established by the Center for legal documentation of the ICRC

1. Abbreviations

R/A/S = Ratification: a treaty is generally open for signature for a certain time following the conference which has
adopted it. However, a signature is not binding on a State unless it has been endorsed by ratification. The time
limits having elapsed, the Conventions and the Protocols are no longer open for signature. The States which have
not signed them may at any time accede or, in the appropriate circumstances, succeed to them.

Accession: instead of signing and then ratifying a treaty, a State may become party to it by the single act called
accession.

Succession (declaration of): a newly independent State may declare that it will abide by a treaty which was
applicable to it prior to its independence. A State may also declare that it will provisionally abide by such treaties
during the time it deems necessary to examine their texts carefully and to decide on accession or succession to
some or all of the said treaties.

R/D = Reservation/Declaration: unilateral statement, however phrased or named, made by a State when
ratifying, acceding or succeeding to a treaty, whereby it purports to exclude or to modify the legal effect of certain
provisions of the treaty in their application to that State (provided that such reservations are not incompatible with
the object and purpose of the treaty).

D90 = Declaration provided for under Article 90 of Protocol I (prior acceptance of the competence of the
International Fact-Finding Commission).

2. Dates

The dates indicated are those on which the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs received the official
instrument from the State that was ratifying, acceding to or succeeding to the Conventions or Protocols or
accepting the competence of the Commission provided for under Article 90 of Protocol I. They thus represent
neither the date on which ratification, accession, succession or acceptance of the Commission was decided upon
by the State concerned nor that on which the corresponding instrument was sent.

N.B.: The dates given for succession to the Geneva Conventions by Congo, Jamaica, Madagascar, Mauritania,
Niger, Nigeria, Rwanda, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Zaire used to be those on which the corresponding
instruments had been officially adopted. They have now been replaced by the dates on which the depositary
received those instruments.

3. Entry into force

Except as mentioned in footnotes at the end of the tables, for all States the entry into force of the Conventions and
of the Protocols occurs six months after the date given in the present document for States which have made a
declaration of succession, entry into force takes place retroactively, on the day of their accession to
independence.

The 1949 Geneva Conventions entered into force on 21 October 1950.
The 1977 Protocols entered into force on 7 December 1978.

4. Names of countries

The names of countries given in the following list may differ from the official names of States.

5. Update since 31.12.94

Ratifications, accessions or successions to the Geneva Conventions
Micronesia : 19.09.1995
Ratifications, accessions or successions to Additional Protocol I
Honduras : 16.02.1995
Cape Verde : 16.03.1995
Zambia : 04.05.1995
Panama : 18.09.1995
Micronesia : 19.09.1995
Swaziland : 02.11.1995
South Africa : 21.11.1995
Mongolia : 06.12.1995

Ratifications, accessions or successions to Additional Protocol II
Honduras : 16.02.1995
Cape Verde : 16.03.1995
Zambia : 04.05.1995
Colombia : 14.08.1995
Panama : 18.09.1995
Micronesia : 19.09.1995
Swaziland : 02.11.1995
South Africa : 21.11.1995
Mongolia : 06.12.1995

Declaration under Article 90
Slovakia : 13.03.1995
Cape Verde : 16.03.1995
Czech Republic : 02.05.1995
Romania : 31.05.1995
Mongolia : 06.12.1995

6. Ratifications, accessions and successions


1. Djibouti's declaration of succession in respect of the First Convention was dated 26.01.78.

2. On accession to Protocol II, France made a communication concerning Protocol I.

 3. Entry into force on 07.12.78.

 4. Entry into force on 07.12.78.

 5. Entered into force on 23.09.66, the Republic of Korea having invoked Arts. 62/61/141/157 common respectively
to the First, Second, Third and Fourth Conventions (immediate effect).

6. An instrument of accession to the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols was deposited by the
United Nations Council for Namibia on 18.10.83. In an instrument deposited on 22.08.91, Namibia declared its
succession to the Geneva Conventions, which were previously applicable pursuant to South Africa s accession
on 31.03.52.

7. The First Geneva Convention was ratified on 7.03.1951.

8. Accession to the Fourth Geneva Convention on 23 February 1959 (Ceylon had signed only the First, Second,
and Third Conventions).

9. Entry into force on 21.10.50.

10. Accession to the First Geneva Convention on 17.03.1963.

Palestine
On 21 June 1989, the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs received a letter from the Permanent Observer of Palestine to the United Nations Office at Geneva informing the Swiss Federal Council "that the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization, entrusted with the functions of the Government of the State of Palestine by decision of the Palestine National Council, decided, on 4 May 1989, to adhere to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 and the two Protocols additional thereto".

On 13 September 1989, the Swiss Federal Council informed States that it was not in a position to decide whether
the letter constituted an instrument of accession, "due to the uncertainty within the international community as to
the existence or non-existence of a State of Palestine".

Lithuania
Party to the 1929 Geneva Conventions (sick and wounded, prisoners of war).

7. Totals

Number of States party to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 : 186
Number of States party to Additional  Protocol I : 143
Number of States having made the declaration under Article 90 :  47
Number of States party to Additional Protocol II : 134
Number of States members of the United Nations : 185

States members of the UN or parties to the Statute of the International Court of Justice, not being party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions: Eritrea, Lithuania, Marshall, Nauru, Palau.

8. Chronological list of States having made the declaration provided for under Article 90 of Protocol I

 1 Sweden : 31.08.1979
 2 Finland : 07.08.1980
 3 Norway : 14.12.1981
 4 Switzerland : 17.02.1982
 5 Denmark : 17.06.1982
 6 Austria : 13.08.1982
 7 Italy : 27.02.1986
 8 Belgium : 27.03.1987
 9 Iceland : 10.04.1987
10 Netherlands : 26.06.1987
11 New Zealand : 08.02.1988
12 Malta : 17.04.1989
13 Spain : 21.04.1989
14 Liechtenstein : 10.08.1989
15 Algeria : 16.08.1989
16 Russian Federation : 29.09.1989
17 Belarus : 23.10.1989
18 Ukraine : 25.01.1990
19 Uruguay : 17.07.1990
20 Canada : 20.11.1990
21 Germany : 14.02.1991
22 Chile : 24.04.1991
23 Hungary : 23.09.1991
24 Qatar : 24.09.1991
25 Togo : 21.11.1991
26 United Arab Emirates : 06.03.1992
27 Slovenia : 26.03.1992
28 Croatia : 11.05.1992
29 Seychelles : 22.05.1992
30 Bolivia : 10.08.1992
31 Australia : 23.09.1992
32 Poland : 02.10.1992
33 Bosnia and Herzegovina : 31.12.1992
34 Luxembourg : 12.05.1993
35 Rwanda : 08.07.1993
36 Madagascar : 27.07.1993
37 The Former Y.R. Macedonia : 01.09.1993
38 Brazil : 23.11.1993
39 Guinea : 20.12.1993
40 Bulgaria : 09.05.1994
41 Portugal : 01.07.1994
42 Namibia : 21.07.1994
43 Slovakia : 13.03.1995
44 Cape Verde : 16.03.1995
45 Czech Republic : 02.05.1995
46 Romania : 31.05.1995
47 Mongolia : 06.12.1995