Hague Conventions

The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international and declarations negotiated at two international s at  in the. Along with the, the Hague Conventions were among the first formal statements of the and s in the body of secular. A third conference was planned for 1914 and later rescheduled for 1915, but it did not take place due to the start of.

History
The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 were the first that addressed the conduct of warfare and were largely based on the, which was signed and issued by   to the  Forces of the United States on 24 April 1863, during the. The Lieber Code was the first official comprehensive codified law that set out regulations for behavior in times of ; protection of s and civilian property and punishment of ;, , s, and ; s; ; s and ; parole of former troops; the conditions of any , and respect for human life;  and murder of soldiers or citizens in hostile territory; and the status of individuals engaged in a state of civil war against the government.

As such, the code was widely regarded as the best summary of the first  in the 19th century and was welcomed and adopted by military establishments of other nations. The 1874 Brussels Declaration, which was never adopted by all major nations, listed 56 articles that drew inspiration from the Lieber Code. Much of the regulations in the Hague Conventions were borrowed heavily from the Lieber Code.

Subject matter
Both conferences included negotiations concerning, the and s. A major effort in both conferences was the creation of a binding international court for compulsory arbitration to settle international disputes, which was considered necessary to replace the institution of war. This effort, however, failed at both conferences; instead a voluntary forum for arbitration, the, was established. Most of the countries present, including the, the , , , and , favored a process for binding international arbitration, but the provision was vetoed by a few countries, led by.

Hague Convention of 1899
The First Hague Conference came from a proposal on 24 August 1898 by. Nicholas and Count, his , were instrumental in initiating the conference. The conference opened on 18 May 1899, the Tsar's birthday. The treaties, declarations, and final act of the conference were signed on 29 July of that year, and they on 4 September 1900. What is referred to as the Hague Convention of 1899 consisted of three main treaties and three additional declarations:
 * (I): Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes
 * This convention included the creation of the, which exists to this day. The section was ratified by all major powers and many smaller powers - 26 signatories in all, including Germany, , Belgium, China, Denmark, Spain, the United States of America, Mexico, France, , Greece, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, , the Netherlands, , Portugal, , , , , , Switzerland, The Ottomans and Bulgaria.


 * (II): Convention with respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land
 * This voluminous convention contains the laws to be used in all wars on land between signatories. It specifies the treatment of prisoners of war, includes the provisions of the for the treatment of the wounded, and forbids the use of poisons, the killing of enemy  who have,  of a town or place, and the attack or  of undefended towns or habitations. Inhabitants of  may not be forced into  against their own country and  is forbidden. The section was ratified by all major powers mentioned above.


 * (III): Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention of 22 August 1864
 * This convention provides for the protection of marked and requires them to treat the wounded and shipwrecked sailors of all belligerent parties. It too was ratified by all major powers.


 * (IV,1): Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons or by Other New Analogous Methods
 * This declaration provides that, for a period of five years, in any war between signatory powers, no projectiles or explosives would be launched from balloons, "or by other new methods of a similar nature." The declaration was ratified by all the major powers mentioned above, except the United Kingdom and the United States.


 * (IV,2): Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Use of Projectiles with the Sole Object to Spread Asphyxiating Poisonous Gases
 * This declaration states that, in any war between signatory powers, the parties will abstain from using projectiles "the sole object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases." Ratified by all major powers, except the United States.


 * (IV,3): Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Use of Bullets which can Easily Expand or Change their Form inside the Human Body such as Bullets with a Hard Covering which does not Completely Cover the Core, or containing Indentations
 * This declaration states that, in any war between signatory powers, the parties will abstain from using " in the human body." This directly banned s (which had a partial metal jacket and an exposed tip) and "cross-tipped" bullets (which had a cross-shaped incision in their tip to aid in expansion, nicknamed "Dum Dums" from the in India). It was ratified by all major powers, except the United States.

Hague Convention of 1907
The Second Hague Conference, in 1907, resulted in conventions containing only few major advancements from the 1899 Convention. However, the meeting of major powers did prefigure later 20th-century attempts at international cooperation.

The second conference was called at the suggestion of U.S. President in 1904, but it was postponed because of the. The Second Peace Conference was held from 15 June to 18 October 1907. The intent of the conference was to expand upon the 1899 Hague Convention by modifying some parts and adding new topics; in particular, the 1907 conference had an increased focus on. The British attempted to secure limitation of armaments, but these efforts were defeated by the other powers, led by Germany, which feared a British attempt to stop the growth of the German fleet. Germany also rejected proposals for compulsory arbitration. However, the conference did enlarge the machinery for voluntary arbitration and established conventions regulating the collection of debts, rules of war, and the rights and obligations of neutrals.

The treaties, declarations, and final act of the Second Conference were signed on 18 October 1907; they entered into force on 26 January 1910. The 1907 Convention consists of thirteen treaties—of which twelve were ratified and entered into force—and one declaration:
 * (I): Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes
 * This convention confirms and expands on Convention (I) of 1899. As of February 2017, this convention is in force for 102 states, and 116 states have ratified one or both of the 1907 Convention (I) and the 1899 Convention (I), which together are the founding documents of the.


 * (II): Convention respecting the Limitation of the Employment of Force for Recovery of Contract Debts
 * '''(III): Convention relative to the Opening of Hostilities
 * This convention sets out the accepted procedure for a state making a.


 * (IV): Convention respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land
 * This convention confirms, with minor modifications, the provisions of Convention (II) of 1899. All major powers ratified it.


 * '''(V): Convention relative to the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in case of War on Land
 * (VI): Convention relative to the Legal Position of Enemy Merchant Ships at the Start of Hostilities
 * (VII): Convention relative to the Conversion of Merchant Ships into War-ships
 * (VIII): Convention relative to the Laying of Automatic Submarine Contact Mines
 * (IX): Convention concerning Bombardment by Naval Forces in Time of War
 * (X): Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva Convention (of 6 July 1906)
 * This convention updated Convention (III) of 1899 to reflect the amendments that had been made to the . Convention (X) was ratified by all major states except the United Kingdom. It was subsequently superseded by.


 * (XI): Convention relative to Certain Restrictions with regard to the Exercise of the Right of Capture in Naval War
 * (XII): Convention relative to the Establishment of an International Prize Court
 * This convention would have established the for the resolution of conflicting claims relating to captured ships during wartime. It is the one convention that never came into force. It was ratified only by.


 * (XIII): Convention concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War
 * (XIV): Declaration Prohibiting the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons
 * This declaration extended the provisions of Declaration (IV,1) of 1899 to the close of the planned Third Peace Conference (which never took place). Among the major powers, this was ratified only by China, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Participants
The Brazilian delegation was led by, whose contributions are seen today by some analysts as essential for the defense of the principle of legal equality of nations. The British delegation included Sir, Sir , the and Sir  as delegates, and  as a technical delegate. The Russian delegation was led by. The an delegation was led by, a defender of the idea of compulsory arbitration.With and ,  was a member of the French delegation for both the 1899 and 1907 delegations. He later won the in 1909 for his efforts. The U.S. representative, with the title of ambassador, was former president.

Geneva Protocol to Hague Conventions
Though not negotiated in The Hague, the to the Hague Conventions is considered an addition to the Conventions. Signed on 17 June 1925 and entering into force on 8 February 1928, its single article permanently bans the use of all forms of and. The protocol grew out of the increasing public outcry against chemical warfare following the use of and similar agents in, and fears that chemical and biological warfare could lead to horrific consequences in any future war. The protocol has since been augmented by the (1972) and the  (1993).

Legacy
Many of the rules laid down at the Hague Conventions were violated in World War I. The, for instance, was a violation of Convention (III) of 1907, which states that hostilities must not commence without explicit warning. was introduced and used by all major belligerents throughout the war, in violation of the Declaration (IV, 2) of 1899 and Convention (IV) of 1907, which explicitly forbade the use of "poison or poisoned weapons".

Writing in 1918, the German international law scholar and   called the assemblies the "international union of Hague conferences". Schücking saw the Hague conferences as a nucleus of a future international federation that was to meet at regular intervals to administer justice and develop international law procedures for the peaceful settlement of disputes, asserting that "a definite political union of the states of the world has been created with the First and Second Conferences".

After, the judges of the military tribunal of the Trial of German Major War Criminals at found that by 1939, the rules laid down in the 1907 Hague Convention were recognised by all civilised nations and were regarded as declaratory of the laws and customs of war. Under this post-war decision, a country did not have to have ratified the 1907 Hague Convention in order to be bound by them.

Although their contents have largely been superseded by other treaties, the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 continue to stand as symbols of the need for restrictions on war and the desirability of avoiding it altogether. Since 2000, Convention (I) of 1907 on the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes has been ratified by 20 additional states.