Does anybody know when people first worried about "war crimes"?

truhavoc

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Wed May-05-04 09:55 AM
Original message

Does anybody know when people first worried about "war crimes"?

Just curious to when society decided that all was not fair in war, and then to prosecute those who broke the "rules". To me war is a horrible thing, I am sickened when people get all up in arms about torture, or harassment (regardless of the side this takes place on). To me if those things upset you so much, every death should drive you to the streets in protest! At least those given POW's are still alive, in situations where they just as easily could have been shot and killed. Last night tweety was talking and said something like "americans would not like this (the torture) happening to their family." I say suck it up, war sucks, and all the consequences of war suck! In the midst of my rambling my point is as long as people think there are safe zones, or human rights laws in war nobody truly realizes the actual cost of war.

This is not meant to be a statement about the "photo" situation, I just wanted to see if anyone knew the background to this phenomenon and if anyone felt likewise.

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denverbill

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Wed May-05-04 10:11 AM
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1. I'd either trace it to chivalry or the Geneva Convention in 1864.

It all began in June 1859, when a merchant named Henry Dunant was traveling through the war-ravaged plain of Normandia, north of Italia, after the battle of Solferino. Seeing thousands of wounded soldiers left dying in the mercy of fate, he appealed to the local inhabitants to come and help, insisting that combatants from both sides should be taken care of. There and then it crossed the Dunant's mind an idea about the creation of the Red Cross;. so he decided to tell the world about experienced horrors of war and wrote a book "A memory of Solferino", let it be mentioned here that with this work he initiated the news reports' epoch. In his book, published in 1862, he made two solemn appeals; firstly, for relief societies to be formed in the peacetime with nurses who would be ready to care for the wounded in wartime. Secondly, for these volunteers, who would be called upon to assist the military medical services, to be recognized and protected through an international agreement. These ideas soon materialized in the creation of the "International Committee for Relief to the Wounded", which later became the International Committee of the Red Cross.

http://www.redcross.lv/en/conventions.htm

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