Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907

The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 are a series of international treaties and declarations
negotiated at two international peace conferences at The Hague in the Netherlands. The First
Hague Conference was held in 1899 and the Second Hague Conference in 1907. Along with
the Geneva Conventions, the Hague Conventions were among the first formal statements of thelaws
of war and war crimes in the body of secular international law. A third conference was planned for
1914 and later rescheduled for 1915, but it did not take place due to the start of World War I.

History
The Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 were the first multilateral treaties that addressed the
conducts of warfare and were largely based on theLieber Code, which was signed and issued
by U.S. President Abraham Lincoln to the Union Forces of the United States on 24 April 1863, during
the American Civil War. The Lieber Code was the first official comprehensive codified law that set
out regulations for behavior in times of martial law; protection of civilians and civilian property and
punishment of transgression; deserters, prisoners of war, hostages,
and pillaging; partisans;spies; truces and prisoner exchange; parole of former rebel troops; the
conditions of any armistice, and respect for human life; assassination and murder of soldiers or
citizens in hostile territory; and the status of individuals engaged in a state of civil war against the
government. As such, the codes were widely regarded as the best summary of the
first customary laws and customs of war in the 19th century and were welcomed and adopted by
military establishments of other nations. The 1874 Brussels Declaration (which was never adopted
by all major nations) listed 56 articles that drew inspiration from the Lieber Code. [1][2] Much of the
regulations in the Hague Conventions were borrowed heavily from the Lieber Code.

Subject matter
Both conferences included negotiations concerning disarmament, the laws of war and war crimes. A
major effort in both conferences was the creation of a binding international court for compulsory
arbitration to settle international disputes, which was considered necessary to replace the institution
of war. This effort, however, failed at both conferences; instead a voluntary forum for arbitration,
the Permanent Court of Arbitration, was established. Most of the countries present, including
the United States, Britain, Russia, France, China, and Persia, favored a process for binding
international arbitration, but the provision was vetoed by a few countries, led by Germany.

Hague Convention of 1899

The peace conference was proposed on 24 August 1898 by Russian Tsar Nicholas II.[8] Nicholas and
Count Mikhail Nikolayevich Muravyov, his foreign minister, were instrumental in initiating the
conference. The conference opened on 18 May 1899, the Tsar's birthday. The treaties, declarations,
and final act of the conference were signed on 29 July of that year, and they entered into force on 4
September 1900. What is referred to as the Hague Convention of 1899 consisted of three main
treaties and three additional declarations:

Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes

This convention included the creation of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, which exists to this day.
The section was ratified by all major powers, including United States, Great Britain, Austria-Hungary,
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, Japan, and China.

Convention with respect to the Laws and Customs of War on Land

This voluminous convention contains the laws to be used in all wars on land between signatories. It
specifies the treatment of prisoners of war, includes the provisions of the Geneva Convention of
1864 for the treatment of the wounded, and forbids the use of poisons, the killing of
enemy combatants who have surrendered, looting of a town or place, and the attack
or bombardment of undefended towns or habitations. Inhabitants of occupied territories may not be
forced into military service against their own country and collective punishment is forbidden. The
section was ratified by all major powers mentioned above.

Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva
Convention of 22 August 1864

This convention provides for the protection of marked hospital ships and requires them to treat the
wounded and shipwrecked sailors of all belligerent parties. It too was ratified by all major powers.

Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives

from Balloons or by Other New Analogous Methods
This declaration provides that, for a period of five years, in any war between signatory powers, no
projectiles or explosives would be launched from balloons, "or by other new methods of a similar
nature." The declaration was ratified by all the major powers mentioned above, except Great Britain
and the United States.

Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Use of Projectiles with the Sole Object
to Spread Asphyxiating Poisonous Gases
This declaration states that, in any war between signatory powers, the parties will abstain from using
projectiles "the sole object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases." Ratified by
all major powers, except the United States.

Declaration concerning the Prohibition of the Use of Bullets which can Easily Expand
or Change their Form inside the Human Body such as Bullets with a Hard Covering
which does not Completely Cover the Core, or containing Indentations
This declaration states that, in any war between signatory powers, the parties will abstain from using
"bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body." This directly banned "soft-nosed" bullets
(which had a partial metal jacket and an exposed tip) and "cross-tipped" bullets (which had a crossshaped incision in their tip to aid in expansion, nicknamed "Dum Dums" from the Dum Dum
Arsenal in India). It was ratified by all major powers, except the United States.

Hague Convention of 1907

The second conference, in 1907, resulted in conventions containing only few major advancements
from the 1899 Convention. However, the meeting of major powers did prefigure later 20th-century
attempts at international cooperation.
The second conference was called at the suggestion of U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt in 1904,
but it was postponed because of the war between Russia and Japan. The Second Peace
Conference was held from 15 June to 18 October 1907. The intent of the conference was to expand
upon the 1899 Hague Convention by modifying some parts and adding new topics; in particular, the
1907 conference had an increased focus on naval warfare. The British attempted to secure limitation
of armaments, but these efforts were defeated by the other powers, led by Germany, which feared a
British attempt to stop the growth of the German fleet. Germany also rejected proposals for
compulsory arbitration. However, the conference did enlarge the machinery for voluntary arbitration
and established conventions regulating the collection of debts, rules of war, and the rights and
obligations of neutrals.
The treaties, declarations, and final act of the Second Conference were signed on 18 October 1907;
they entered into force on 26 January 1910. The 1907 Convention consists of thirteen treatiesof
which twelve were ratified and entered into forceand one declaration:

Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes

This convention confirms and expands on Convention (I) of 1899. As of 2014, this convention is in
force for 99 states, and 115 states have ratified one or both of the 1907 Convention (I) and the 1899
Convention (I), which together are the founding documents of the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Convention relative to the Opening of Hostilities

This convention sets out the accepted procedure for a state making a declaration of war.

Convention respecting the Laws and Customs of War on Land

This convention confirms, with minor modifications, the provisions of Convention (II) of 1899. All
major powers ratified it.

Convention relative to the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers and Persons in case
of War on Land
Convention relative to the Legal Position of Enemy Merchant Ships at the Start of
Hostilities
Convention relative to the Conversion of Merchant Ships into War-ships
Convention relative to the Laying of Automatic Submarine Contact Mines
Convention concerning Bombardment by Naval Forces in Time of War
Convention for the Adaptation to Maritime Warfare of the Principles of the Geneva
Convention (of 6 July 1906)
This convention updated Convention (III) of 1899 to reflect the amendments that had been made to
the 1864 Geneva Convention. Convention (X) was ratified by all major states except the United
Kingdom. It was subsequently superseded by Second Geneva Convention.

Convention relative to Certain Restrictions with regard to the Exercise of the Right of
Capture in Naval War
Convention relative to the Establishment of an International Prize Court
This convention would have established the International Prize Court for the resolution of conflicting
claims relating to captured ships during wartime. It is the one convention that never came into force.
It was ratified only by Nicaragua.

Convention concerning the Rights and Duties of Neutral Powers in Naval War
Declaration Prohibiting the Discharge of Projectiles and Explosives from Balloons
This declaration extended the provisions of Declaration (IV,1) of 1899 to the close of the planned
Third Peace Conference (which never took place). Among the major powers, this was ratified only by
China, United Kingdom, and the United States.

Participants
The Brazilian delegation was led by Ruy Barbosa, whose contributions are seen today by some
analysts as essential for the defense of the principle of legal equality of nations.The British
delegation included Sir Edward Fry, Sir Ernest Satow, the 11th Lord Reay (Donald James
Mackay) and Sir Henry Howard as delegates, and Eyre Crowe as a technical delegate.The Russian
delegation was led by Fyodor Martens. The Uruguayan delegation was led by Jos Batlle y Ordez,
a defender of the idea of compulsory arbitration. [citation needed]Paul Henri d'Estournelles de Constant was a
member of the French delegation for both the 1899 and 1907 delegations. He later won the Nobel
Peace Prize in 1909 for his efforts.
Korea made a futile effort to take part in the conference, in an incident known as the Hague Secret
Emissary Affair. King Gojong dispatched Yi Jun, Yi Sang-Seol and Yi Wi-Jong as envoys to the
second peace conference, to argue that the Eulsa Treaty was unjust and the Japanese Empire had
used force to absorb the Korean peninsula; the Korean diplomats sought help from the international
society to recover Korea's diplomatic sovereignty. An American missionary, Homer Hulbert, also
travelled to The Hague to argue against the treaty. All four men were denied entry by Japanese and
British forces.
Geneva Protocol to Hague Conventions
Though not negotiated in The Hague, the Geneva Protocol to the Hague Conventions is considered
an addition to the Conventions. Signed on 17 June 1925 and entering into force on 8 February 1928,
its single article permanently bans the use of all forms of chemical and biological warfare. The
protocol grew out of the increasing public outcry against chemical warfare following the use
of mustard gas and similar agents in World War I, and fears that chemical and biological warfare
could lead to horrific consequences in any future war. The protocol has since been augmented by
the Biological Weapons Convention (1972) and the Chemical Weapons Convention (1993).

Legacy
Many of the rules laid down at the Hague Conventions were violated in World War I. The German
invasion of Belgium, for instance, was a violation of Convention (III) of 1907, which states that
hostilities must not commence without explicit warning.[35] Poison gas was introduced by Germany
and was subsequently used against enemy soldiers by all major belligerents throughout the war, in
violation of the Declaration (IV, 2) of 1899 and Convention (IV) of 1907, which explicitly forbade the
use of "poison or poisoned weapons".
Writing in 1918, the German international law scholar and neo-Kantian pacifist Walther
Schcking called the assemblies the "international union of Hague conferences". Schcking saw the
Hague conferences as a nucleus of a future international federation that was to meet at regular
intervals to administer justice and develop international law procedures for the peaceful settlement of
disputes, asserting that "a definite political union of the states of the world has been created with the
First and Second Conferences."
After World War II, the judges of the military tribunal of the Trial of German Major War Criminals
at Nuremberg Trials found that by 1939, the rules laid down in the 1907 Hague Convention were
recognised by all civilised nations and were regarded as declaratory of the laws and customs of war.
Under this post-war decision, a country did not have to have ratified the 1907 Hague Convention in
order to be bound by them.
Although their contents have largely been superseded by other treaties, the Hague Conventions of
1899 and 1907 continue to stand as symbols of the need for restrictions on war and the desirability
of avoiding it altogether. Since 2000, Convention (I) of 1907 on the Pacific Settlement of International
Disputes has been ratified by 20 additional states.
Permanent Court of Arbitration
The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an international organization based in the Peace
Palace, The Hague, the Netherlands. It is not a court, does not have permanent judges, and should
not be confused with the International Court of Justice, a separate institution also in the Peace
Palace. The PCA is a permanent bureaucracy that assists temporary tribunals to resolve disputes
among states (and similar entities), intergovernmental organizations, or even private parties arising
out of international agreements. The cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial
andmaritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and
regional trade.
The court was established in 1899 by the first Hague Peace Conference. The Peace Palace was
built for the Court in 1913 with funds from American steel magnate Andrew Carnegie. Since 1922,
the building has also housed the separate Permanent Court of International Justice, which was
replaced by the International Court of Justice in 1946.
Organization
The PCA is not a court" in the conventional understanding of that term but an administrative
organization with the object of having permanent and readily available means to serve as the
registry for purposes of international arbitration and other related procedures, including commissions
of enquiry and conciliation.[1] The judges or arbitrators that hear cases are officially called "Members"
of the Court.
The public at large is usually more familiar with the International Court of Justice than with the
Permanent Court of Arbitration, partly because of the closed nature of cases handled by the PCA
and also the small number of cases dealt with between 1946 and 1990. Sometimes even the
decision itself is kept confidential at the request of the parties. Many decisions and related
documents are available on the PCA's website. The court's caseload has increased since then.

History
The court is one of the oldest institutions for international dispute resolutions. The court was
established in 1899 by the first Hague Peace Conference under Articles 20 to 29 of the 1899 Hague
Convention for the Pacific Settlement of International Disputes. At the second Hague Peace
Conference, the earlier Convention was revised by the 1907 Convention for the Pacific Settlement of
International Disputes. The Conference was convened at the initiative of Tsar Nicholas II of
Russia "with the object of seeking the most objective means of ensuring to all peoples the benefits of
a real and lasting peace, and above all, of limiting the progressive development of existing
armaments.

Parties
As of November 2015, 119 countries are party to one or both of the founding Conventions of the
PCA.See List of parties to the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907 for a full list of parties, past and
present.
Cases

Pious Fund of the Californias (1902)

Savarkar Case (1911)

Island of Palmas Case (1928)

In the early 1980s, the PCA helped in setting up the administrative services of the IranUnited States Claims Tribunal.
Hanish Islands conflict (1998 and 1999)
Decision Regarding Delimitation of the Border between The State of Eritrea and The Federal
Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (2002) The Eritrea-Ethiopia Boundary Commission was
organized through the Permanent Court of Arbitration.

Iron Rhine (Belgium v. The Netherlands) (2005)

Barbados v. Trinidad and Tobago (2006)

Abyei Arbitration (2009)

Hulley Enterprises Limited (Cyprus), Yukos Universal Limited (Isle of Man) and Veteran
Petroleum Limited (Cyprus) v. The Russian Federation. (2014)

Bay of Bengal Maritime Boundary (Bangladesh v. India) (2014)

Yukos shareholders vs.Russia (July 18, 2014, total award of $50 billion)

Mauritius v United Kingdom (18 March 2015, ruled that the Chagos Marine Protected
Area was illegal)

Philippines v. China (pending)

CroatiaSlovenia border disputes (pending)

Enrica Lexie case Italy V. India (pending)

CroatiaSlovenia border-disputes scandal

On 22 July 2015, a scandal occurred during the arbitration of CroatiaSlovenia border disputes. A
Croatian daily newspaper reported that it had transcripts and audio recordings of a Slovenian judge

on the arbitration panel consulting with a case representative of the Slovenian government, Simona
Drenik. According to these documents, the Slovenian judge leaked secret communication to
Slovenia and pressured the other panel members (Gilbert Guillaume (France), Bruno
Simma (Germany) and Vaughan Lowe (UK)) to rule in Slovenia's favor. While there is some
evidence that information was leaked (e.g. when the Slovenian minister of foreign affairs, Karl
Erjavec, disclosed confidential information about a decision), the court's internal investigation
showed no leak occurred. On 23 July 2015, Jernej Sekolec resigned, and a day later, Simona Drenik
resigned. On 28 July 2015 Slovenia appointed Ronny Abraham, the president of International Court
of Justice as its choice on arbitration panel. On 29 July 2015, the Croatian parliament voted
unanimously to begin the cancellation of the arbitration agreement. Eight days later, Ronny Abraham
also resigned from this arbitration case.