Emergence of Conflict Witnesses

This chapter examines the genesis of international NGOs and organizations that document violations of international law during armed conflict. The Geneva Conventions, established in 1949, initially lacked a robust system to monitor their implementation. However, with the emergence of NGOs in the 1970s that investigated and denounced human rights abuses, they formed a global network and began investigating and denouncing violations of international humanitarian law along with human rights law. The rapid evolution of these humanitarian networks was evident during the conflicts in Central and South America during the 1980s. This chapter examines the establishment of Human Rights Watch and the El Salvador conflict as specific examples. Concurrently, the United Nations developed a systematic function to investigate violations of humanitarian law along with human rights abuses. The Commission on Human Rights (CHR), which assumed this responsibility, initially addressed the issue of occupied territories in the context of the Third Arab-Israeli War. Subsequently, the United Nations enhanced its capacity to investigate violations of humanitarian law through the establishment of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the reorganization of the CHR into the Human Rights Council.