Geneva Conventions

The updated ICRC Commentary of the Fourth Geneva Convention (GCIV) is a monumental, if not timely, achievement. At its core, it provides a set of very useful legal interpretations on an enormous body of rules and provisions, reflecting a gigantic amount of work by an adroit ICRC team, supported by numerous experts from both academia and practice. Studying the Convention’s origins in such level of depth, while also bringing such a massive project, within a relatively short amount of time, to a successful conclusion, is an extremely difficult task. The result is an impressive and helpful contribution to the study of IHL, especially at a moment when the protection of civilians in armed conflict is, both regionally and globally, of enormous concern, not least because of multiplying non-international armed conflicts, preparations for new international armed conflicts (IACs), and the impact of brutal interstate occupations – in Palestine, Ukraine, and elsewhere – amidst a changing global order. The EJIL: Talk! editors have asked me to reflect on colonialism in relation to the updated Commentary.