Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea. Geneva, 12 August 1949.

ARTICLE 59 . -- ACCESSION

Accession is the method by which any Power which has not signed the Convention may become party to it.

No limitation or condition is imposed except that the Convention must have already entered into force. The invitation is [p.279] addressed to all States, whether or not they are parties to one of the earlier Conventions. The Geneva Conventions, which draw their strength from their universality, are treaties open to all (1).

Accession is exactly the same in its effects as ratification, to which it is equivalent in all respects.

An accession can, however, take place only after the entry into force of the Convention, that is to say six months after the first two instruments of ratification have been deposited. The Convention has thus been open to accession since October 21, 1950.

* (1) [(1) p.279] The Geneva Convention of 1906, however, gave

all Contracting Powers the right to oppose the accession

of any other Power (Article 32, paragraph 3);