LEGATION OF SWITZERLAND, MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: My Government has instructed me to request your excellency (as I hereby have the honor to do) to inform me whether the Government of the United States of America thinks that the time has arrived for a revision of the Geneva Convention (Conference), according to the wish expressed by the conference at The Hague, and whether it is disposed to be represented at a conference to be convoked by the Swiss Federal Council for this purpose in the course of the present year. I am at the same time instructed to send your excellency the six inclosed copies of the printed paper containing the "Statement of some ideas to be examined for the revision of the Geneva Convention." This statement is but a cursory view of the questions to which my Government now desires to call the attention of the Governments, without pretending to limit the deliberations of the conference which is to busy itself with this matter. Awaiting the communication which it will please your excellency to send me in relation to this question, I avail myself, etc., J. B. PIODA, Minister of Switzerland. [Inclosure. Translation.] STATEMENT OF SOME IDEAS TO BE EXAMINED FOR THE REVISION OF THE GENEVA CONVENTION. A.-Propositions relating to the text of 1864. I. To declare the persons employed in sanitary work neutral under all circumstances, and not only "when they are acting and when there are wounded persons to be taken up and succored (art. 2). II. To declare sanitary material neutral to a greater extent (art. 1). IV. To proclaim the cessation of neutrality: (a) For the persons employed in sanitary work, if they commit hostile acts otherwise than in self-defense, they not being forbidden to bear arms (art. 2). (b) For sanitary material, if it is diverted from its normal destination (art. 1). V. To abolish the provisions relative to the inhabitants of the seat of war (art. 5). VI. To oblige every army on the retreat to leave, on the field of battle and in its hospitals which have been taken by the enemy, a part of its personnel and of its sanitary appliances, in order that its wounded may be cared for (art. 3). VII. To stipulate that the personnel mentioned in No. VI. (art. 3): (a) Shall not have the right to facilitate the return of their wounded to their own army. (b) Shall act under the superior authority of the enemy. (c) Shall be treated, their grades being equal, like the sanitary personnel of the enemy as regards pay and subsistence. VIII. To guarantee that the wounded shall be protected on the field of battle, after a combat, from pillage and ill treatment (art. 6). IX. To require: B.-Sundry propositions. (a) That the inhumation or incineration of the dead shall be preceded by a careful examination of their bodies. (b) That every officer or soldier shall bear upon his person a mark whereby his identity may be established. (c) That a list of the dead, wounded, and sick who have been taken by the enemy shall be sent, with as little delay as possible, by said enemy to the authorities of their country or their army. X. To declare neutral, on certain conditions to be determined hereafter, the personnel and the matériel of civil organizations devoted to the care of wounded soldiers. XI. To make the use of the sign of the red cross on a white background a legal monopoly, to be extended in time of peace to certain civil organizations to be designated hereafter. XII. To provide penalties for violations of the provisions of the convention. XIII. To adopt the most indispensable measures for bringing the provisions of the convention and the penalties incurred by those violating them to the knowledge of the troops and of the people. The Acting Secretary of State to the Swiss Minister. No. 293.] DEPARTMENT OF STATE, Washington, May 13, 1901. SIR: In reply to your note of the 4th ultimo, I have now the honor to inform you that both the Secretaries of War and of the Navy write the first on the 3d instant, the latter on the 20th ultimo-that they think that the present is a most proper time for a revision of the Geneva Convention for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded in war. The Government of the United States will therefore gladly be represented at a congress which the Swiss Confederation may call for the purpose stated. Accept, etc., DAVID J. HILL. The Swiss Chargé d'Affaires to the Assistant Secretary of State. [Translation.] LEGATION OF SWITZERLAND, Washington, D. C., August 12, 1901. MR. ASSISTANT SECRETARY OF STATE: I am instructed by my Government to make the following communication in the matter of the contemplated revision of the Geneva Convention of 1864. Like the United States of America, France, Italy, and Russia have declared, in reply to the invitation of the Swiss Federal Council, that they believed the time had come for a remodeling of the convention under consideration, and that they would be represented at the conference contemplated for the purpose. The Government of Great Britain, while of opinion that a revision of the convention of 1864 is imperative, expressed a wish that the conference be postponed so as to be able thoroughly to examine the various questions connected therewith and also utilize the experiments recently made in South Africa and China. The German Government answered that it would not be in a position to be represented at any conference that would meet in the course of this year. Austria-Hungary has not yet returned any positive answer, but my Government has reason to believe that it also deems it expedient to postpone the meeting of the conference. Under the circumstances, the Federal Council has decided to forego, for this year, the execution of its project. It hopes, however, that circumstances next year will permit of its renewing its proposal and that the latter will then meet with the assent of all the states signatory of the Geneva Convention. I embrace this opportunity, etc., CHARLES L. E. LARDY. The Swiss Minister to the Secretary of State. [Translation.] LEGATION OF SWITZERLAND, Washington, D. C., March 11, 1903. MR. SECRETARY OF STATE: The Geneva Convention of August 22, 1864, has proved a boon to suffering humanity. It has helped in alleviating the evils inseparable from war and in ameliorating the lot of wounded or injured soldiers of armies in the field. And so there is no longer anyone who will question its usefulness; yet its shortcomings and the necessity for modifications suggested by the experience acquired since 1864 are admitted. As early as 1868 a conference met. for the purpose at Geneva and adopted a draft of 15 articles, additional to the convention of 1864, 9 of which related to naval warfare. These articles failed to receive diplomatic sanction and could not be enacted. The conference of 1874, convened at Brussels for the purpose of codifying the usages of war, also took up the revision of the Geneva Convention (see protocols Nos. 8 and 9, sessions of the 10th and 11th of August), and a subcommittee elaborated a draft that was to be submitted to the Governments" in view of the modifications and improvements that might be introduced by joint accord into the Geneva Convention." Lastly, the International Peace Conference, called at The Hague upon the generous initiative of His Majesty the Emperor of All the Russias, achieved a great advance in the convention signed on July 29, 1899, relative to the application of the principles of the Geneva Convention to naval warfare. This con ference was unable to take up the revision of the Geneva Convention and confined itself to adopting the following resolution : The conference, taking into consideration the preliminary steps taken by the Swiss Federal Government toward the revision of the Geneva Convention, utters the wish that a special conference, having for its object the revision of that convention, may be called in the near future. The Swiss High Federal Council is of the opinion that the time has now come to take action on that wish, and has in consequence the honor to invite the governments of the states, parties to the Convention of Geneva, to send representatives to a conference which it proposes to convene at Geneva on the 14th of September of this year, in contemplation of the suggested reform. Your excellency will receive with this letter a few copies of a brief statement of the questions to be discussed in the proposed conference. It is not the High Swiss Federal Council's purpose to circumscribe by this statement the field of the conference's deliberations, or to restrict the right of each delegate to lay before the conference any motion that he may deem expedient to formulate. Its only wish has been to epitomize the points which, in its judgment, will chiefly command the attention of the conference. Your excellency will also receive a few copies of a note addressed to the Swiss High Federal Council on July 22, 1901, by the legation of Great Britain at Berne, and which contains propositions connected with the revision of the Geneva Convention. The Swiss High Federal Council cherishes the hope that your Government will favorably receive its proposition and be so good as to communicate, in good time, the names of its delegates. Be pleased to accept, etc., F. DU MARTHERAY. [Inclosure 1.] [Same as set of questions inclosed with Swiss minister's note of March 22, 1906. Ja [Inclosure 2.] BRITISH LEGATION, MONSIEUR LE PRESIDENT: I have the honor to state to your excellency, by direction of the Marquess of Lansdowne, that the interpretation of the Geneva Convention of 1864 and its application to voluntary aid societies for the succor of the sick and wounded are questions which have been engaging the consideration of the British military authorities. In the above connection, I am instructed to draw your attention to the fact that the Red Cross flag and armlet prescribed by Article VII of the convention are, in most countries, not protected by legislation, and that their employment is open to serious abuse. Having regard to this abuse, the British military authorities are of opinion that authority to use the Red Cross flag or badge should be granted only by specified naval and military departments; that unauthorized use should be subjected to heavy penalties; and that improper, fraudulent, or dishonorable employment of the flag or badge by authorized persons should be subject to severe punishment. a Infra. |