Geneva convention

noun

: one of a series of agreements concerning the treatment of prisoners of war and of the sick, wounded, and dead in battle first made at Geneva, Switzerland in 1864 and subsequently accepted in later revisions by most nations

Examples of Geneva convention in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Related Story 3 Ways War Might Start Between the U.S. and China Creating such rules is hardly impossible—Geneva conventions regulating biological, laser and chemical weapons have been mostly observed, and the idea of creating such rules by committee has been proposed. —Sébastien Roblin, Popular Mechanics, 5 Sep. 2023

Ukrainians have found Russia’s soldiers to be everything from frightened teenagers who cry when they are captured, to men who brutally torture, rape and kill civilians and prisoners-of-war with no regard for the Geneva conventions. —Jennifer Mathers, Fortune, 17 Feb. 2023

The summit meeting venue played host to a Geneva convention overseen by Henri Dunant, a co-founder of the Red Cross, in 1864, and Pope Paul VI hosted a Mass in the park in 1969 that drew roughly 70,000 people, according to the city's website. —Jamey Keaten, Star Tribune, 10 June 2021

But rights campaigners and Palestinians cite the fourth Geneva convention, which obliges an occupying power to coordinate with the local authorities to maintain public health within an occupied territory. —New York Times, 20 Feb. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1880, in the meaning defined above