ABSTRACT
In 1977, two Additional Protocols were drafted to supplement the 1949 Conventions. The First Protocol that dealt with international armed conflict, conflict between States, contained an innovative proposal. It established an independent Commission, now called the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission, which could act as a further option to the enquiries envisaged under the Conventions themselves. In fact, it took some time for the Commission to come formally into existence as the Protocol requires that States not merely ratify the Protocol itself but also submit a specific declaration to sign up to the Commission. It needed 20 such declarations before it could come into existence and that only occurred in 1991.
