The year 2024 marked the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the four Geneva Conventions.  The Geneva Conventions, as the main part of international humanitarian law, are set of laws that try to limit the means and methods of war and to reduce its destructive impacts.

With these circumstances, and to commemorate the ratification of these conventions in 1949, the ICRC delegation in Iran together with the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, held a ceremony on 22^nd January, at the Institute for Political and International Studies of the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Islamic Republic of Iran.

A week before, a photo exhibition was launched in the same venue on this occasion.

Dr. Kazem Gharibabadi, Deputy Minister of Legal and International Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Vincent Cassard, Head of the ICRC Delegation in Iran, Dr. Pir Hossein Koulivand, President of the Iranian Red Crescent Society and Chairman of the National Committee for Humanitarian Law of Iran, and Hojjatoleslam Ahmad Reza Pourkhaghan, Head of the Judicial Organization of the Armed Forces and Deputy Head of the Judiciary, delivered speeches at the opening of the event.

In his opening remarks, Vincent Cassard, head of the ICRC’s Delegation in Iran, thanked the Iranian authorities for their cooperation in organizing the event, saying that the event is an opportunity to remind all parties to the conflict of the obligation to observe the Geneva Conventions in times of war.

While emphasizing the necessity for governments and parties to the conflict to observe the Geneva Conventions and mentioning cases of violations of these conventions in recent conflicts, other speakers at the opening ceremony also emphasized the commitment of the Islamic Republic of Iran to these laws.

The commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the adoption of the four Geneva Conventions is an opportunity to raise awareness of the importance of international humanitarian law (IHL), or the rules of war.

This is while the need for better implementation and adherence to these conventions by states and parties to conflicts in today’s world and the region is perhaps even more conspicuous than ever. But this necessity is not limited to today and yesterday and has a long history.

The protection of humans’ life and the alleviation of their sufferings, as well as the provision of the needs of those affected by war, have been the reason for the adoption of these conventions. These conventions are an integral part of international humanitarian law, or the rules of war, and their adoption has been part of a 160-year path to date, which aims to ensure universal limits on violence in war.

According to these conventions, people who are no longer involved in the conflict are protected regardless of the side for which they are fighting for, and the parties to the conflict must treat them humanely and without discrimination.

The commemoration ceremony  of the 75th anniversary of adoption of the four Geneva Conventions was an opportunity to create a platform for dialogue and cooperation in the field of the rules of war and its principles among the invitees from the relevant governmental organizations of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Armed Forces, the Judiciary, ambassadors and staff of diplomatic organizations residing in Iran, and academic researchers to review the challenges facing the rules adopted in the Geneva Conventions in  the today’s world and in the in the future.