Question: Richard Reeve Baxter, was a widely published American jurist and from what year, until his death the preeminent figure on the law of war, was a leading representative of the U.S. at the Geneva conferences that concluded the Protocols to the Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war?

Context articles: Geneva Conventions
Richard Reeve Baxter
Irish Red Cross
Army Medical Service (Germany)
Jean Pictet
Protected persons
Third Geneva Convention
Fourth Geneva Convention
Roberto Ago
International humanitarian law

The Geneva Conventions comprise four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish the standards of international law for humanitarian treatment in war.
 The singular term "Geneva Convention" usually denotes the agreements of 1949, negotiated in the aftermath of the Second World War (1939–45), which updated the terms of the two 1929 treaties, and added two new conventions.
 The Geneva Conventions extensively defined the basic rights of wartime prisoners (civilians and military personnel); established protections for the wounded and sick; and established protections for the civilians in and around a war-zone.
 The treaties of 1949 were ratified, in whole or with reservations, by 196 countries.
 Moreover, the Geneva Convention also defines the rights and protections afforded to non-combatants, yet, because the Geneva Conventions are about people in war, the articles do not address warfare proper—the use of weapons of war—which is the subject of the Hague Conventions (First Hague Conference, 1899; Second Hague Conference 1907), and the bio-chemical warfare Geneva Protocol (Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or other Gasses, and of Bacteriological Methods of Warfare, 1925).
Richard Reeve Baxter (14 February 1921 – 25 September 1980) was a widely published American jurist and from 1950 until his death the preeminent figure on the law of war.
 Baxter served as a judge on the International Court of Justice (1979–1980), as a professor of law at Harvard University (1954 - 1979) and as an enlisted man and officer in the U.S. Army (1942–46,1948–54).
 He is noted for consistently favoring moves that enhanced the protections afforded to those injured or threatened by armed conflict.
 Baxter authored the 1956 revision of the " U.S. Army Manual on the Law of Land Warfare " (FM27-10 ) and was a leading representative of the U.S. at the Geneva conferences that concluded the Protocols to the Geneva Conventions on the Laws of War.
 Baxter also, at the time of his death, was the preeminent scholar on the law of international waterways.
 He died of cancer one year into his term as a judge of the International Court of Justice.
The Irish Red Cross Society was formally established by nurse Elizabeth O'Herrin of Dublin City Hospital on 1 July 1939 under the terms of the Red Cross Act 1938.
 Its constitution is based on the Geneva Conventions of 1949, their additional Protocols of 1977 and 2005 (the Geneva Conventions), to which Ireland is a party, Acts of the Oireachtas and relevant provisions of the international Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
The Army Medical Service (German: "Sanitätsdienst Heer" or "Sanitätsdienst des Heeres") is a non-combat specialty branch of the German Army traditionally responsible for providing medical services within the army, and which has a humanitarian function during armed conflicts in accordance with international humanitarian law, and specific rights and responsibilities under the Geneva Conventions, their additional protocols and customary international humanitarian law.
 It is entitled under international humanitarian law to use the red cross as a protective sign and its personnel are protected persons under international humanitarian law.
 Since 2002, most of its former responsibilities have been transferred to the Joint Medical Service.
Jean Simon Pictet (born 2 September 1914, dec. 30 March 2002) was a Swiss citizen, jurist, legal practitioner and honorary doctorate with a profound knowledge of international humanitarian law.
 First as a secretary-jurist, and then as a senior executive and Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Pictet was instrumental in drafting the 1949 Geneva Conventions for the protection of victims of war, their Commentaries, and negotiating the 1977 Additional Protocols (Protocol I and Protocol II).
 He also proposed the Red Cross Movement’s seven Fundamental Principles, which were adopted at Vienna in 1965: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Unity and Universality.
 In 1989, an international humanitarian law competition for students was founded and named after him.
Protected persons is a legal term under international humanitarian law and refers to persons who are under specific protection of the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols during an armed conflict.
 They include medical personnel and others carrying out humanitarian work, the sick or wounded, shipwrecked persons not taking part in hostilities, prisoners of war and other detained persons, and civilians, who are all regarded as non-combatants under international humanitarian law.
 Violating the protection of "protected persons" is a war crime.
The Third Geneva Convention, relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions.
 The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War was first adopted in 1929, but significantly revised at the 1949 conference.
 It defines humanitarian protections for prisoners of war.
 There are 196 state parties to the Convention.
The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions.
 It was adopted in August 1949.
 While the first three conventions dealt with combatants, the Fourth Geneva Convention was the first to deal with humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone.
 There are currently 196 countries party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including this and the other three treaties.
Roberto Ago (May 26, 1907 – February 24, 1995) was an Italian jurist.
 He served as a judge on the International Court of Justice from 1979 until 1995.
 Ago served as Professor of International Law at the Universities of Catania (1934–1935), Genoa (1935–1938), and finally Rome (1956–1982).
 He specialized in both private and public international law.
 He gave his first Hague Academy lecture in 1936 at the age of twenty-eight, on general conflict of laws rules.
 He also gave lectures at the Hague Academy in 1939, 1956, 1971, and 1983, on topics ranging from international torts to the Grotian conception of international law.
 He also served as Chairman of the Hague Academy Curatorium for the last 20 years of his life.
 In 1970 Ago was awarded honorary membership in the American Society of International Law.
 He served as a delegate to international conferences on the law of the sea and on diplomatic relations.
 In addition, Ago presided over the Vienna Conference on the Law of Treaties from 1968 to 1969.
 He also acted as counsel for several governments appearing before the International Court of Justice.
 He was a member of the International Law Commission from 1956 to 1979 and served as its chairman from 1964 to 1965.
 Former ICJ judge Stephen M. Schwebel said that Ago, through his work with the International Law Commission, had an "extended and preeminent" role in the codification work of the International Law Commission.
 He also worked closely with the International Labour Organization, twice presiding over the ILO Governing Body.
 For the last thirty-five years of his life, Ago chaired the ILO Committee on Freedom of Association.
 Ago was also an active member of the Institut du Droit International from 1932 until his death, serving as its President from 1992 to 1993.
International humanitarian law (IHL) is the law that regulates the conduct of war ("jus in bello").
 It is that branch of international law which seeks to limit the effects of armed conflict by protecting persons who are not participating in hostilities, and by restricting and regulating the means and methods of warfare available to combatants. IHL is inspired by considerations of humanity and the mitigation of human suffering.
 "It comprises a set of rules, established by treaty or custom, that seeks to protect persons and property/objects that are (or may be) affected by armed conflict and limits the rights of parties to a conflict to use methods and means of warfare of their choice".
 It includes "the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law".
 It defines the conduct and responsibilities of belligerent nations, neutral nations, and individuals engaged in warfare, in relation to each other and to "protected persons", usually meaning non-combatants.
 It is designed to balance humanitarian concerns and military necessity, and subjects warfare to the rule of law by limiting its destructive effect and mitigating human suffering.