tapes and access to news footage, contact Jan Powell, ICRC Geneva, + 41 792519314 or
from 18.08.09 contact

More about the Geneva Conventions