Date

Jun 10, 1974

Description

This report by the U.S. delegation gives perspective on how the “Diplomatic Conference” did its work in the opening months. Aldrich’s confidential discussion explained how the U.S. prevailed on the PRG issue, in part by not objecting to the seating of other “national liberation movements,” which conciliated African and Arab delegations enough to not support the PRG. While Aldrich saw a “politicization” of the conference, with developing countries voting as a bloc to force through a text “applying Protocol 1 to wars of national liberation,” he believed that some delegations, such as Egypt’s, could prove “helpful in getting other states in the same camp off their more extreme positions.” Not sure whether “many states are really serious about drawing up new humanitarian law and in becoming parties to the resulting treaties,” Aldrich believed that it would be “necessary for the United States to consider what advantages and disadvantages may lie in participation in the second session of the Conference and whether it would wish to become a party to the Protocols.”

Source

U.S. Department of State, Foreign Relations of the United States, Volume E-3, Documents on Global Issues, 1973–1976 (Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 2009), Document 235; U.S. National Archives, Department of State Records, Record Group (RG) 59, 1974 P-Reels, Box 100A

Document published in following posting(s):

Nuclear Weapons and the Law of War

Jun 6, 2023

“Executive Summary of a Classified Report of the U.S. Delegation to the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law Applicable in Armed Conflicts,” Confidential, with Unclassified report attached, June 10, 1974, Excerpt