eli5 How does the Geneva convention work? How can it be enforced if nations are already at war? What incentive do armies have for following it?

Question

I mean there are no referees on the battlefield.

In: 3

Answer 1

Generally it’s basically a formal honor code during the war, in the event there is a ‘winner’ to a conflict, the victor sometimes is in a position to hold people accountable, and the international criminal court can hypothetically pursue charges against any individual that enters a country that honors their jurisdiction, but if a person were to commit war crimes then hide out in some country that both denies international courts and denies extradition, and doesn’t care you did warcrimes, then yeah theirs not much that can be done short of holding a trial in absentia and then violating the harboring countries borders and abducting the individual.