Book

Tokyo draft : draft international convention concerning the condition and the protection of civilians of enemy nationality in the territory of a belligerent or in a territory occupied by it

[International Committee of the Red Cross]

[Geneva : ICRC], 1938?

7 p. ; 30 cm

English

This is a partial translation of the French original, which was presented at the 1938 International Conference of the Red Cross in London. The original in French had been presented at the 1934 International Conference of the Red Cross in Tokyo. See link provided to the ICRC IHL database to access a full translation.

This draft originated in the exactions suffered by innumerable civilian victims during World War I. As of the end of this conflict, the need to ensure mandatory legal protection for civilians became abundantly clear. In this context, several International Conferences of the Red Cross (10th in 1921, 11th in 1923, and 12th in 1925, all in Geneva) adopted Resolutions inviting the ICRC to undertake action in this field. In response to these requests, the ICRC set up a commission of experts who were set the task of drawing up a draft convention, that would protect two categories of civilians: enemy civilians on the territory of a belligerent and civilians in the power of the enemy in occupied territories. The draft was to be discussed at the Diplomatic Conference convened by the Swiss government at the beginning of 1940 but the outbreak of hostilities prevented this meeting from taking place. Nonetheless, from the very first days of the war, the ICRC proposed that belligerents put the Tokyo Draft into effect but this proposal was rejected. It was not until 1949 that the proposals contained in the Tokyo Draft were reconsidered. They offered an extremely important basis for discussions which led to the adoption of the Geneva Convention (IV) of 1949.

• Full text (1938 partial translation)
• Full text (full translation)

• French version