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

A lot of people have pointed out that you do it so the other side does it too, which is correct but there’s something more.

Other countries exist, and while they may not participate in the war they still want the Geneva convention to be followed, so let’s say you’re a country at war, you need to import things from other countries, if you don’t follow those rules the other countries might not want to do business with you and now you’re left worse off because you pissed of a neutral party that was trading with you