9 The Documents by the World Medical Association (WMA)

Abstract

In attempts to qualify and interpret the reference to medical ethics in articles of Additional Protocols (AP), most legal scholars and national medical associations refer to the documents of the World Medical Association (WMA). When discussing the explicit reference to medical ethics in articles of AP, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Commentary refers to documents by the WMA, namely the Declaration of Geneva (1948), the International Code of Medical Ethics (1949), the Regulations in Times of Armed Conflict (1956), and the Rules to ensure Aid and Care for the Wounded and Sick, particularly in Time of Armed Conflict (1962). In the analysis of article of AP I, the relevant documents are largely reproduced in the footnotes. As 'duties defined by the international corps of the medical profession', the Commentary refers to them as the international counterpart to the rules 'decreed by the medical corps of a State'.Keywords: Additional Protocols; ICRC; international corps of medical profession; medical ethics; World Medical Association (WMA)