Japan will soon express its willingness to become a party to the twin protocols of the four Geneva conventions that were approved in 1949 to protect war victims and prevent the kinds of abuses that had occurred during World War II. The supplementary protocol agreements, adopted in 1977, set humanitarian rules for protecting noncombatants in international armed conflicts (excluding declared wars between states) and in civil wars and other localized conflicts.
Last month the Diet approved the government's plan to ratify the protocols. These will take effect for Japan six months after the government deposits the instruments of ratification with the Swiss government, which serves as the secretariat. As of June 25, 161 countries were parties to the first protocol, which extends protection to victims in international armed conflicts; and 156 to the second protocol, which applies to victims in noninternational armed conflicts such as civil wars.
Japan is already a party to the four Geneva conventions. These are formally known as the (1) Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick of Armed Forces in the Field; (2) Convention for the Amelioration of the Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea; (3) Convention Relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War; and (4) Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.