Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea was signed in Geneva on 12 August 1949. The Diplomatic Conference, which opened on 21 April, revised Hague Convention (X) of 18 October 1907. Sixty-three articles and one annex, in English and French, equally authentic; depositary the Swiss Federal Council. It is not Convention I on the wounded in the field, nor Conventions III and IV, and it is not Hague X of 1907.

Article 1: the Convention is to be respected in all circumstances. Article 2: international armed conflicts. Article 3, common to the four Conventions: in conflicts not of an international character, persons taking no active part in the hostilities shall be treated humanely. Article 4: the field of application at sea. Articles 8–11: Protecting Powers, the ICRC and other impartial humanitarian organisations, subject to the consent of the Parties concerned — a framework, not an operational handbook.

Articles 12–21: the wounded, sick and shipwrecked shall be respected and protected; they may become prisoners of war if they fall into enemy hands; casualties shall be searched for after an engagement, identified and the information forwarded; appeals may be made to neutral vessels to help collect the victims. Articles 22–35: military hospital ships and those of relief societies, coastal rescue craft and sick-bays on board shall be protected, protection ceasing if they are used to commit acts harmful to the enemy — a principle, not a marking or search itinerary.

Articles 36–45 protect medical and religious personnel, medical transports and medical aircraft, and recognise the distinctive emblems. The annex is a model identity card for medical and religious personnel attached to the armed forces at sea. Articles 46–53: execution, prohibition of reprisals, dissemination, penal sanctions and grave breaches, at the level of principle.

Articles 54–63: equally authentic texts; open for signature until 12 February 1950; ratifications deposited at Berne. Entry into force six months after not less than two instruments have been deposited — 21 October 1950. It replaces, as between the Parties, Hague Convention (X) of 1907. Subsequent accession; denunciation takes effect after one year, and is without effect while the denouncing Power is involved in a conflict.

Cover: Palais Wilson in Geneva, a diplomatic building of the city in the years of the conference; we do not claim the signing room. Wikimedia Commons, free licence.

Sources consulted: Second Geneva Convention; Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea (ICRC).