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In 1947, Henri George published and sick in the armed forces (Article white background became the em-
a book entitled Modern War and 23 of the First Red Cross Convention) blem of the Geneva Zones and ICDO
Civilian Protection with the following protected by the Red Cross Emblem up until 1998.
reference: "published by the Gene- and envisaged, on the other hand,
ral Secretariat of the 'Geneva Zones' that "hospital and safety zones and lo- The International Conference concer-
International Association for the Pro- calities are organized so as to protect ned with the problem of protecting
tection of Civilian Populations and from the effects of war, wounded, and civilian populations in wartime by
Historic Buildings in Wartime or sick and aged persons, invalids, chil- the creation and recognition of neu-
Armed Conflicts". The goal of this dren under fifteen, expectant mothers tral zones and open cities was held in
book was to attract public opinion, but and mothers of children under seven" Berlin in 1954. In the annals of ICDO
in particular it represented a prelimi- (Article 14 of the Fourth Convention). this meeting later became known as
nary draft of an International Conven- These safety zones were to be protec- the "First World Civil Defence Confe-
tion on the creation of "safety areas" ted by a new emblem consisting of two rence". Following the resolutions
known as "Geneva Zones". oblique red bands (Article 6 of Annex adopted at the Berlin conference, the
i). The two oblique red bands on a International Association attempted
The ideas and principles developed
by Saint-Paul formed the basis of
the documents presented at the Ge-
neva Diplomatic Conference held in
that city from May to August 1949.
During this Conference the first three
Geneva Conventions were revised and
a fourth concerning the protection
of civilian persons in wartime was
adopted. The draft Convention of the
"Geneva Zones" envisaged the crea-
tion during wartime of vast zones for
the protection of historic or artistic
sites, monuments and even cities,
which, at the same time, could be used
as refuges for the wounded, as well as
some civilian categories such as wo-
men, children, sick and aged persons,
and the handicapped. The Diplomatic
Conference itself divided the draft into
two distinct parts. It ratified, on the
one hand, the existence of "hospital
zones and localities" for the wounded

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