At a second conference on the same subject, held at Geneva in 1868, a supplementary convention was drawn up, consisting of fourteen additional articles, five of which related to war on land and nine to naval warfare. The additional articles were not, however, ratified by the chief states, and never became operative. The Brussels International Conference (1874) for the codification of the law and customs of war occupied itself with the Geneva Convention and again drew up a number of articles which were submitted to the interested governments. But, as in the case of the additional articles of 1868, no effect was ever given to them.
At the Peace Conference of 1899 Great Britain withdrew her objections to the application of the convention to maritime warfare, and agreed to the adoption of a special convention “adapting to Maritime warfare the principles of the Geneva Convention.” A voeu was also adopted by the conference expressing the wish that a special conference should be held as soon as possible for the purpose of revising the convention of 1864.
In deference to the above voeu the Swiss government in 1901 sounded the other parties to the convention of 1864 as to whether the time had not come to call the proposed special conference, but the replies received did not give much encouragement and the matter was dropped for the time being. By a circular note of the 17th of February 1903, the Swiss government invited all the states which had signed or adhered to the Geneva Convention to send representatives to a conference to be held at Geneva in the following September. Some governments did not accept the invitation in time and the conference had to be postponed. At the beginning of 1904, there being no apparent obstacle, the Swiss government again invited the powers to send delegates to a conference in the following May. Meanwhile war broke out between Russia and Japan and there was again an adjournment. At length in March 1906 an invitation was accepted by thirty-five states, only Turkey, Salvador, Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua and Colombia abstaining and the conference was held at Geneva in July 1906, when a full revised convention was adopted, which now takes the place of that of 1864.[1] The adoption of the new Geneva Convention entailed a revision of the above-mentioned Hague Convention and a new edition of the latter is one of the documents adopted at the Peace Conference of 1907.
The new Geneva Convention consists of thirty-three articles divided into the following chapters, (i.) the wounded and sick; (ii.) medical units and establishments; (iii.) personnel; (iv.) material; (v.) convoys of evacuation; (vi.) the distinctive emblem; (vii.) application and carrying out of the Convention; (viii.) prevention of abuses and infractions; (ix.) general provisions.
The essential parts of the new Hague Convention of 1907 (18th of October) adapting the above conventions to maritime warfare as follows: (N.B. The alterations are in italics. The parts of the older convention of 1899 which have been suppressed are in brackets).
i. Military hospital-ships, that is to say, ships constructed or assigned by states specially and solely for the purpose of assisting the wounded, sick or shipwrecked, and the names of which shall have been communicated to the belligerent powers at the commencement or during the course of hostilities, and in any case before they are employed, shall be respected and cannot be captured while hostilities last.
These ships, moreover, are not on the same footing as men-of-war as regards their stay in a neutral port.
ii. Hospital-ships, equipped wholly or in part at the cost of private individuals or officially-recognized Relief Societies, shall likewise be respected and exempt from capture, provided the belligerent power to whom they belong has given them an official commission and has notified their names to the hostile power at the commencement of or during hostilities, and in any case before they are employed.
These ships should be furnished with a certificate from the competent authorities, declaring that they had been under their control while fitting out and on final departure.
iii. Hospital-ships, equipped wholly or in part at the cost of private individuals or officially-recognized Societies of neutral countries shall be respected and exempt from capture [if the neutral power to whom they belong has given them an official commission and notified their names to the belligerent powers at the commencement of or during hostilities, and in any case before they are employed] on condition that they are placed under the orders of one of the belligerents, with the previous consent of their own Government and with the authorization of the belligerent, and on condition that the latter shall have notified their names to the enemy at the commencement or during the course of hostilities, in any event, before they are employed.