Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions
Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions (also Additional Protocol I or AP I) is a 1977 amendment or optional protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 1949 concerning the protection of civilian victims of international armed conflicts (including "armed conflicts in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination, alien occupation or racist regimes"). In practice, Additional Protocol I reaffirmed the international rules of war stipulated in the 1907 Hague Regulations and the four 1949 Geneva Conventions to accommodate developments of warfare since World War II.
As of June 2025, Additional Protocol I has been ratified by 175 states. The United States, Iran and Pakistan signed the protocol on 12 December 1977, but never ratified it. Israel, India and Turkey have not signed the protocol.
Some, but not all, of the provisions of the 1977 Additional Protocol I, “have obtained recognition as customary law.”