Women prisoners and the limits of humanitarian intervention: the International Committee of the Red Cross and the Irish civil war

Journal article

In 1921 the international conference of the Red Cross movement passed a resolution expanding its remit to encompass humanitarian intervention in civil wars on behalf of detainees. Buoyed by successes in post-war Eastern Europe, delegates hoped that Red Cross expertise could override state sovereignty and uphold international conventions in the interest of the individual. These efforts were met with resistance and the resolution has been viewed as part of a learning curve, paving the way for Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions. Less attention has been paid to how this shift in the activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was received on the ground, the impact of ICRC inspections on imprisoned individuals, and the reception of the 1921 resolution by insurgents engaged in civil wars—both men and women. Between December 1922 and August 1923 multiple delegations of Irish women travelled to Geneva advocating for humanitarian intervention in the Irish civil war. This article traces their efforts and the response of the ICRC, which resulted in a visit to prisons in Ireland in spring 1923. Through a granular perspective of the grass-roots deployment of ideas of rights and humanity in civil war, it highlights the limited ability of the ICRC to intervene in internal conflicts, its dismissal of bodily suffering and torture and the efforts of both the ICRC and insurgents to grapple with the anomalous position of women detained as combatants under international humanitarian law.

Authors: Brazil, L

• Publication status: Published
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Journal: English Historical Review
• Volume: 140
• Issue: 602
• Pages: 134–162
• Publication date: 2025-03-13
• Acceptance date: 2024-04-18
• DOI: 10.1093/ehr/ceaf026
• EISSN: 1477-4534
• ISSN: 0013-8266
• Language: English