Short answers, pulled from the story.
Henry Dunant wrote the book A Memory of Solferino two years after walking the fields of Solferino in 1859. His text described the suffering he witnessed with raw detail and sparked a movement for change.
Governments signed their first agreement on the 22nd of August 1864 to protect wounded soldiers on battlefields. This document replaced earlier versions from 1864 and 1906 and formed the basis for modern humanitarian law.
The 1949 Geneva Conventions consist of four distinct treaties covering sick and wounded field soldiers, sailors wounded or shipwrecked at sea, prisoners of war, and civilians living near conflict zones. All four agreements were ratified by 196 countries by the end of the twentieth century.
The Supreme Court ruled against President George W. Bush in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld to confirm that Common Article Three applies to detainees in the War on Terror. France and Britain opposed this article during negotiations in 1949 but international tribunals later clarified these rules apply to civil wars like the Algerian War.
Peter Maurer spoke at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies on the 13th of March 2019 calling for tailor-made rules to protect civilians on future front lines. Advisors Tilman Rodenhäuser and Mauro Vignati proposed engagement rules for civilian hackers in 2023 to prevent attacks on essential infrastructure.