Three Additional Protocols supplement the Geneva Conventions and split the law by the type of armed conflict

Background

There are three Protocols Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, two of which were adopted in 1977 and the third in 2005. Protocol I and Protocol II were adopted by States on 8 June 1977 at Geneva and entered into force on 7 December 1978. Protocol I regulates conflicts of an international nature, while Protocol II applies to non-international armed conflicts. The third instrument, adopted at Geneva, 8 December 2005, relates to the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem. The Protocols develop and supplement the four 1949 Geneva Conventions and are only open to those States that are also party to these Conventions. Together these instruments are the best known of the treaty documents of international humanitarian law.