![]() Since the Second World War, the international community has witnessed the appearance of new kinds of conflicts. Methods and means of warfare have become increasingly sophisticated. Conflicts opposing regular armed forces and irregular combatants are more frequent. In modern warfare, losses are much more severe among civilians, including children. A Diplomatic Conference was held from 1974 to 1977, whose aim was to supplement and develop international humanitarian law by taking into account this evolution. At the close of this Conference in 1977, the two Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions were adopted. These instruments considerably improve the protection of civilian population and, consequently, that of children. The new provisions of both Protocol I, applicable during international armed conflicts, and Protocol II, relating to non-international armed conflicts, reaffirm and develop those of the Fourth Geneva Convention. The results of the ICRC's efforts in this field led to the adoption of the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war. From that time on, children, as members of the civilian population, were entitled to benefit from the application of that Convention. Moreover, the first international humanitarian law regulations concerning armed conflicts not of an international character, contained in article 3, common to the four 1949 Geneva Conventions, were drawn up at the 1949 Diplomatic Conference. Here again, children were protected, in the same way as all " persons taking no active part in the hostilities ". ![]() ![]() The legal protection of children was introduced into international humanitarian law after the Second World War. Experience during that conflict had, in fact, pointed to the urgent need to draw up an instrument of public international law for protecting civilian population in wartime. ![]()
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