Sixty years ago, 64 countries signed the Geneva Conventions which lay out laws to protect wounded combatants, prisoners of war and civilians during war.

In 1949 the world was trying to recover from the horrors of World War Two.

Since then all of the world's 194 countries have signed at least some part of the Geneva Conventions. And there have been plenty of opportunities to see whether the conventions work in practice.

In The Huffington Post, Oxfam International spokesman Louis Belanger said that although the Geneva Conventions had been undermined in recent wars, they were still a vital cornerstone for humanitarian law.

"In light of this it would be easy to say that the Conventions have failed," Belanger wrote after listing a series of cases where governments had broken the Conventions.

"This attitude is intellectually lazy and deeply unhelpful. We should react to their endemic violations with anger and determination, not resignation."

In London’s Guardian newspaper, the head of the British Red Cross Nick Young said the conventions were important to limit the atrocities of war, a point also made by the Daily Telegraph .

"The fact that the rules are broken does not mean they should be dispensed with. The Conventions still provide a benchmark for proper behaviour in circumstances that otherwise make brutality easy," the Telegraph wrote in an editorial.

But as this Reuters AlertNet story pointed out, most people in the world’s most violent places either don't know the Geneva Conventions exist or believe they are not effective.

Australian broadcaster ABC carried a story on its Web site which said that 40 percent of people believe its acceptable  to torture an enemy soldier to obtain important military information – clearly against the Geneva Convention.

"The survey of over 1,000 people by the Australian Red Cross found two in five believed torturing to obtain important military information was OK, even though most knew it was illegal," the story stated.

In the Philippines, the Business Mirror newspaper used the 60th anniversary of the Geneva Conventions to reflect on the bravery of aid workers and to call on the conventions to be updated.

"Beyond August 12, it’s a good time to remember the unsung heroes of war and disaster—if we could only break away, briefly, from the lure of destructive politics," the newspaper writes.

And Jakob Kellenberger, the head of International Committee of the Red Cross which acts as the conventions' guardian, said that they where as relevant now as they were 60 years ago.

"Sixty years ago, the Geneva Conventions were born out of the horrors experienced by millions of people during the Second World War and its aftermath," he said.

"The essential spirit of the Geneva Conventions – to uphold human life and dignity even in the midst of armed conflict – is as important now as it was 60 years ago."

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