The Rules of War - The Geneva Convention was signed 60 years ago

60 years ago today, 18 states signed the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of battlefield casualties, prisoners of war and civilians. Now, 194 countries are signatories. The wars in the former Yugoslavia and Soviet Union - not to mention central Africa - in the 1990s showed the Conventions are often more honoured in the breach. But, after the carnage and devastation of the Second World they were once seen as a great breakthrough.