IV
GENEVA CONVENTION
RELATIVE TO THE PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS
IN TIME OF WAR OF 12 AUGUST 1949
PART I
General Provisions
Article 1 Respect for the Convention ....................................................... 169
Article 2 Application of the Convention .................................................. 169
Article 3 Conflicts not of an international character ............................... 169
Article 4 Definition of protected persons ................................................ 170
Article 5 Derogations................................................................................ 171
Article 6 Beginning and end of application ............................................. 171
Article 7 Special agreements..................................................................... 171
Article 8 Non-renunciation of rights........................................................ 172
Article 9 Protecting Powers ...................................................................... 172
Article 10 Activities of the International Committee of the Red Cross .... 172
Article 11 Substitutes for Protecting Powers .............................................. 172
Article 12 Conciliation procedure.............................................................. 173
PART II
General Protection of Populations against certain Consequences ofWar
Article 13 Field of application of Part II..................................................... 174
Article 14 Hospital and safety zones and localities.................................... 174
Article 15 Neutralized zones....................................................................... 174
Article 16 Wounded and sick: I.General protection.................................. 175
Article 17 II. Evacuation ............................................................................. 175
Article 18 III. Protection of hospitals ......................................................... 175
Article 19 IV.Discontinuance of protection of hospitals........................... 176
Article 20 V.Hospital staff .......................................................................... 176
Article 21 VI. Land and sea transport ........................................................ 176
Article 22 VII. Air transport ....................................................................... 177
Article 23 Consignments of medical supplies, food and clothing............. 177
Article 24 Measures relating to child welfare ............................................. 178
Article 25 Family news................................................................................ 178
Article 26 Dispersed families...................................................................... 178
PART III
Status and Treatment of Protected Persons
SECTION I – Provisions common to the Territories of
the Parties to the Conflict and to Occupied Territories
Article 27 Treatment: I. General observations ........................................... 179
Article 28 II. Danger zones ......................................................................... 179
Article 29 III. Responsibilities .................................................................... 180
Article 30 Application to Protecting Powers and relief organizations....... 180
Article 31 Prohibition of coercion.............................................................. 180
Article 32 Prohibition of corporal punishment, torture, etc...................... 180
Article 33 Individual responsibility, collective penalties, pillage, reprisals 180
Article 34 Hostages ..................................................................................... 180
SECTION II – Aliens in the Territory of a Party to the Conflict
Article 35 Right to leave the territory......................................................... 181
Article 36 Method of repatriation .............................................................. 181
Article 37 Persons in confinement ............................................................. 181
Article 38 Non-repatriated persons: I. General observations.................... 182
Article 39 II.Means of existence................................................................. 182
Article 40 III.Employment......................................................................... 182
Article 41 IV.Assigned residence. Internment ........................................... 183
Article 42 V.Grounds for internment or assigned residence.
Voluntary internment ................................................................ 183
Article 43 VI. Procedure ............................................................................. 183
Article 44 VII. Refugees .............................................................................. 184
Article 45 VIII. Transfer to another Power................................................. 184
Article 46 Cancellation of restrictive measures.......................................... 184
SECTION III – Occupied Territories
Article 47 Inviolability of rights ................................................................. 185
Article 48 Special cases of repatriation ...................................................... 185
Article 49 Deportations, transfers, evacuations ......................................... 185
Article 50 Children ..................................................................................... 186
Article 51 Enlistment. Labour .................................................................... 186
Article 52 Protection of workers................................................................. 187
Article 53 Prohibited destruction............................................................... 187
Article 54 Judges and public officials ......................................................... 187
Article 55 Food and medical supplies for the population ......................... 187
Article 56 Hygiene and public health ......................................................... 188
Article 57 Requisition of hospitals ............................................................. 188
Article 58 Spiritual assistance..................................................................... 188
Article 59 Relief: I. Collective relief ............................................................ 188
164 CONTENTS
Article 60 II. Responsibilities of the Occupying Power ............................ 189
Article 61 III. Distribution.......................................................................... 189
Article 62 IV. Individual relief..................................................................... 189
Article 63 National Red Cross and other relief societies ........................... 189
Article 64 Penal legislation: I. General observations.................................. 190
Article 65 II. Publication............................................................................. 190
Article 66 III. Competent courts ................................................................ 190
Article 67 IV.Applicable provisions ........................................................... 190
Article 68 V. Penalties. Death penalty......................................................... 191
Article 69 VI.Deduction from sentence of period spent under arrest...... 191
Article 70 VII. Offences committed before occupation............................. 191
Article 71 Penal procedure: I. General observations.................................. 192
Article 72 II. Right of defence..................................................................... 192
Article 73 III. Right of appeal ..................................................................... 193
Article 74 IV.Assistance by the Protecting Power...................................... 193
Article 75 V. Death sentence ....................................................................... 193
Article 76 Treatment of detainees
............................................................... 194
Article 77 Handing over of detainees at the close of occupation .............. 194
Article 78 Security measures. Internment and assigned residence.
Right of appeal ........................................................................... 194
SECTION IV – Regulations for the Treatment of Internees
CHAPTER I – GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 79 Cases of internment and applicable provisions ........................ 195
Article 80 Civil capacity.............................................................................. 195
Article 81 Maintenance............................................................................... 195
Article 82 Grouping of internees................................................................ 195
CHAPTER II – PLACES OF INTERNMENT
Article 83 Location of places of internment.Marking of camps ............... 196
Article 84 Separate internment................................................................... 196
Article 85 Accommodation, hygiene .......................................................... 196
Article 86 Premises for religious services................................................... 197
Article 87 Canteens..................................................................................... 197
Article 88 Air raid shelters. Protective measures........................................ 198
CHAPTER III – FOOD AND CLOTHING
Article 89 Food ........................................................................................... 198
Article 90 Clothing...................................................................................... 198
CHAPTER IV – HYGIENE AND MEDICAL ATTENTION
Article 91 Medical attention ....................................................................... 199
CONTENTS 165
Article 92 Medical inspections ................................................................... 199
CHAPTER V – RELIGIOUS, INTELLECTUAL AND PHYSICAL ACTIVITIES
Article 93 Religious duties .......................................................................... 200
Article 94 Recreation, study, sports and games.......................................... 200
Article 95 Working conditions ................................................................... 201
Article 96 Labour detachments .................................................................. 201
CHAPTER VI – PERSONAL PROPERTY AND FINANCIAL RESOURCES
Article 97 Valuables and personal effects ................................................... 202
Article 98 Financial resources and individual accounts ............................ 203
CHAPTER VII –ADMINISTRATION AND DISCIPLINE
Article 99 Camp administration.
Posting of the Convention and of orders .................................. 203
Article 100 General discipline ...................................................................... 204
Article 101 Complaints and petitions .......................................................... 204
Article 102 Internee committees: I. Election of members .......................... 204
Article 103 II. Duties..................................................................................... 205
Article 104 III. Prerogatives .......................................................................... 205
CHAPTER VIII – RELATIONS WITH THE EXTERIOR
Article 105 Notification of measures taken.................................................. 205
Article 106 Internment card ......................................................................... 206
Article 107 Correspondence......................................................................... 206
Article 108 Relief shipments: I. General principles...................................... 206
Article 109 II. Collective relief ...................................................................... 207
Article 110 III. Exemption from postal and transport charges ................... 207
Article 111 Special means of transport ........................................................ 208
Article 112 Censorship and examination..................................................... 208
Article 113 Execution and transmission of legal documents ...................... 209
Article 114 Management of property........................................................... 209
Article 115 Facilities for preparation and conduct of cases......................... 209
Article 116 Visits........................................................................................... 209
CHAPTER IX – PENAL AND DISCIPLINARY SANCTIONS
Article 117 General provisions.Applicable legislation ................................ 209
Article 118 Penalties ..................................................................................... 210
Article 119 Disciplinary punishments.......................................................... 210
Article 120 Escapes ....................................................................................... 210
Article 121 Connected offences.................................................................... 211
Article 122 Investigations. Confinement awaiting hearing.......................... 211
166 CONTENTS
Article 123 Competent authorities. Procedure............................................. 211
Article 124 Premises for disciplinary punishments ..................................... 212
Article 125 Essential safeguards ................................................................... 212
Article 126 Provisions applicable to judicial proceedings ........................... 212
CHAPTER X – TRANSFERS OF INTERNEES
Article 127 Conditions.................................................................................. 213
Article 128 Method....................................................................................... 213
CHAPTER XI – DEATHS
Article 129 Wills. Death certificates ............................................................. 214
Article 130 Burial. Cremation....................................................................... 214
Article 131 Internees killed or injured in special circumstances................. 215
CHAPTER XII – RELEASE, REPATRIATION AND ACCOMMODATION IN
NEUTRAL COUNTRIES
Article 132 During hostilities or occupation ............................................... 215
Article 133 After the close of hostilities ....................................................... 215
Article 134 Repatriation and return to last place of residence .................... 216
Article 135 Costs........................................................................................... 216
SECTION V – Information Bureaux and Central Agency
Article 136 National Bureaux ....................................................................... 216
Article 137 Transmission of information..................................................... 217
Article 138 Particulars required ................................................................... 217
Article 139 Forwarding of personal valuables.............................................. 217
Article 140 Central Agency........................................................................... 218
Article 141 Exemption from charges........................................................... 218
PART IV
Execution of the Convention
SECTION I – General Provisions
Article 142 Relief societies and other organizations.................................... 219
Article 143 Supervision ................................................................................ 219
Article 144 Dissemination of the Convention ............................................. 220
Article 145 Translations. Rules of application.............................................. 220
Article 146 Penal sanctions: I.General observations................................... 220
Article 147 II.Grave breaches....................................................................... 221
Article 148 III. Responsibilities of the Contracting Parties ......................... 221
Article 149 Enquiry procedure..................................................................... 221
CONTENTS 167
SECTION II – Final Provisions
Article 150 Languages................................................................................... 221
Article 151 Signature .................................................................................... 222
Article 152 Ratification................................................................................. 222
Article 153 Coming into force ...................................................................... 222
Article 154 Relation with the Hague Conventions....................................... 222
Article 155 Accession.................................................................................... 222
Article 156 Notification of accessions .......................................................... 222
Article 157 Immediate effect ........................................................................ 222
Article 158 Denunciation ............................................................................. 223
Article 159 Registration with the United Nations........................................ 223
ANNEX I
Draft Agreement relating to Hospital and Safety Zones and Localities............ 224
ANNEX II
Draft Regulations concerning Collective Relief................................................. 227
ANNEX III
I. Internment Card.............................................................................................. 229
II. Letter .............................................................................................................. 230
III. Correspondence Card .................................................................................. 231
168 CONTENTS
IV
GENEVA CONVENTION
RELATIVE TO THE PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN
PERSONS IN TIME OF WAR OF 12 AUGUST 1949
PART I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Article 1. — The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect
and to ensure respect for the present Convention in all
circumstances.
ART. 2. — In addition to the provisions which shall be
implemented in peacetime, the present Convention shall apply to all
cases of declared war or of any other armed conflict which may arise
between two or more of the High Contracting Parties, even if the
state of war is not recognized by one of them.
The Convention shall also apply to all cases of partial or total
occupation of the territory of a High Contracting Party, even if the
said occupation meets with no armed resistance.
Although one of the Powers in conflict may not be a party to the
present Convention, the Powers who are parties thereto shall remain
bound by it in their mutual relations. They shall furthermore be
bound by the Convention in relation to the said Power, if the latter
accepts and applies the provisions thereof.
ART. 3. — In the case of armed conflict not of an international
character occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting
Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a
minimum, the following provisions:
1) Persons taking no active part in the hostilities, including
members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and
those placed hors de combat by sickness, wounds, detention,
or any other cause, shall in all circumstances be treated
Respect
for the
Convention1
Application
of the
Convention
Conflicts
not of an
international
character
1 The marginal notes or titles of articles have been drafted by the Swiss Federal
Department of Foreign Affairs.
humanely, without any adverse distinction founded on race,
colour, religion or faith, sex, birth or wealth, or any other
similar criteria.
To this end, the following acts are and shall remain prohibited
at any time and in any place whatsoever with respect to
the above-mentioned persons:
a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all
kinds,mutilation, cruel treatment and torture;
b) taking of hostages;
c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating
and degrading treatment;
d) the passing of sentences and the carrying out of
executions without previous judgment pronounced by a
regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial
guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by
civilized peoples.
2) The wounded and sick shall be collected and cared for.
An impartial humanitarian body, such as the International
Committee of the Red Cross, may offer its services to the Parties to
the conflict.
The Parties to the conflict should further endeavour to bring into
force, by means of special agreements, all or part of the other
provisions of the present Convention.
The application of the preceding provisions shall not affect the
legal status of the Parties to the conflict.
ART. 4. — Persons protected by the Convention are those who at
a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find themselves, in
case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of persons a Party to
the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals.
Nationals of a State which is not bound by the Convention are not
protected by it. Nationals of a neutral State who find themselves in
the territory of a belligerent State, and nationals of a co-belligerent
State, shall not be regarded as protected persons while the State of
which they are nationals has normal diplomatic representation in
the State in whose hands they are.
The provisions of Part II are, however, wider in application, as
defined in Article 13.
Persons protected by the Geneva Convention for the
Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed
Forces in the Field of August 12, 1949, or by the Geneva Convention
for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and
Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea of August 12, 1949,
170 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Definition of
protected
persons
or by the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners
of War of August 12, 1949, shall not be considered as protected
persons within the meaning of the present Convention.
ART. 5. — Where, in the territory of a Party to the conflict, the
latter is satisfied that an individual protected person is definitely
suspected of or engaged in activities hostile to the security of the
State, such individual person shall not be entitled to claim such
rights and privileges under the present Convention as would, if
exercised in the favour of such individual person, be prejudicial to
the security of such State.
Where in occupied territory an individual protected person is
detained as a spy or saboteur,or as a person under definite suspicion
of activity hostile to the security of the Occupying Power, such
person shall, in those cases where absolute military security so
requires, be regarded as having forfeited rights of communication
under the present Convention.
In each case, such persons shall nevertheless be treated with
humanity, and in case of trial, shall not be deprived of the rights of
fair and regular trial prescribed by the present Convention.They shall
also be granted the full rights and privileges of a protected person
under the present Convention at the earliest date consistent with the
security of the State or Occupying Power, as the case may be.
ART. 6. — The present Convention shall apply from the outset of
any conflict or occupation mentioned in Article 2.
In the territory of Parties to the conflict, the application of the
present Convention shall cease on the general close of military
operations.
In the case of occupied territory, the application of the present
Convention shall cease one year after the general close of military
operations; however, the Occupying Power shall be bound, for the
duration of the occupation, to the extent that such Power exercises
the functions of government in such territory, by the provisions of
the following Articles of the present Convention: 1 to 12, 27, 29 to
34, 47, 49, 51, 52, 53, 59, 61 to 77, 143.
Protected persons whose release, repatriation or reestablishment
may take place after such dates shall meanwhile
continue to benefit by the present Convention.
ART. 7. — In addition to the agreements expressly provided for in
Articles 11, 14, 15, 17, 36, 108, 109, 132, 133 and 149, the High
Contracting Parties may conclude other special agreements for all
matters concerning which they may deem it suitable to make
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 171
Derogations
Beginning
and end of
application
Special
agreements
separate provision. No special agreement shall adversely affect the
situation of protected persons, as defined by the present
Convention, nor restrict the rights which it confers upon them.
Protected persons shall continue to have the benefit of such
agreements as long as the Convention is applicable to them, except
where express provisions to the contrary are contained in the
aforesaid or in subsequent agreements, or where more favourable
measures have been taken with regard to them by one or other of the
Parties to the conflict.
ART. 8. — Protected persons may in no circumstances renounce
in part or in entirety the rights secured to them by the present
Convention, and by the special agreements referred to in the
foregoing Article, if such there be.
ART. 9. — The present Convention shall be applied with the cooperation
and under the scrutiny of the Protecting Powers whose
duty it is to safeguard the interests of the Parties to the conflict. For
this purpose, the Protecting Powers may appoint, apart from their
diplomatic or consular staff, delegates from amongst their own
nationals or the nationals of other neutral Powers. The said
delegates shall be subject to the approval of the Power with which
they are to carry out their duties.
The Parties to the conflict shall facilitate to the greatest extent
possible the task of the representatives or delegates of the Protecting
Powers.
The representatives or delegates of the Protecting Powers shall
not in any case exceed their mission under the present Convention.
They shall, in particular, take account of the imperative necessities
of security of the State wherein they carry out their duties.
ART. 10. — The provisions of the present Convention constitute
no obstacle to the humanitarian activities which the International
Committee of the Red Cross or any other impartial humanitarian
organization may, subject to the consent of the Parties to the conflict
concerned, undertake for the protection of civilian persons and for
their relief.
ART. 11. — The High Contracting Parties may at any time agree
to entrust to an international organization which offers all
guarantees of impartiality and efficacy the duties incumbent on the
Protecting Powers by virtue of the present Convention.
When persons protected by the present Convention do not
benefit or cease to benefit, no matter for what reason, by the
172 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Nonrenunciation
of rights
Protecting
Powers
Substitutes
for Protecting
Powers
Activities
of the
International
Committee of
the Red Cross
activities of a Protecting Power or of an organization provided for in
the first paragraph above, the Detaining Power shall request a
neutral State, or such an organization, to undertake the functions
performed under the present Convention by a Protecting Power
designated by the Parties to a conflict.
If protection cannot be arranged accordingly, the Detaining
Power shall request or shall accept, subject to the provisions of this
Article, the offer of the services of a humanitarian organization,
such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, to assume the
humanitarian functions performed by Protecting Powers under the
present Convention.
Any neutral Power or any organization invited by the Power
concerned or offering itself for these purposes, shall be required to
act with a sense of responsibility towards the Party to the conflict on
which persons protected by the present Convention depend, and
shall be required to furnish sufficient assurances that it is in a
position to undertake the appropriate functions and to discharge
them impartially.
No derogation from the preceding provisions shall be made by
special agreements between Powers one of which is restricted, even
temporarily, in its freedom to negotiate with the other Power or its
allies by reason of military events, more particularly where the
whole, or a substantial part, of the territory of the said Power is
occupied.
Whenever in the present Convention mention is made of a
Protecting Power, such mention applies to substitute organizations
in the sense of the present Article.
The provisions of this Article shall extend and be adapted to
cases of nationals of a neutral State who are in occupied territory or
who find themselves in the territory of a belligerent State in which
the State of which they are nationals has not normal diplomatic
representation.
ART. 12. — In cases where they deem it advisable in the interest
of protected persons, particularly in cases of disagreement between
the Parties to the conflict as to the application or interpretation of
the provisions of the present Convention, the Protecting Powers
shall lend their good offices with a view to settling the
disagreement.
For this purpose, each of the Protecting Powers may, either at the
invitation of one Party or on its own initiative, propose to the
Parties to the conflict a meeting of their representatives, and in
particular of the authorities responsible for protected persons,
possibly on neutral territory suitably chosen. The Parties to the
conflict shall be bound to give effect to the proposals made to them
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 173
Conciliation
procedure
for this purpose. The Protecting Powers may, if necessary, propose
for approval by the Parties to the conflict, a person belonging to a
neutral Power or delegated by the International Committee of the
Red Cross, who shall be invited to take part in such a meeting.
PART II
GENERAL PROTECTION OF POPULATIONS
AGAINST CERTAIN CONSEQUENCES OF WAR
ART. 13. — The provisions of Part II cover the whole of the
populations of the countries in conflict, without any adverse
distinction based, in particular, on race, nationality, religion or
political opinion, and are intended to alleviate the sufferings caused
by war.
ART. 14. — In time of peace, the High Contracting Parties and,
after the outbreak of hostilities, the Parties thereto, may establish in
their own territory and, if the need arises, in occupied areas,
hospital and safety zones and localities so organized as to protect
from the effects of war, wounded, sick and aged persons, children
under fifteen, expectant mothers and mothers of children under
seven.
Upon the outbreak and during the course of hostilities, the
Parties concerned may conclude agreements on mutual recognition
of the zones and localities they have created. They may for this
purpose implement the provisions of the Draft Agreement annexed
to the present Convention, with such amendments as they may
consider necessary.
The Protecting Powers and the International Committee of the
Red Cross are invited to lend their good offices in order to facilitate
the institution and recognition of these hospital and safety zones
and localities.
ART. 15. — Any Party to the conflict may, either direct or through
a neutral State or some humanitarian organization, propose to the
adverse Party to establish, in the regions where fighting is taking
place, neutralized zones intended to shelter from the effects of war
the following persons, without distinction:
a) wounded and sick combatants or non-combatants;
174 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Field of
application
of Part II
Hospital and
safety zones
and localities
Neutralized
zones
b) civilian persons who take no part in hostilities, and who,
while they reside in the zones, perform no work of a military
character.
When the Parties concerned have agreed upon the geographical
position, administration, food supply and supervision of the
proposed neutralized zone, a written agreement shall be concluded
and signed by the representatives of the Parties to the conflict. The
agreement shall fix the beginning and the duration of the
neutralization of the zone.
ART. 16. — The wounded and sick, as well as the infirm, and
expectant mothers, shall be the object of particular protection and
respect.
As far as military considerations allow, each Party to the conflict
shall facilitate the steps taken to search for the killed and wounded,
to assist the shipwrecked and other persons exposed to grave
danger, and to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment.
ART. 17. — The Parties to the conflict shall endeavour to
conclude local agreements for the removal from besieged or
encircled areas,of wounded, sick, infirm,and aged persons, children
and maternity cases, and for the passage of ministers of all religions,
medical personnel and medical equipment on their way to such
areas.
ART. 18. — Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the
wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no
circumstances be the object of attack, but shall at all times be
respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.
States which are Parties to a conflict shall provide all civilian
hospitals with certificates showing that they are civilian hospitals
and that the buildings which they occupy are not used for any
purpose which would deprive these hospitals of protection in
accordance with Article 19.
Civilian hospitals shall be marked by means of the emblem
provided for in Article 38 of the Geneva Convention for the
Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed
Forces in the Field of August 12, 1949, but only if so authorized by
the State.
The Parties to the conflict shall, in so far as military
considerations permit, take the necessary steps to make the
distinctive emblems indicating civilian hospitals clearly visible to
the enemy land, air and naval forces in order to obviate the
possibility of any hostile action.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 175
Wounded
and sick
I.
General
protection
II.
Evacuation
III.
Protection
of hospitals
In view of the dangers to which hospitals may be exposed by
being close to military objectives, it is recommended that such
hospitals be situated as far as possible from such objectives.
ART. 19.— The protection to which civilian hospitals are entitled
shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their
humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy. Protection may,
however, cease only after due warning has been given, naming, in all
appropriate cases, a reasonable time limit, and after such warning
has remained unheeded.
The fact that sick or wounded members of the armed forces are
nursed in these hospitals, or the presence of small arms and
ammunition taken from such combatants and not yet handed to the
proper service, shall not be considered to be acts harmful to the
enemy.
ART. 20. — Persons regularly and solely engaged in the operation
and administration of civilian hospitals, including the personnel
engaged in the search for, removal and transporting of and caring
for wounded and sick civilians, the infirm and maternity cases, shall
be respected and protected.
In occupied territory and in zones of military operations, the
above personnel shall be recognizable by means of an identity card
certifying their status, bearing the photograph of the holder and
embossed with the stamp of the responsible authority, and also by
means of a stamped,water-resistant armlet which they shall wear on
the left arm while carrying out their duties. This armlet shall be
issued by the State and shall bear the emblem provided for in
Article 38 of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the
Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of
August 12, 1949.
Other personnel who are engaged in the operation and
administration of civilian hospitals shall be entitled to respect and
protection and to wear the armlet, as provided in and under the
conditions prescribed in this Article, while they are employed on
such duties.The identity card shall state the duties on which they are
employed.
The management of each hospital shall at all times hold at the
disposal of the competent national or occupying authorities an upto-
date list of such personnel.
ART. 21. — Convoys of vehicles or hospital trains on land or
specially provided vessels on sea, conveying wounded and sick
civilians, the infirm and maternity cases, shall be respected and
176 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
IV.
Discontinuance
of
protection
of hospitals
V.
Hospital staff
VI.
Land and sea
transport
protected in the same manner as the hospitals provided for in
Article 18, and shall be marked,with the consent of the State, by the
display of the distinctive emblem provided for in Article 38 of the
Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the
Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of August 12, 1949.
ART. 22. — Aircraft exclusively employed for the removal of
wounded and sick civilians, the infirm and maternity cases, or for
the transport of medical personnel and equipment, shall not be
attacked, but shall be respected while flying at heights, times and on
routes specifically agreed upon between all the Parties to the conflict
concerned.
They may be marked with the distinctive emblem provided for in
Article 38 of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the
Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of
August 12, 1949.
Unless agreed otherwise, flights over enemy or enemy-occupied
territory are prohibited.
Such aircraft shall obey every summons to land. In the event of a
landing thus imposed, the aircraft with its occupants may continue
its flight after examination, if any.
ART. 23. — Each High Contracting Party shall allow the free
passage of all consignments of medical and hospital stores and
objects necessary for religious worship intended only for civilians of
another High Contracting Party, even if the latter is its adversary. It
shall likewise permit the free passage of all consignments of
essential foodstuffs, clothing and tonics intended for children under
fifteen, expectant mothers and maternity cases.
The obligation of a High Contracting Party to allow the free
passage of the consignments indicated in the preceding paragraph
is subject to the condition that this Party is satisfied that there are no
serious reasons for fearing:
a) that the consignments may be diverted from their destination,
b) that the control may not be effective, or
c) that a definite advantage may accrue to the military efforts or
economy of the enemy through the substitution of the abovementioned
consignments for goods which would otherwise
be provided or produced by the enemy or through the release
of such material, services or facilities as would otherwise be
required for the production of such goods.
The Power which allows the passage of the consignments
indicated in the first paragraph of this Article may make such
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 177
VII.
Air transport
Consignments
of medical
supplies, food
and clothing
permission conditional on the distribution to the persons benefited
thereby being made under the local supervision of the Protecting
Powers.
Such consignments shall be forwarded as rapidly as possible, and
the Power which permits their free passage shall have the right to
prescribe the technical arrangements under which such passage is
allowed.
ART. 24. — The Parties to the conflict shall take the necessary
measures to ensure that children under fifteen,who are orphaned or
are separated from their families as a result of the war, are not left to
their own resources,and that their maintenance, the exercise of their
religion and their education are facilitated in all circumstances.
Their education shall, as far as possible, be entrusted to persons of a
similar cultural tradition.
The Parties to the conflict shall facilitate the reception of such
children in a neutral country for the duration of the conflict with the
consent of the Protecting Power, if any, and under due safeguards for
the observance of the principles stated in the first paragraph.
They shall, furthermore, endeavour to arrange for all children
under twelve to be identified by the wearing of identity discs, or by
some other means.
ART. 25. — All persons in the territory of a Party to the conflict,
or in a territory occupied by it, shall be enabled to give news of a
strictly personal nature to members of their families,wherever they
may be, and to receive news from them. This correspondence shall
be forwarded speedily and without undue delay.
If, as a result of circumstances, it becomes difficult or impossible
to exchange family correspondence by the ordinary post, the Parties
to the conflict concerned shall apply to a neutral intermediary, such
as the Central Agency provided for in Article 140, and shall decide
in consultation with it how to ensure the fulfilment of their
obligations under the best possible conditions, in particular with
the co-operation of the National Red Cross (Red Crescent,Red Lion
and Sun) Societies.
If the Parties to the conflict deem it necessary to restrict family
correspondence, such restrictions shall be confined to the
compulsory use of standard forms containing twenty-five freely
chosen words, and to the limitation of the number of these forms
despatched to one each month.
ART. 26. — Each Party to the conflict shall facilitate enquiries
made by members of families dispersed owing to the war, with the
178 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Measures
relating to
child welfare
Family news
Dispersed
families
object of renewing contact with one another and of meeting, if
possible. It shall encourage, in particular, the work of organizations
engaged on this task provided they are acceptable to it and conform
to its security regulations.
PART III
STATUS AND TREATMENT OF PROTECTED PERSONS
SECTION I
PROVISIONS COMMON TO THE TERRITORIES
OF THE PARTIES TO THE CONFLICT
AND TO OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
ART. 27. — Protected persons are entitled, in all circumstances, to
respect for their persons, their honour, their family rights, their
religious convictions and practices, and their manners and customs.
They shall at all times be humanely treated, and shall be protected
especially against all acts of violence or threats thereof and against
insults and public curiosity.
Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their
honour, in particular against rape, enforced prostitution, or any
form of indecent assault.
Without prejudice to the provisions relating to their state of
health, age and sex, all protected persons shall be treated with the
same consideration by the Party to the conflict in whose power they
are, without any adverse distinction based, in particular, on race,
religion or political opinion.
However, the Parties to the conflict may take such measures of
control and security in regard to protected persons as may be
necessary as a result of the war.
ART. 28. — The presence of a protected person may not be used
to render certain points or areas immune from military operations.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 179
Treatment
I.
General
observations
II.
Danger zones
ART. 29. — The Party to the conflict in whose hands protected
persons may be, is responsible for the treatment accorded to them
by its agents, irrespective of any individual responsibility which may
be incurred.
ART. 30. — Protected persons shall have every facility for making
application to the Protecting Powers, the International Committee
of the Red Cross, the National Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion
and Sun) Society of the country where they may be, as well as to any
organization that might assist them.
These several organizations shall be granted all facilities for that
purpose by the authorities, within the bounds set by military or
security considerations.
Apart from the visits of the delegates of the Protecting Powers
and of the International Committee of the Red Cross, provided for
by Article 143, the Detaining or Occupying Powers shall facilitate as
much as possible visits to protected persons by the representatives
of other organizations whose object is to give spiritual aid or
material relief to such persons.
ART. 31. — No physical or moral coercion shall be exercised
against protected persons, in particular to obtain information from
them or from third parties.
ART. 32. — The High Contracting Parties specifically agree that
each of them is prohibited from taking any measure of such a
character as to cause the physical suffering or extermination of
protected persons in their hands. This prohibition applies not only
to murder, torture, corporal punishment,mutilation and medical or
scientific experiments not necessitated by the medical treatment of
a protected person, but also to any other measures of brutality
whether applied by civilian or military agents.
ART. 33. — No protected person may be punished for an offence
he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and
likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism are prohibited.
Pillage is prohibited.
Reprisals against protected persons and their property are
prohibited.
ART. 34. — The taking of hostages is prohibited.
180 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
III.
Responsibilities
Application
to Protecting
Powers and
relief
organizations
Prohibition
of coercion
Prohibition
of corporal
punishment,
torture, etc.
Individual
responsibility,
collective
penalties,
pillage,
reprisals
Hostages
SECTION II
ALIENS IN THE TERRITORY
OF A PARTY TO THE CONFLICT
ART. 35. — All protected persons who may desire to leave the
territory at the outset of, or during a conflict, shall be entitled to do
so, unless their departure is contrary to the national interests of the
State. The applications of such persons to leave shall be decided in
accordance with regularly established procedures and the decision
shall be taken as rapidly as possible. Those persons permitted to
leave may provide themselves with the necessary funds for their
journey and take with them a reasonable amount of their effects and
articles of personal use.
If any such person is refused permission to leave the territory, he
shall be entitled to have such refusal reconsidered as soon as
possible by an appropriate court or administrative board designated
by the Detaining Power for that purpose.
Upon request, representatives of the Protecting Power shall,
unless reasons of security prevent it, or the persons concerned
object, be furnished with the reasons for refusal of any request for
permission to leave the territory and be given, as expeditiously as
possible, the names of all persons who have been denied permission
to leave.
ART. 36. — Departures permitted under the foregoing Article
shall be carried out in satisfactory conditions as regards safety,
hygiene, sanitation and food. All costs in connection therewith,
from the point of exit in the territory of the Detaining Power, shall
be borne by the country of destination, or, in the case of
accommodation in a neutral country, by the Power whose nationals
are benefited. The practical details of such movements may, if
necessary, be settled by special agreements between the Powers
concerned.
The foregoing shall not prejudice such special agreements as may
be concluded between Parties to the conflict concerning the
exchange and repatriation of their nationals in enemy hands.
ART. 37. — Protected persons who are confined pending
proceedings or serving a sentence involving loss of liberty, shall
during their confinement be humanely treated.
As soon as they are released, they may ask to leave the territory in
conformity with the foregoing Articles.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 181
Right to leave
the territory
Method of
repatriation
Persons in
confinement
ART. 38. — With the exception of special measures authorized by
the present Convention, in particular by Articles 27 and 41 thereof,
the situation of protected persons shall continue to be regulated, in
principle, by the provisions concerning aliens in time of peace. In
any case, the following rights shall be granted to them:
1) They shall be enabled to receive the individual or collective
relief that may be sent to them.
2) They shall, if their state of health so requires, receive medical
attention and hospital treatment to the same extent as the
nationals of the State concerned.
3) They shall be allowed to practise their religion and to receive
spiritual assistance from ministers of their faith.
4) If they reside in an area particularly exposed to the dangers of
war, they shall be authorized to move from that area to the
same extent as the nationals of the State concerned.
5) Children under fifteen years, pregnant women and mothers
of children under seven years shall benefit by any preferential
treatment to the same extent as the nationals of the State
concerned.
ART. 39. — Protected persons who, as a result of the war, have lost
their gainful employment, shall be granted the opportunity to find
paid employment. That opportunity shall, subject to security
considerations and to the provisions of Article 40, be equal to that
enjoyed by the nationals of the Power in whose territory they are.
Where a Party to the conflict applies to a protected person
methods of control which result in his being unable to support
himself, and especially if such a person is prevented for reasons of
security from finding paid employment on reasonable conditions,
the said Party shall ensure his support and that of his dependents.
Protected persons may in any case receive allowances from their
home country, the Protecting Power, or the relief societies referred
to in Article 30.
ART. 40. — Protected persons may be compelled to work only to
the same extent as nationals of the Party to the conflict in whose
territory they are.
If protected persons are of enemy nationality, they may only be
compelled to do work which is normally necessary to ensure the
feeding, sheltering, clothing, transport and health of human beings
and which is not directly related to the conduct of military
operations.
182 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
II.
Means of
existence
III.
Employment
Nonrepatriated
persons
I.
General
observations
In the cases mentioned in the two preceding paragraphs,
protected persons compelled to work shall have the benefit of the
same working conditions and of the same safeguards as national
workers, in particular as regards wages, hours of labour, clothing
and equipment, previous training and compensation for
occupational accidents and diseases.
If the above provisions are infringed, protected persons shall be
allowed to exercise their right of complaint in accordance with
Article 30.
ART. 41. — Should the Power in whose hands protected persons
may be consider the measures of control mentioned in the present
Convention to be inadequate, it may not have recourse to any other
measure of control more severe than that of assigned residence or
internment, in accordance with the provisions of Articles 42 and 43.
In applying the provisions of Article 39, second paragraph, to the
cases of persons required to leave their usual places of residence by
virtue of a decision placing them in assigned residence elsewhere,
the Detaining Power shall be guided as closely as possible by the
standards of welfare set forth in Part III, Section IV of this
Convention.
ART. 42. — The internment or placing in assigned residence of
protected persons may be ordered only if the security of the
Detaining Power makes it absolutely necessary.
If any person, acting through the representatives of the
Protecting Power, voluntarily demands internment, and if his
situation renders this step necessary, he shall be interned by the
Power in whose hands he may be.
ART. 43. — Any protected person who has been interned or
placed in assigned residence shall be entitled to have such action
reconsidered as soon as possible by an appropriate court or
administrative board designated by the Detaining Power for that
purpose. If the internment or placing in assigned residence is
maintained, the court or administrative board shall periodically,
and at least twice yearly, give consideration to his or her case,with a
view to the favourable amendment of the initial decision, if
circumstances permit.
Unless the protected persons concerned object, the Detaining
Power shall, as rapidly as possible, give the Protecting Power the
names of any protected persons who have been interned or
subjected to assigned residence, or who have been released from
internment or assigned residence. The decisions of the courts or
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 183
IV.
Assigned
residence.
Internment
V.
Grounds for
internment
or assigned
residence.
Voluntary
internment
VI.
Procedure
boards mentioned in the first paragraph of the present Article shall
also, subject to the same conditions, be notified as rapidly as
possible to the Protecting Power.
ART. 44.— In applying the measures of control mentioned in the
present Convention, the Detaining Power shall not treat as enemy
aliens exclusively on the basis of their nationality de jure of an
enemy State, refugees who do not, in fact, enjoy the protection of
any government.
ART. 45. — Protected persons shall not be transferred to a Power
which is not a party to the Convention.
This provision shall in no way constitute an obstacle to the
repatriation of protected persons, or to their return to their country
of residence after the cessation of hostilities.
Protected persons may be transferred by the Detaining Power
only to a Power which is a party to the present Convention and after
the Detaining Power has satisfied itself of the willingness and ability
of such transferee Power to apply the present Convention. If
protected persons are transferred under such circumstances,
responsibility for the application of the present Convention rests on
the Power accepting them, while they are in its custody.
Nevertheless, if that Power falls to carry out the provisions of the
present Convention in any important respect, the Power by which
the protected persons were transferred shall, upon being so notified
by the Protecting Power, take effective measures to correct the
situation or shall request the return of the protected persons. Such
request must be complied with.
In no circumstances shall a protected person be transferred to a
country where he or she may have reason to fear persecution for his
or her political opinions or religious beliefs.
The provisions of this Article do not constitute an obstacle to the
extradition, in pursuance of extradition treaties concluded before
the outbreak of hostilities, of protected persons accused of offences
against ordinary criminal law.
ART. 46.— In so far as they have not been previously withdrawn,
restrictive measures taken regarding protected persons shall be
cancelled as soon as possible after the close of hostilities.
Restrictive measures affecting their property shall be cancelled,
in accordance with the law of the Detaining Power, as soon as
possible after the close of hostilities.
184 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
VII.
Refugees
VIII.
Transfer to
another
Power
Cancellation
of restrictive
measures
SECTION III
OCCUPIED TERRITORIES
ART. 47. — Protected persons who are in occupied territory shall
not be deprived, in any case or in any manner whatsoever, of the
benefits of the present Convention by any change introduced, as the
result of the occupation of a territory, into the institutions or
government of the said territory, nor by any agreement concluded
between the authorities of the occupied territories and the
Occupying Power, nor by any annexation by the latter of the whole
or part of the occupied territory.
ART. 48. — Protected persons who are not nationals of the Power
whose territory is occupied,may avail themselves of the right to leave
the territory subject to the provisions of Article 35, and decisions
thereon shall be taken according to the procedure which the
Occupying Power shall establish in accordance with the said Article.
ART. 49. — Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as
deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the
territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country,
occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.
Nevertheless, the Occupying Power may undertake total or
partial evacuation of a given area if the security of the population or
imperative military reasons so demand. Such evacuations may not
involve the displacement of protected persons outside the bounds of
the occupied territory except when for material reasons it is
impossible to avoid such displacement.Persons thus evacuated shall
be transferred back to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area
in question have ceased.
The Occupying Power undertaking such transfers or evacuations
shall ensure, to the greatest practicable extent, that proper
accommodation is provided to receive the protected persons, that
the removals are effected in satisfactory conditions of hygiene,
health, safety and nutrition, and that members of the same family
are not separated.
The Protecting Power shall be informed of any transfers and
evacuations as soon as they have taken place.
The Occupying Power shall not detain protected persons in an
area particularly exposed to the dangers of war unless the security
of the population or imperative military reasons so demand.
The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its
own civilian population into the territory it occupies.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 185
Inviolability
of rights
Special
cases of
repatriation
Deportations,
transfers,
evacuations
ART. 50. — The Occupying Power shall,with the co-operation of
the national and local authorities, facilitate the proper working of all
institutions devoted to the care and education of children.
The Occupying Power shall take all necessary steps to facilitate
the identification of children and the registration of their parentage.
It may not, in any case, change their personal status, nor enlist them
in formations or organizations subordinate to it.
Should the local institutions be inadequate for the purpose, the
Occupying Power shall make arrangements for the maintenance
and education, if possible by persons of their own nationality,
language and religion, of children who are orphaned or separated
from their parents as a result of the war and who cannot be
adequately cared for by a near relative or friend.
A special section of the Bureau set up in accordance with
Article 136 shall be responsible for taking all necessary steps to
identify children whose identity is in doubt. Particulars of their
parents or other near relatives should always be recorded if available.
The Occupying Power shall not hinder the application of any
preferential measures in regard to food,medical care and protection
against the effects of war,which may have been adopted prior to the
occupation in favour of children under fifteen years, expectant
mothers, and mothers of children under seven years.
ART. 51. — The Occupying Power may not compel protected
persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces.No pressure or propaganda
which aims at securing voluntary enlistment is permitted.
The Occupying Power may not compel protected persons to work
unless they are over eighteen years of age, and then only on work
which is necessary either for the needs of the army of occupation, or
for the public utility services, or for the feeding, sheltering, clothing,
transportation or health of the population of the occupied country.
Protected persons may not be compelled to undertake any work
which would involve them in the obligation of taking part in military
operations.The Occupying Power may not compel protected persons
to employ forcible means to ensure the security of the installations
where they are performing compulsory labour.
The work shall be carried out only in the occupied territory
where the persons whose services have been requisitioned are.
Every such person shall, so far as possible, be kept in his usual place
of employment.Workers shall be paid a fair wage and the work shall
be proportionate to their physical and intellectual capacities. The
legislation in force in the occupied country concerning working
conditions, and safeguards as regards, in particular, such matters as
wages, hours of work, equipment, preliminary training and
compensation for occupational accidents and diseases, shall be
186 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Enlistment.
Labour
Children
applicable to the protected persons assigned to the work referred to
in this Article.
In no case shall requisition of labour lead to a mobilization of
workers in an organization of a military or semi-military character.
ART. 52.— No contract, agreement or regulation shall impair the
right of any worker,whether voluntary or not and wherever he may
be, to apply to the representatives of the Protecting Power in order
to request the said Power’s intervention.
All measures aiming at creating unemployment or at restricting the
opportunities offered to workers in an occupied territory, in order to
induce them to work for the Occupying Power, are prohibited.
ART. 53. — Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or
personal property belonging individually or collectively to private
persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or
co-operative organizations, is prohibited, except where such
destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.
ART. 54. — The Occupying Power may not alter the status of
public officials or judges in the occupied territories, or in any way
apply sanctions to or take any measures of coercion or
discrimination against them, should they abstain from fulfilling
their functions for reasons of conscience.
This prohibition does not prejudice the application of the second
paragraph of Article 51. It does not affect the right of the Occupying
Power to remove public officials from their posts.
ART. 55. — To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the
Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring the food and medical
supplies of the population; it should, in particular, bring in the
necessary foodstuffs, medical stores and other articles if the
resources of the occupied territory are inadequate.
The Occupying Power may not requisition foodstuffs, articles or
medical supplies available in the occupied territory, except for use
by the occupation forces and administration personnel, and then
only if the requirements of the civilian population have been taken
into account. Subject to the provisions of other international
Conventions, the Occupying Power shall make arrangements to
ensure that fair value is paid for any requisitioned goods.
The Protecting Power shall, at any time, be at liberty to verify the
state of the food and medical supplies in occupied territories, except
where temporary restrictions are made necessary by imperative
military requirements.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 187
Protection
of workers
Prohibited
destruction
Judges
and public
officials
Food
and medical
supplies
for the
population
ART. 56. — To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the
Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with
the co-operation of national and local authorities, the medical and
hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in
the occupied territory,with particular reference to the adoption and
application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary
to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics.Medical
personnel of all categories shall be allowed to carry out their duties.
If new hospitals are set up in occupied territory and if the
competent organs of the occupied State are not operating there, the
occupying authorities shall, if necessary, grant them the recognition
provided for in Article 18. In similar circumstances, the occupying
authorities shall also grant recognition to hospital personnel and
transport vehicles under the provisions of Articles 20 and 21.
In adopting measures of health and hygiene and in their
implementation, the Occupying Power shall take into consideration
the moral and ethical susceptibilities of the population of the
occupied territory.
ART. 57. — The Occupying Power may requisition civilian
hospitals only temporarily and only in cases of urgent necessity for
the care of military wounded and sick, and then on condition that
suitable arrangements are made in due time for the care and
treatment of the patients and for the needs of the civilian population
for hospital accommodation.
The material and stores of civilian hospitals cannot be
requisitioned so long as they are necessary for the needs of the
civilian population.
ART. 58. — The Occupying Power shall permit ministers of
religion to give spiritual assistance to the members of their religious
communities.
The Occupying Power shall also accept consignments of books
and articles required for religious needs and shall facilitate their
distribution in occupied territory.
ART. 59. — If the whole or part of the population of an occupied
territory is inadequately supplied, the Occupying Power shall agree
to relief schemes on behalf of the said population, and shall facilitate
them by all the means at its disposal.
Such schemes, which may be undertaken either by States or by
impartial humanitarian organizations such as the International
Committee of the Red Cross, shall consist, in particular, of the provision
of consignments of foodstuffs,medical supplies and clothing.
188 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Hygiene and
public health
Requisition
of hospitals
Spiritual
assistance
Relief
I.
Collective
relief
All Contracting Parties shall permit the free passage of these
consignments and shall guarantee their protection.
A Power granting free passage to consignments on their way to
territory occupied by an adverse Party to the conflict shall, however,
have the right to search the consignments, to regulate their passage
according to prescribed times and routes, and to be reasonably
satisfied through the Protecting Power that these consignments are
to be used for the relief of the needy population and are not to be
used for the benefit of the Occupying Power.
ART. 60. — Relief consignments shall in no way relieve the
Occupying Power of any of its responsibilities under Articles 55, 56
and 59.The Occupying Power shall in no way whatsoever divert relief
consignments from the purpose for which they are intended, except
in cases of urgent necessity, in the interests of the population of the
occupied territory and with the consent of the Protecting Power.
ART. 61. — The distribution of the relief consignments referred
to in the foregoing Articles shall be carried out with the cooperation
and under the supervision of the Protecting Power. This
duty may also be delegated, by agreement between the Occupying
Power and the Protecting Power, to a neutral Power, to the
International Committee of the Red Cross or to any other impartial
humanitarian body.
Such consignments shall be exempt in occupied territory from all
charges, taxes or customs duties unless these are necessary in the
interests of the economy of the territory.The Occupying Power shall
facilitate the rapid distribution of these consignments.
All Contracting Parties shall endeavour to permit the transit and
transport, free of charge, of such relief consignments on their way to
occupied territories.
ART. 62. — Subject to imperative reasons of security, protected
persons in occupied territories shall be permitted to receive the
individual relief consignments sent to them.
ART. 63. — Subject to temporary and exceptional measures
imposed for urgent reasons of security by the Occupying Power:
a) recognized National Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion and
Sun) Societies shall be able to pursue their activities in
accordance with Red Cross Principles, as defined by the
International Red Cross Conferences. Other relief societies
shall be permitted to continue their humanitarian activities
under similar conditions;
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 189
II.
Responsibilities
of the
Occupying
Power
III.
Distribution
IV.
Individual
relief
National
Red Cross
and other
relief
societies
b) the Occupying Power may not require any changes in the
personnel or structure of these societies, which would
prejudice the aforesaid activities.
The same principles shall apply to the activities and personnel of
special organizations of a non-military character, which already
exist or which may be established, for the purpose of ensuring the
living conditions of the civilian population by the maintenance of
the essential public utility services, by the distribution of relief and
by the organization of rescues.
ART. 64. — The penal laws of the occupied territory shall remain
in force,with the exception that they may be repealed or suspended
by the Occupying Power in cases where they constitute a threat to its
security or an obstacle to the application of the present Convention.
Subject to the latter consideration and to the necessity for ensuring
the effective administration of justice, the tribunals of the occupied
territory shall continue to function in respect of all offences covered
by the said laws.
The Occupying Power may, however, subject the population of
the occupied territory to provisions which are essential to enable the
Occupying Power to fulfil its obligations under the present
Convention, to maintain the orderly government of the territory,
and to ensure the security of the Occupying Power, of the members
and property of the occupying forces or administration, and
likewise of the establishments and lines of communication used by
them.
ART. 65. — The penal provisions enacted by the Occupying
Power shall not come into force before they have been published
and brought to the knowledge of the inhabitants in their own
language. The effect of these penal provisions shall not be
retroactive.
ART. 66. — In case of a breach of the penal provisions
promulgated by it by virtue of the second paragraph of Article 64,
the Occupying Power may hand over the accused to its properly
constituted, non-political military courts, on condition that the said
courts sit in the occupied country. Courts of appeal shall preferably
sit in the occupied country.
ART. 67. — The courts shall apply only those provisions of law
which were applicable prior to the offence, and which are in
accordance with general principles of law, in particular the principle
that the penalty shall be proportionate to the offence. They shall
190 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Penal
legislation
I.
General
observations
II.
Publication
III.
Competent
courts
IV.
Applicable
provisions
take into consideration the fact that the accused is not a national of
the Occupying Power.
ART. 68. — Protected persons who commit an offence which is
solely intended to harm the Occupying Power, but which does not
constitute an attempt on the life or limb of members of the
occupying forces or administration, nor a grave collective danger,
nor seriously damage the property of the occupying forces or
administration or the installations used by them, shall be liable to
internment or simple imprisonment, provided the duration of such
internment or imprisonment is proportionate to the offence
committed. Furthermore, internment or imprisonment shall, for
such offences, be the only measure adopted for depriving protected
persons of liberty. The courts provided for under Article 66 of the
present Convention may at their discretion convert a sentence of
imprisonment to one of internment for the same period.
The penal provisions promulgated by the Occupying Power in
accordance with Articles 64 and 65 may impose the death penalty
on a protected person only in cases where the person is guilty of
espionage, of serious acts of sabotage against the military
installations of the Occupying Power or of intentional offences
which have caused the death of one or more persons, provided that
such offences were punishable by death under the law of the
occupied territory in force before the occupation began.
The death penalty may not be pronounced against a protected
person unless the attention of the court has been particularly called
to the fact that since the accused is not a national of the Occupying
Power, he is not bound to it by any duty of allegiance.
In any case, the death penalty may not be pronounced against a
protected person who was under eighteen years of age at the time of
the offence.
ART. 69. — In all cases, the duration of the period during which
a protected person accused of an offence is under arrest awaiting
trial or punishment shall be deducted from any period of
imprisonment awarded.
ART. 70. — Protected persons shall not be arrested, prosecuted or
convicted by the Occupying Power for acts committed or for
opinions expressed before the occupation, or during a temporary
interruption thereof, with the exception of breaches of the laws and
customs of war.
Nationals of the Occupying Power who, before the outbreak of
hostilities, have sought refuge in the territory of the occupied State,
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 191
V.
Penalties.
Death
penalty
VI.
Deduction
from
sentence of
period spent
under arrest
VII.
Offences
committed
before
occupation
shall not be arrested, prosecuted, convicted or deported from the
occupied territory, except for offences committed after the outbreak
of hostilities, or for offences under common law committed before
the outbreak of hostilities which, according to the law of the
occupied State, would have justified extradition in time of peace.
ART. 71. — No sentence shall be pronounced by the competent
courts of the Occupying Power except after a regular trial.
Accused persons who are prosecuted by the Occupying Power
shall be promptly informed, in writing, in a language which they
understand,of the particulars of the charges preferred against them,
and shall be brought to trial as rapidly as possible. The Protecting
Power shall be informed of all proceedings instituted by the
Occupying Power against protected persons in respect of charges
involving the death penalty or imprisonment for two years or more;
it shall be enabled, at any time, to obtain information regarding the
state of such proceedings. Furthermore, the Protecting Power shall
be entitled, on request, to be furnished with all particulars of these
and of any other proceedings instituted by the Occupying Power
against protected persons.
The notification to the Protecting Power, as provided for in the
second paragraph above, shall be sent immediately, and shall in any
case reach the Protecting Power three weeks before the date of the
first hearing. Unless, at the opening of the trial, evidence is
submitted that the provisions of this Article are fully complied with,
the trial shall not proceed. The notification shall include the
following particulars:
a) description of the accused;
b) place of residence or detention;
c) specification of the charge or charges (with mention of the
penal provisions under which it is brought);
d) designation of the court which will hear the case;
e) place and date of the first hearing.
ART. 72. — Accused persons shall have the right to present
evidence necessary to their defence and may, in particular, call
witnesses. They shall have the right to be assisted by a qualified
advocate or counsel of their own choice, who shall be able to visit
them freely and shall enjoy the necessary facilities for preparing the
defence.
Failing a choice by the accused, the Protecting Power may
provide him with an advocate or counsel.When an accused person
192 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Penal
procedure
I.
General
observations
II.
Right of
defence
has to meet a serious charge and the Protecting Power is not
functioning, the Occupying Power, subject to the consent of the
accused, shall provide an advocate or counsel.
Accused persons shall, unless they freely waive such assistance,
be aided by an interpreter, both during preliminary investigation
and during the hearing in court. They shall have the right at any
time to object to the interpreter and to ask for his replacement.
ART. 73. — A convicted person shall have the right of appeal
provided for by the laws applied by the court. He shall be fully
informed of his right to appeal or petition and of the time limit
within which he may do so.
The penal procedure provided in the present Section shall apply,
as far as it is applicable, to appeals.Where the laws applied by the
court make no provision for appeals, the convicted person shall
have the right to petition against the finding and sentence to the
competent authority of the Occupying Power.
ART. 74.— Representatives of the Protecting Power shall have the
right to attend the trial of any protected person, unless the hearing
has, as an exceptional measure, to be held in camera in the interests
of the security of the Occupying Power, which shall then notify the
Protecting Power. A notification in respect of the date and place of
trial shall be sent to the Protecting Power.
Any judgment involving a sentence of death,or imprisonment for
two years or more, shall be communicated, with the relevant
grounds, as rapidly as possible to the Protecting Power. The
notification shall contain a reference to the notification made under
Article 71, and, in the case of sentences of imprisonment, the name
of the place where the sentence is to be served. A record of
judgments other than those referred to above shall be kept by the
court and shall be open to inspection by representatives of the
Protecting Power. Any period allowed for appeal in the case of
sentences involving the death penalty, or imprisonment of two years
or more, shall not run until notification of judgment has been
received by the Protecting Power.
ART. 75. — In no case shall persons condemned to death be
deprived of the right of petition for pardon or reprieve.
No death sentence shall be carried out before the expiration of a
period of at least six months from the date of receipt by the
Protecting Power of the notification of the final judgment
confirming such death sentence, or of an order denying pardon or
reprieve.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 193
III.
Right of
appeal
IV.
Assistance
by the
Protecting
Power
V.
Death
sentence
The six months period of suspension of the death sentence
herein prescribed may be reduced in individual cases in
circumstances of grave emergency involving an organized threat to
the security of the Occupying Power or its forces, provided always
that the Protecting Power is notified of such reduction and is given
reasonable time and opportunity to make representations to the
competent occupying authorities in respect of such death sentences.
ART. 76. — Protected persons accused of offences shall be
detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve
their sentences therein. They shall, if possible, be separated from
other detainees and shall enjoy conditions of food and hygiene
which will be sufficient to keep them in good health, and which will
be at least equal to those obtaining in prisons in the occupied
country.
They shall receive the medical attention required by their state of
health.
They shall also have the right to receive any spiritual assistance
which they may require.
Women shall be confined in separate quarters and shall be under
the direct supervision of women.
Proper regard shall be paid to the special treatment due to
minors.
Protected persons who are detained shall have the right to be
visited by delegates of the Protecting Power and of the International
Committee of the Red Cross, in accordance with the provisions of
Article 143.
Such persons shall have the right to receive at least one relief
parcel monthly.
ART. 77. — Protected persons who have been accused of offences
or convicted by the courts in occupied territory, shall be handed
over at the close of occupation, with the relevant records, to the
authorities of the liberated territory.
ART. 78. — If the Occupying Power considers it necessary, for
imperative reasons of security, to take safety measures concerning
protected persons, it may, at the most, subject them to assigned
residence or to internment.
Decisions regarding such assigned residence or internment shall
be made according to a regular procedure to be prescribed by the
Occupying Power in accordance with the provisions of the present
Convention. This procedure shall include the right of appeal for the
parties concerned. Appeals shall be decided with the least possible
194 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Treatment
of detainees
Handing over
of detainees
at the close of
occupation
Security
measures.
Internment
and assigned
residence.
Right of
appeal
delay. In the event of the decision being upheld, it shall be subject to
periodical review, if possible every six months, by a competent body
set up by the said Power.
Protected persons made subject to assigned residence and thus
required to leave their homes shall enjoy the full benefit of Article 39
of the present Convention.
SECTION IV
REGULATIONS FOR THE TREATMENT
OF INTERNEES
CHAPTER I
General Provisions
ART. 79. — The Parties to the conflict shall not intern protected
persons, except in accordance with the provisions of Articles 41, 42,
43, 68 and 78.
ART. 80.— Internees shall retain their full civil capacity and shall
exercise such attendant rights as may be compatible with their
status.
ART. 81. — Parties to the conflict who intern protected persons
shall be bound to provide free of charge for their maintenance, and
to grant them also the medical attention required by their state of
health.
No deduction from the allowances, salaries or credits due to the
internees shall be made for the repayment of these costs.
The Detaining Power shall provide for the support of those
dependent on the internees, if such dependents are without
adequate means of support or are unable to earn a living.
ART. 82. — The Detaining Power shall, as far as possible,
accommodate the internees according to their nationality, language
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 195
Cases of
internment
and applicable
provisions
Civil capacity
Maintenance
Grouping
of internees
and customs. Internees who are nationals of the same country shall
not be separated merely because they have different languages.
Throughout the duration of their internment, members of the
same family, and in particular parents and children, shall be lodged
together in the same place of internment, except when separation of
a temporary nature is necessitated for reasons of employment or
health or for the purposes of enforcement of the provisions of
Chapter IX of the present Section. Internees may request that their
children who are left at liberty without parental care shall be
interned with them.
Wherever possible, interned members of the same family shall be
housed in the same premises and given separate accommodation
from other internees, together with facilities for leading a proper
family life.
CHAPTER II
Places of Internment
ART. 83. — The Detaining Power shall not set up places of
internment in areas particularly exposed to the dangers of war.
The Detaining Power shall give the enemy Powers, through the
intermediary of the Protecting Powers, all useful information
regarding the geographical location of places of internment.
Whenever military considerations permit, internment camps
shall be indicated by the letters IC, placed so as to be clearly visible
in the daytime from the air. The Powers concerned may, however,
agree upon any other system of marking. No place other than an
internment camp shall be marked as such.
ART. 84. — Internees shall be accommodated and administered
separately from prisoners of war and from persons deprived of
liberty for any other reason.
ART. 85. — The Detaining Power is bound to take all necessary
and possible measures to ensure that protected persons shall, from
the outset of their internment, be accommodated in buildings or
quarters which afford every possible safeguard as regards hygiene
and health, and provide efficient protection against the rigours of
the climate and the effects of the war. In no case shall permanent
places of internment be situated in unhealthy areas or in districts
196 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Location
of places of
internment.
Marking
of camps
Separate
internment
Accommodation,
hygiene
the climate of which is injurious to the internees. In all cases where
the district, in which a protected person is temporarily interned, is
in an unhealthy area or has a climate which is harmful to his health,
he shall be removed to a more suitable place of internment as
rapidly as circumstances permit.
The premises shall be fully protected from dampness, adequately
heated and lighted, in particular between dusk and lights out. The
sleeping quarters shall be sufficiently spacious and well ventilated,
and the internees shall have suitable bedding and sufficient
blankets, account being taken of the climate, and the age, sex, and
state of health of the internees.
Internees shall have for their use, day and night, sanitary
conveniences which conform to the rules of hygiene and are
constantly maintained in a state of cleanliness. They shall be
provided with sufficient water and soap for their daily personal
toilet and for washing their personal laundry; installations and
facilities necessary for this purpose shall be granted to them.
Showers or baths shall also be available. The necessary time shall be
set aside for washing and for cleaning.
Whenever it is necessary, as an exceptional and temporary
measure, to accommodate women internees who are not members
of a family unit in the same place of internment as men, the
provision of separate sleeping quarters and sanitary conveniences
for the use of such women internees shall be obligatory.
ART. 86. — The Detaining Power shall place at the disposal of
interned persons, of whatever denomination, premises suitable for
the holding of their religious services.
ART. 87. — Canteens shall be installed in every place of
internment, except where other suitable facilities are available.Their
purpose shall be to enable internees to make purchases, at prices not
higher than local market prices, of foodstuffs and articles of
everyday use, including soap and tobacco, such as would increase
their personal well-being and comfort.
Profits made by canteens shall be credited to a welfare fund to be
set up for each place of internment, and administered for the benefit
of the internees attached to such place of internment. The Internee
Committee provided for in Article 102 shall have the right to check
the management of the canteen and of the said fund.
When a place of internment is closed down, the balance of the
welfare fund shall be transferred to the welfare fund of a place of
internment for internees of the same nationality, or, if such a place
does not exist, to a central welfare fund which shall be administered
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 197
Premises
for religions
services
Canteens
for the benefit of all internees remaining in the custody of the
Detaining Power. In case of a general release, the said profits shall be
kept by the Detaining Power, subject to any agreement to the
contrary between the Powers concerned.
ART. 88. — In all places of internment exposed to air raids and
other hazards of war, shelters adequate in number and structure to
ensure the necessary protection shall be installed. In case of alarms,
the internees shall be free to enter such shelters as quickly as
possible, excepting those who remain for the protection of their
quarters against the aforesaid hazards. Any protective measures
taken in favour of the population shall also apply to them.
All due precautions must be taken in places of internment against
the danger of fire.
CHAPTER III
Food and Clothing
ART. 89. — Daily food rations for internees shall be sufficient in
quantity, quality and variety to keep internees in a good state of
health and prevent the development of nutritional deficiencies.
Account shall also be taken of the customary diet of the internees.
Internees shall also be given the means by which they can prepare
for themselves any additional food in their possession.
Sufficient drinking water shall be supplied to internees. The use
of tobacco shall be permitted.
Internees who work shall receive additional rations in proportion
to the kind of labour which they perform.
Expectant and nursing mothers and children under fifteen years
of age shall be given additional food, in proportion to their
physiological needs.
ART. 90. — When taken into custody, internees shall be given all
facilities to provide themselves with the necessary clothing,
footwear and change of underwear, and later on, to procure further
supplies if required. Should any internees not have sufficient
clothing, account being taken of the climate, and be unable to
procure any, it shall be provided free of charge to them by the
Detaining Power.
198 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Air raid
shelters.
Protective
measures
Food
Clothing
The clothing supplied by the Detaining Power to internees and
the outward markings placed on their own clothes shall not be
ignominious nor expose them to ridicule.
Workers shall receive suitable working outfits, including
protective clothing, whenever the nature of their work so requires.
CHAPTER IV
Hygiene and Medical Attention
ART. 91. — Every place of internment shall have an adequate
infirmary, under the direction of a qualified doctor,where internees
may have the attention they require, as well as an appropriate diet.
Isolation wards shall be set aside for cases of contagious or mental
diseases.
Maternity cases and internees suffering from serious diseases, or
whose condition requires special treatment, a surgical operation or
hospital care, must be admitted to any institution where adequate
treatment can be given and shall receive care not inferior to that
provided for the general population.
Internees shall, for preference, have the attention of medical
personnel of their own nationality.
Internees may not be prevented from presenting themselves to
the medical authorities for examination. The medical authorities of
the Detaining Power shall,upon request, issue to every internee who
has undergone treatment an official certificate showing the nature
of his illness or injury, and the duration and nature of the treatment
given. A duplicate of this certificate shall be forwarded to the
Central Agency provided for in Article 140.
Treatment, including the provision of any apparatus necessary
for the maintenance of internees in good health, particularly
dentures and other artificial appliances and spectacles, shall be free
of charge to the internee.
ART. 92. — Medical inspections of internees shall be made at
least once a month. Their purpose shall be, in particular, to
supervise the general state of health, nutrition and cleanliness of
internees, and to detect contagious diseases, especially tuberculosis,
malaria, and venereal diseases. Such inspections shall include, in
particular, the checking of weight of each internee and, at least once
a year, radioscopic examination.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 199
Medical
attention
Medical
inspections
CHAPTER V
Religious, Intellectual and Physical Activities
ART. 93. — Internees shall enjoy complete latitude in the exercise
of their religious duties, including attendance at the services of their
faith, on condition that they comply with the disciplinary routine
prescribed by the detaining authorities.
Ministers of religion who are interned shall be allowed to minister
freely to the members of their community. For this purpose, the
Detaining Power shall ensure their equitable allocation amongst the
various places of internment in which there are internees speaking
the same language and belonging to the same religion. Should such
ministers be too few in number, the Detaining Power shall provide
them with the necessary facilities, including means of transport, for
moving from one place to another, and they shall be authorized to
visit any internees who are in hospital.Ministers of religion shall be
at liberty to correspond on matters concerning their ministry with
the religious authorities in the country of detention and, as far as
possible, with the international religious organizations of their faith.
Such correspondence shall not be considered as forming a part of the
quota mentioned in Article 107. It shall, however, be subject to the
provisions of Article 112.
When internees do not have at their disposal the assistance of
ministers of their faith, or should these latter be too few in number,
the local religious authorities of the same faith may appoint, in
agreement with the Detaining Power, a minister of the internees’
faith or, if such a course is feasible from a denominational point of
view, a minister of similar religion or a qualified layman. The latter
shall enjoy the facilities granted to the ministry he has assumed.
Persons so appointed shall comply with all regulations laid down by
the Detaining Power in the interests of discipline and security.
ART. 94. — The Detaining Power shall encourage intellectual,
educational and recreational pursuits, sports and games amongst
internees, whilst leaving them free to take part in them or not. It
shall take all practicable measures to ensure the exercise thereof, in
particular by providing suitable premises.
All possible facilities shall be granted to internees to continue
their studies or to take up new subjects. The education of children
and young people shall be ensured; they shall be allowed to attend
schools either within the place of internment or outside.
Internees shall be given opportunities for physical exercise,
sports and outdoor games. For this purpose, sufficient open spaces
200 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Religious
duties
Recreation,
study, sports
and games
shall be set aside in all places of internment. Special playgrounds
shall be reserved for children and young people.
ART. 95. — The Detaining Power shall not employ internees as
workers, unless they so desire. Employment which, if undertaken
under compulsion by a protected person not in internment, would
involve a breach of Articles 40 or 51 of the present Convention, and
employment on work which is of a degrading or humiliating
character are in any case prohibited.
After a working period of six weeks, internees shall be free to give
up work at any moment, subject to eight days’ notice.
These provisions constitute no obstacle to the right of the
Detaining Power to employ interned doctors, dentists and other
medical personnel in their professional capacity on behalf of their
fellow internees, or to employ internees for administrative and
maintenance work in places of internment and to detail such
persons for work in the kitchens or for other domestic tasks, or to
require such persons to undertake duties connected with the
protection of internees against aerial bombardment or other war
risks. No internee may, however, be required to perform tasks for
which he is, in the opinion of a medical officer, physically unsuited.
The Detaining Power shall take entire responsibility for all
working conditions, for medical attention, for the payment of
wages, and for ensuring that all employed internees receive
compensation for occupational accidents and diseases. The
standards prescribed for the said working conditions and for
compensation shall be in accordance with the national laws and
regulations, and with the existing practice; they shall in no case be
inferior to those obtaining for work of the same nature in the same
district.Wages for work done shall be determined on an equitable
basis by special agreements between the internees, the Detaining
Power, and, if the case arises, employers other than the Detaining
Power, due regard being paid to the obligation of the Detaining
Power to provide for free maintenance of internees and for the
medical attention which their state of health may require. Internees
permanently detailed for categories of work mentioned in the third
paragraph of this Article shall be paid fair wages by the Detaining
Power. The working conditions and the scale of compensation for
occupational accidents and diseases to internees, thus detailed, shall
not be inferior to those applicable to work of the same nature in the
same district.
ART. 96. — All labour detachments shall remain part of and
dependent upon a place of internment. The competent authorities
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 201
Working
conditions
Labour
detachments
of the Detaining Power and the commandant of a place of
internment shall be responsible for the observance in a labour
detachment of the provisions of the present Convention. The
commandant shall keep an up-to-date list of the labour
detachments subordinate to him and shall communicate it to the
delegates of the Protecting Power, of the International Committee of
the Red Cross and of other humanitarian organizations who may
visit the places of internment.
CHAPTER VI
Personal Property and Financial Resources
ART. 97. — Internees shall be permitted to retain articles of
personal use. Monies, cheques, bonds, etc., and valuables in their
possession may not be taken from them except in accordance with
established procedure. Detailed receipts shall be given therefor.
The amounts shall be paid into the account of every internee as
provided for in Article 98. Such amounts may not be converted into
any other currency unless legislation in force in the territory in
which the owner is interned so requires or the internee gives his
consent.
Articles which have above all a personal or sentimental value may
not be taken away.
A woman internee shall not be searched except by a woman.
On release or repatriation, internees shall be given all articles,
monies or other valuables taken from them during internment and
shall receive in currency the balance of any credit to their accounts
kept in accordance with Article 98,with the exception of any articles
or amounts withheld by the Detaining Power by virtue of its
legislation in force. If the property of an internee is so withheld, the
owner shall receive a detailed receipt.
Family or identity documents in the possession of internees may
not be taken away without a receipt being given. At no time shall
internees be left without identity documents. If they have none, they
shall be issued with special documents drawn up by the detaining
authorities,which will serve as their identity papers until the end of
their internment.
Internees may keep on their persons a certain amount of money,
in cash or in the shape of purchase coupons, to enable them to make
purchases.
202 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Valuables
and personal
effects
ART. 98. — All internees shall receive regular allowances,
sufficient to enable them to purchase goods and articles, such as
tobacco, toilet requisites, etc. Such allowances may take the form of
credits or purchase coupons.
Furthermore, internees may receive allowances from the Power
to which they owe allegiance, the Protecting Powers, the
organizations which may assist them, or their families, as well as the
income on their property in accordance with the law of the
Detaining Power.The amount of allowances granted by the Power to
which they owe allegiance shall be the same for each category of
internees (infirm, sick, pregnant women, etc.), but may not be
allocated by that Power or distributed by the Detaining Power on
the basis of discriminations between internees which are prohibited
by Article 27 of the present Convention.
The Detaining Power shall open a regular account for every
internee, to which shall be credited the allowances named in the
present Article, the wages earned and the remittances received,
together with such sums taken from him as may be available under
the legislation in force in the territory in which he is interned.
Internees shall be granted all facilities consistent with the legislation
in force in such territory to make remittances to their families and to
other dependants. They may draw from their accounts the amounts
necessary for their personal expenses, within the limits fixed by the
Detaining Power. They shall at all times be afforded reasonable
facilities for consulting and obtaining copies of their accounts. A
statement of accounts shall be furnished to the Protecting Power on
request, and shall accompany the internee in case of transfer.
CHAPTER VII
Administration and Discipline
ART. 99. — Every place of internment shall be put under the
authority of a responsible officer, chosen from the regular military
forces or the regular civil administration of the Detaining Power.
The officer in charge of the place of internment must have in his
possession a copy of the present Convention in the official language,
or one of the official languages, of his country and shall be
responsible for its application. The staff in control of internees shall
be instructed in the provisions of the present Convention and of the
administrative measures adopted to ensure its application.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 203
Financial
resources and
individual
accounts
Camp
administration.
Posting of the
Convention
and of orders
The text of the present Convention and the texts of special
agreements concluded under the said Convention shall be posted
inside the place of internment, in a language which the internees
understand,or shall be in the possession of the Internee Committee.
Regulations, orders, notices and publications of every kind shall
be communicated to the internees and posted inside the places of
internment, in a language which they understand.
Every order and command addressed to internees individually
must likewise be given in a language which they understand.
ART. 100. — The disciplinary regime in places of internment
shall be consistent with humanitarian principles, and shall in no
circumstances include regulations imposing on internees any
physical exertion dangerous to their health or involving physical or
moral victimization. Identification by tattooing or imprinting signs
or markings on the body, is prohibited.
In particular, prolonged standing and roll-calls, punishment
drill, military drill and manoeuvres, or the reduction of food
rations, are prohibited.
ART. 101. — Internees shall have the right to present to the
authorities in whose power they are, any petition with regard to the
conditions of internment to which they are subjected.
They shall also have the right to apply without restriction
through the Internee Committee or, if they consider it necessary,
direct to the representatives of the Protecting Power, in order to
indicate to them any points on which they may have complaints to
make with regard to the conditions of internment.
Such petitions and complaints shall be transmitted forthwith and
without alteration, and even if the latter are recognized to be
unfounded, they may not occasion any punishment.
Periodic reports on the situation in places of internment and as
to the needs of the internees may be sent by the Internee
Committees to the representatives of the Protecting Powers.
ART. 102. — In every place of internment, the internees shall
freely elect by secret ballot every six months, the members of a
Committee empowered to represent them before the Detaining and
the Protecting Powers, the International Committee of the Red
Cross and any other organization which may assist them. The
members of the Committee shall be eligible for re-election.
Internees so elected shall enter upon their duties after their
election has been approved by the detaining authorities. The
reasons for any refusals or dismissals shall be communicated to the
Protecting Powers concerned.
204 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
General
discipline
Complaints
and petitions
Internee
Committees
I.
Election of
members
ART. 103. — The Internee Committees shall further the physical,
spiritual and intellectual well-being of the internees.
In case the internees decide, in particular, to organize a system of
mutual assistance amongst themselves, this organization would be
within the competence of the Committees in addition to the special
duties entrusted to them under other provisions of the present
Convention.
ART. 104. — Members of Internee Committees shall not be
required to perform any other work, if the accomplishment of their
duties is rendered more difficult thereby.
Members of Internee Committees may appoint from amongst
the internees such assistants as they may require. All material
facilities shall be granted to them, particularly a certain freedom of
movement necessary for the accomplishment of their duties (visits
to labour detachments, receipt of supplies, etc.).
All facilities shall likewise be accorded to members of Internee
Committees for communication by post and telegraph with the
detaining authorities, the Protecting Powers, the International
Committee of the Red Cross and their delegates, and with the
organizations which give assistance to internees, Committee
members in labour detachments shall enjoy similar facilities for
communication with their Internee Committee in the principal
place of internment. Such communications shall not be limited, nor
considered as forming a part of the quota mentioned in Article 107.
Members of Internee Committees who are transferred shall be
allowed a reasonable time to acquaint their successors with current
affairs.
CHAPTER VIII
Relations with the Exterior
ART. 105. — Immediately upon interning protected persons, the
Detaining Powers shall inform them, the Power to which they owe
allegiance and their Protecting Power of the measures taken for
executing the provisions of the present Chapter. The Detaining
Powers shall likewise inform the Parties concerned of any
subsequent modifications of such measures.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 205
II.
Duties
III.
Prerogatives
Notification
of measures
taken
ART. 106. — As soon as he is interned, or at the latest not more
than one week after his arrival in a place of internment, and likewise
in cases of sickness or transfer to another place of internment or to a
hospital, every internee shall be enabled to send direct to his family,
on the one hand, and to the Central Agency provided for by
Article 140, on the other, an internment card similar, if possible, to
the model annexed to the present Convention, informing his relatives
of his detention, address and state of health. The said cards shall be
forwarded as rapidly as possible and may not be delayed in any way.
ART. 107. — Internees shall be allowed to send and receive letters
and cards. If the Detaining Power deems it necessary to limit the
number of letters and cards sent by each internee, the said number
shall not be less than two letters and four cards monthly; these shall
be drawn up so as to conform as closely as possible to the models
annexed to the present Convention. If limitations must be placed on
the correspondence addressed to internees, they may be ordered
only by the Power to which such internees owe allegiance, possibly
at the request of the Detaining Power. Such letters and cards must be
conveyed with reasonable despatch; they may not be delayed or
retained for disciplinary reasons.
Internees who have been a long time without news, or who find it
impossible to receive news from their relatives, or to give them news
by the ordinary postal route, as well as those who are at a
considerable distance from their homes, shall be allowed to send
telegrams, the charges being paid by them in the currency at their
disposal.They shall likewise benefit by this provision in cases which
are recognized to be urgent.
As a rule, internees’mail shall be written in their own language.
The Parties to the conflict may authorize correspondence in other
languages.
ART. 108. — Internees shall be allowed to receive, by post or by
any other means, individual parcels or collective shipments
containing in particular foodstuffs, clothing, medical supplies, as
well as books and objects of a devotional, educational or
recreational character which may meet their needs. Such shipments
shall in no way free the Detaining Power from the obligations
imposed upon it by virtue of the present Convention.
Should military necessity require the quantity of such shipments
to be limited, due notice thereof shall be given to the Protecting
Power and to the International Committee of the Red Cross, or to
any other organization giving assistance to the internees and
responsible for the forwarding of such shipments.
206 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Internment
card
Correspondence
Relief
shipments
I.
General
principles
The conditions for the sending of individual parcels and
collective shipments shall, if necessary, be the subject of special
agreements between the Powers concerned, which may in no case
delay the receipt by the internees of relief supplies. Parcels of
clothing and foodstuffs may not include books. Medical relief
supplies shall, as a rule, be sent in collective parcels.
ART. 109. — In the absence of special agreements between Parties
to the conflict regarding the conditions for the receipt and
distribution of collective relief shipments, the regulations
concerning collective relief which are annexed to the present
Convention shall be applied.
The special agreements provided for above shall in no case
restrict the right of Internee Committees to take possession of
collective relief shipments intended for internees, to undertake their
distribution and to dispose of them in the interests of the recipients.
Nor shall such agreements restrict the right of representatives of
the Protecting Powers, the International Committee of the Red
Cross, or any other organization giving assistance to internees and
responsible for the forwarding of collective shipments, to supervise
their distribution to the recipients.
ART. 110. — All relief shipments for internees shall be exempt
from import, customs and other dues.
All matter sent by mail, including relief parcels sent by parcel post
and remittances of money, addressed from other countries to
internees or despatched by them through the post office, either
direct or through the Information Bureaux provided for in
Article 136 and the Central Information Agency provided for in
Article 140, shall be exempt from all postal dues both in the
countries of origin and destination and in intermediate countries.
To this end, in particular, the exemption provided by the Universal
Postal Convention of 1947 and by the agreements of the Universal
Postal Union in favour of civilians of enemy nationality detained in
camps or civilian prisons, shall be extended to the other interned
persons protected by the present Convention. The countries not
signatory to the above-mentioned agreements shall be bound to
grant freedom from charges in the same circumstances.
The cost of transporting relief shipments which are intended for
internees and which, by reason of their weight or any other cause,
cannot be sent through the post office, shall be borne by the
Detaining Power in all the territories under its control. Other
Powers which are Parties to the present Convention shall bear the
cost of transport in their respective territories.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 207
II.
Collective
relief
III.
Exemption
from postal
and
transport
charges
Costs connected with the transport of such shipments, which are
not covered by the above paragraphs, shall be charged to the senders.
The High Contracting Parties shall endeavour to reduce, so far as
possible, the charges for telegrams sent by internees, or addressed to
them.
ART. 111. — Should military operations prevent the Powers
concerned from fulfilling their obligation to ensure the conveyance of
the mail and relief shipments provided for in Articles 106,107, 108
and 113, the Protecting Powers concerned, the International
Committee of the Red Cross or any other organization duly approved
by the Parties to the conflict may undertake the conveyance of such
shipments by suitable means (rail, motor vehicles, vessels or aircraft,
etc.). For this purpose, the High Contracting Parties shall endeavour
to supply them with such transport, and to allow its circulation,
especially by granting the necessary safe-conducts.
Such transport may also be used to convey:
a) correspondence, lists and reports exchanged between the
Central Information Agency referred to in Article 140 and the
National Bureaux referred to in Article 136;
b) correspondence and reports relating to internees which the
Protecting Powers, the International Committee of the Red
Cross or any other organization assisting the internees exchange
either with their own delegates or with the Parties to the conflict.
These provisions in no way detract from the right of any Party to
the conflict to arrange other means of transport if it should so
prefer, nor preclude the granting of safe-conducts, under mutually
agreed conditions, to such means of transport.
The costs occasioned by the use of such means of transport shall
be borne, in proportion to the importance of the shipments, by the
Parties to the conflict whose nationals are benefited thereby.
ART. 112. — The censoring of correspondence addressed to
internees or despatched by them shall be done as quickly as possible.
The examination of consignments intended for internees shall
not be carried out under conditions that will expose the goods
contained in them to deterioration. It shall be done in the presence
of the addressee, or of a fellow-internee duly delegated by him. The
delivery to internees of individual or collective consignments shall
not be delayed under the pretext of difficulties of censorship.
Any prohibition of correspondence ordered by the Parties to the
conflict either for military or political reasons, shall be only
temporary and its duration shall be as short as possible.
208 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Special
means of
transport
Censorship
and
examination
ART. 113. — The Detaining Powers shall provide all reasonable
facilities for the transmission, through the Protecting Power or the
Central Agency provided for in Article 140, or as otherwise
required, of wills, powers of attorney, letters of authority, or any
other documents intended for internees or despatched by them.
In all cases the Detaining Powers shall facilitate the execution and
authentication in due legal form of such documents on behalf of
internees, in particular by allowing them to consult a lawyer.
ART. 114. — The Detaining Power shall afford internees all
facilities to enable them to manage their property, provided this is
not incompatible with the conditions of internment and the law
which is applicable. For this purpose, the said Power may give them
permission to leave the place of internment in urgent cases and if
circumstances allow.
ART. 115. — In all cases where an internee is a party to
proceedings in any court, the Detaining Power shall, if he so
requests, cause the court to be informed of his detention and shall,
within legal limits, ensure that all necessary steps are taken to
prevent him from being in any way prejudiced, by reason of his
internment, as regards the preparation and conduct of his case or as
regards the execution of any judgment of the court.
ART. 116. — Every internee shall be allowed to receive visitors,
especially near relatives, at regular intervals and as frequently as
possible.
As far as is possible, internees shall be permitted to visit their
homes in urgent cases, particularly in cases of death or serious
illness of relatives.
CHAPTER IX
Penal and Disciplinary Sanctions
ART. 117. — Subject to the provisions of the present Chapter,
the laws in force in the territory in which they are detained will
continue to apply to internees who commit offences during
internment.
If general laws, regulations or orders declare acts committed by
internees to be punishable, whereas the same acts are not
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 209
Execution
and
transmission
of legal
documents
Management
of property
Facilities for
preparation
and conduct
of cases
Visits
General
provisions.
Applicable
legislation
punishable when committed by persons who are not internees, such
acts shall entail disciplinary punishments only.
No internee may be punished more than once for the same act, or
on the same count.
ART. 118. — The courts or authorities shall in passing sentence
take as far as possible into account the fact that the defendant is not
a national of the Detaining Power. They shall be free to reduce the
penalty prescribed for the offence with which the internee is
charged and shall not be obliged, to this end, to apply the minimum
sentence prescribed.
Imprisonment in premises without daylight, and, in general, all
forms of cruelty without exception are forbidden.
Internees who have served disciplinary or judicial sentences shall
not be treated differently from other internees.
The duration of preventive detention undergone by an internee
shall be deducted from any disciplinary or judicial penalty
involving confinement to which he may be sentenced.
Internee Committees shall be informed of all judicial
proceedings instituted against internees whom they represent, and
of their result.
ART. 119. — The disciplinary punishments applicable to
internees shall be the following:
1) A fine which shall not exceed 50 per cent of the wages which
the internee would otherwise receive under the provisions of
Article 95 during a period of not more than thirty days.
2) Discontinuance of privileges granted over and above the
treatment provided for by the present Convention.
3) Fatigue duties, not exceeding two hours daily, in connection
with the maintenance of the place of internment.
4) Confinement.
In no case shall disciplinary penalties be inhuman, brutal or
dangerous for the health of internees.Account shall be taken of the
internee’s age, sex and state of health.
The duration of any single punishment shall in no case exceed a
maximum of thirty consecutive days, even if the internee is
answerable for several breaches of discipline when his case is dealt
with, whether such breaches are connected or not.
ART. 120. — Internees who are recaptured after having escaped
or when attempting to escape, shall be liable only to disciplinary
punishment in respect of this act, even if it is a repeated offence.
210 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Penalties
Disciplinary
punishments
Escapes
Article 118, paragraph 3, notwithstanding, internees punished as
a result of escape or attempt to escape,may be subjected to special
surveillance, on condition that such surveillance does not affect the
state of their health, that it is exercised in a place of internment and
that it does not entail the abolition of any of the safeguards granted
by the present Convention.
Internees who aid and abet an escape, or attempt to escape, shall
be liable on this count to disciplinary punishment only.
ART. 121. — Escape, or attempt to escape, even if it is a repeated
offence, shall not be deemed an aggravating circumstance in cases
where an internee is prosecuted for offences committed during his
escape.
The Parties to the conflict shall ensure that the competent
authorities exercise leniency in deciding whether punishment
inflicted for an offence shall be of a disciplinary or judicial nature,
especially in respect of acts committed in connection with an
escape, whether successful or not.
ART. 122. — Acts which constitute offences against discipline
shall be investigated immediately. This rule shall be applied, in
particular, in cases of escape or attempt to escape. Recaptured
internees shall be handed over to the competent authorities as soon
as possible.
In case of offences against discipline, confinement awaiting trial
shall be reduced to an absolute minimum for all internees, and shall
not exceed fourteen days. Its duration shall in any case be deducted
from any sentence of confinement.
The provisions of Articles 124 and 125 shall apply to internees who
are in confinement awaiting trial for offences against discipline.
ART. 123. — Without prejudice to the competence of courts and
higher authorities, disciplinary punishment may be ordered only by
the commandant of the place of internment, or by a responsible
officer or official who replaces him, or to whom he has delegated his
disciplinary powers.
Before any disciplinary punishment is awarded, the accused
internee shall be given precise information regarding the offences of
which he is accused, and given an opportunity of explaining his
conduct and of defending himself. He shall be permitted, in
particular, to call witnesses and to have recourse, if necessary, to the
services of a qualified interpreter. The decision shall be announced
in the presence of the accused and of a member of the Internee
Committee.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 211
Connected
offences
Investigations.
Confinement
awaiting
hearing
Competent
authorities.
Procedure
The period elapsing between the time of award of a disciplinary
punishment and its execution shall not exceed one month.
When an internee is awarded a further disciplinary punishment,
a period of at least three days shall elapse between the execution of
any two of the punishments, if the duration of one of these is ten
days or more.
A record of disciplinary punishments shall be maintained by the
commandant of the place of internment and shall be open to
inspection by representatives of the Protecting Power.
ART. 124. — Internees shall not in any case be transferred to
penitentiary establishments (prisons, penitentiaries, convict
prisons, etc.) to undergo disciplinary punishment therein.
The premises in which disciplinary punishments are undergone
shall conform to sanitary requirements; they shall in particular be
provided with adequate bedding. Internees undergoing punishment
shall be enabled to keep themselves in a state of cleanliness.
Women internees undergoing disciplinary punishment shall be
confined in separate quarters from male internees and shall be
under the immediate supervision of women.
ART. 125. — Internees awarded disciplinary punishment shall be
allowed to exercise and to stay in the open air at least two hours
daily.
They shall be allowed, if they so request, to be present at the daily
medical inspections. They shall receive the attention which their
state of health requires and, if necessary, shall be removed to the
infirmary of the place of internment or to a hospital.
They shall have permission to read and write, likewise to send
and receive letters. Parcels and remittances of money, however, may
be withheld from them until the completion of their punishment;
such consignments shall meanwhile be entrusted to the Internee
Committee, who will hand over to the infirmary the perishable
goods contained in the parcels.
No internee given a disciplinary punishment may be deprived of
the benefit of the provisions of Articles 107 and 143 of the present
Convention.
ART. 126. — The provisions of Articles 71 to 76 inclusive shall
apply, by analogy, to proceedings against internees who are in the
national territory of the Detaining Power.
212 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Premises for
disciplinary
punishments
Essential
safeguards
Provisions
applicable to
judicial
proceedings
CHAPTER X
Transfers of Internees
ART. 127. — The transfer of internees shall always be effected
humanely. As a general rule, it shall be carried out by rail or other
means of transport, and under conditions at least equal to those
obtaining for the forces of the Detaining Power in their changes of station.
If, as an exceptional measure, such removals have to be effected
on foot, they may not take place unless the internees are in a fit state of
health, and may not in any case expose them to excessive fatigue.
The Detaining Power shall supply internees during transfer with
drinking water and food sufficient in quantity,quality and variety to
maintain them in good health, and also with the necessary clothing,
adequate shelter and the necessary medical attention. The
Detaining Power shall take all suitable precautions to ensure their
safety during transfer, and shall establish before their departure a
complete list of all internees transferred.
Sick, wounded or infirm internees and maternity cases shall not
be transferred if the journey would be seriously detrimental to
them, unless their safety imperatively so demands.
If the combat zone draws close to a place of internment, the
internees in the said place shall not be transferred unless their
removal can be carried out in adequate conditions of safety, or
unless they are exposed to greater risks by remaining on the spot
than by being transferred.
When making decisions regarding the transfer of internees, the
Detaining Power shall take their interests into account and, in
particular, shall not do anything to increase the difficulties of
repatriating them or returning them to their own homes.
ART. 128. — In the event of transfer, internees shall be officially
advised of their departure and of their new postal address. Such
notification shall be given in time for them to pack their luggage and
inform their next of kin.
They shall be allowed to take with them their personal effects,
and the correspondence and parcels which have arrived for them.
The weight of such baggage may be limited if the conditions of
transfer so require, but in no case to less than twenty-five kilograms
per internee.
Mail and parcels addressed to their former place of internment
shall be forwarded to them without delay.
The commandant of the place of internment shall take, in
agreement with the Internee Committee, any measures needed to
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 213
Conditions
Method
ensure the transport of the internees’ community property and of the
luggage the internees are unable to take with them in consequence of
restrictions imposed by virtue of the second paragraph.
CHAPTER XI
Deaths
ART. 129. — The wills of internees shall be received for
safekeeping by the responsible authorities; and in the event of the
death of an internee his will shall be transmitted without delay to a
person whom he has previously designated.
Deaths of internees shall be certified in every case by a doctor,
and a death certificate shall be made out, showing the causes of
death and the conditions under which it occurred.
An official record of the death, duly registered, shall be drawn up
in accordance with the procedure relating thereto in force in the
territory where the place of internment is situated, and a duly
certified copy of such record shall be transmitted without delay to
the Protecting Power as well as to the Central Agency referred to in
Article 140.
ART. 130. — The detaining authorities shall ensure that internees
who die while interned are honourably buried, if possible according
to the rites of the religion to which they belonged and that their
graves are respected, properly maintained, and marked in such a
way that they can always be recognized.
Deceased internees shall be buried in individual graves unless
unavoidable circumstances require the use of collective graves.
Bodies may be cremated only for imperative reasons of hygiene, on
account of the religion of the deceased or in accordance with his
expressed wish to this effect. In case of cremation, the fact shall be
stated and the reasons given in the death certificate of the deceased.
The ashes shall be retained for safekeeping by the detaining
authorities and shall be transferred as soon as possible to the next of
kin on their request.
As soon as circumstances permit, and not later than the close of
hostilities, the Detaining Power shall forward lists of graves of
deceased internees to the Powers on whom the deceased internees
depended, through the Information Bureaux provided for in
Article 136. Such lists shall include all particulars necessary for the
214 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Wills. Death
certificates
Burial.
Cremation
identification of the deceased internees, as well as the exact location
of their graves.
ART. 131. — Every death or serious injury of an internee, caused or
suspected to have been caused by a sentry, another internee or any
other person, as well as any death the cause of which is unknown, shall
be immediately followed by an official enquiry by the Detaining Power.
A communication on this subject shall be sent immediately to the
Protecting Power. The evidence of any witnesses shall be taken, and
a report including such evidence shall be prepared and forwarded to
the said Protecting Power.
If the enquiry indicates the guilt of one or more persons, the
Detaining Power shall take all necessary steps to ensure the
prosecution of the person or persons responsible.
CHAPTER XII
Release, Repatriation and Accommodation in Neutral Countries
ART. 132. — Each interned person shall be released by the
Detaining Power as soon as the reasons which necessitated his
internment no longer exist.
The Parties to the conflict shall,moreover, endeavour during the
course of hostilities, to conclude agreements for the release, the
repatriation, the return to places of residence or the
accommodation in a neutral country of certain classes of internees,
in particular children, pregnant women and mothers with infants
and young children, wounded and sick, and internees who have
been detained for a long time.
ART. 133. — Internment shall cease as soon as possible after the
close of hostilities.
Internees in the territory of a Party to the conflict, against whom
penal proceedings are pending for offences not exclusively subject
to disciplinary penalties, may be detained until the close of such
proceedings and, if circumstances require, until the completion of
the penalty. The same shall apply to internees who have been
previously sentenced to a punishment depriving them of liberty.
By agreement between the Detaining Power and the Powers
concerned,committees may be set up after the close of hostilities, or
of the occupation of territories, to search for dispersed internees.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 215
Internees
killed
or injured
in special
circumstances
During
hostilities or
occupation
After the
close of
hostilities
ART. 134. — The High Contracting Parties shall endeavour, upon
the close of hostilities or occupation, to ensure the return of all
internees to their last place of residence, or to facilitate their
repatriation.
ART. 135. — The Detaining Power shall bear the expense of
returning released internees to the places where they were residing
when interned, or, if it took them into custody while they were in
transit or on the high seas, the cost of completing their journey or of
their return to their point of departure.
Where a Detaining Power refuses permission to reside in its
territory to a released internee who previously had his permanent
domicile therein, such Detaining Power shall pay the cost of the said
internee’s repatriation. If, however, the internee elects to return to
his country on his own responsibility or in obedience to the
Government of the Power to which he owes allegiance, the
Detaining Power need not pay the expenses of his journey beyond
the point of his departure from its territory. The Detaining Power
need not pay the costs of repatriation of an internee who was
interned at his own request.
If internees are transferred in accordance with Article 45, the
transferring and receiving Powers shall agree on the portion of the
above costs to be borne by each.
The foregoing shall not prejudice such special agreements as may
be concluded between Parties to the conflict concerning the
exchange and repatriation of their nationals in enemy hands.
SECTION V
INFORMATION BUREAUX AND CENTRAL AGENCY
ART. 136. — Upon the outbreak of a conflict and in all cases of
occupation, each of the Parties to the conflict shall establish an
official Information Bureau responsible for receiving and
transmitting information in respect of the protected persons who
are in its power.
Each of the Parties to the conflict shall, within the shortest
possible period, give its Bureau information of any measure taken
by it concerning any protected persons who are kept in custody for
more than two weeks, who are subjected to assigned residence or
who are interned. It shall, furthermore, require its various
216 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Repatriation
and return to
last place of
residence
Costs
National
Bureaux
departments concerned with such matters to provide the aforesaid
Bureau promptly with information concerning all changes
pertaining to these protected persons, as, for example, transfers,
releases, repatriations, escapes, admittances to hospitals, births and
deaths.
ART. 137. — Each national Bureau shall immediately forward
information concerning protected persons by the most rapid means
to the Powers of whom the aforesaid persons are nationals, or to
Powers in whose territory they resided, through the intermediary of
the Protecting Powers and likewise through the Central Agency
provided for in Article 140. The Bureaux shall also reply to all
enquiries which may be received regarding protected persons.
Information Bureaux shall transmit information concerning a
protected person unless its transmission might be detrimental to
the person concerned or to his or her relatives. Even in such a case,
the information may not be withheld from the Central Agency
which, upon being notified of the circumstances, will take the
necessary precautions indicated in Article 140.
All communications in writing made by any Bureau shall be
authenticated by a signature or a seal.
ART. 138. — The information received by the national Bureau
and transmitted by it shall be of such a character as to make it
possible to identify the protected person exactly and to advise his
next of kin quickly. The information in respect of each person shall
include at least his surname, first names, place and date of birth,
nationality, last residence and distinguishing characteristics, the
first name of the father and the maiden name of the mother, the
date, place and nature of the action taken with regard to the
individual, the address at which correspondence may be sent to him
and the name and address of the person to be informed.
Likewise, information regarding the state of health of internees
who are seriously ill or seriously wounded shall be supplied
regularly and if possible every week.
ART. 139. — Each national Information Bureau shall,
furthermore, be responsible for collecting all personal valuables left
by protected persons mentioned in Article 136, in particular those
who have been repatriated or released, or who have escaped or died;
it shall forward the said valuables to those concerned, either direct,
or, if necessary, through the Central Agency. Such articles shall be
sent by the Bureau in sealed packets which shall be accompanied by
statements giving clear and full identity particulars of the person to
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 217
Transmission
of
information
Particulars
required
Forwarding
of personal
valuables
whom the articles belonged, and by a complete list of the contents of
the parcel. Detailed records shall be maintained of the receipt and
despatch of all such valuables.
ART. 140. — A Central Information Agency for protected
persons, in particular for internees, shall be created in a neutral
country. The International Committee of the Red Cross shall, if it
deems necessary, propose to the Powers concerned the organization
of such an Agency, which may be the same as that provided for in
Article 123 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of
Prisoners ofWar of August 12, 1949.
The function of the Agency shall be to collect all information of
the type set forth in Article 136 which it may obtain through official
or private channels and to transmit it as rapidly as possible to the
countries of origin or of residence of the persons concerned, except
in cases where such transmissions might be detrimental to the
persons whom the said information concerns, or to their relatives. It
shall receive from the Parties to the conflict all reasonable facilities
for effecting such transmissions.
The High Contracting Parties, and in particular those whose
nationals benefit by the services of the Central Agency, are
requested to give the said Agency the financial aid it may require.
The foregoing provisions shall in no way be interpreted as
restricting the humanitarian activities of the International
Committee of the Red Cross and of the relief Societies described in
Article 142.
ART. 141. — The national Information Bureaux and the Central
Information Agency shall enjoy free postage for all mail, likewise the
exemptions provided for in Article 110, and further, so far as
possible, exemption from telegraphic charges or, at least, greatly
reduced rates.
218 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Central
Agency
Exemption
from charges
PART IV
EXECUTION OF THE CONVENTION
SECTION I
GENERAL PROVISIONS
ART. 142. — Subject to the measures which the Detaining Powers
may consider essential to ensure their security or to meet any other
reasonable need, the representatives of religious organizations, relief
societies, or any other organizations assisting the protected persons,
shall receive from these Powers, for themselves or their duly
accredited agents, all facilities for visiting the protected persons, for
distributing relief supplies and material from any source, intended
for educational, recreational or religious purposes, or for assisting
them in organizing their leisure time within the places of
internment. Such societies or organizations may be constituted in
the territory of the Detaining Power, or in any other country, or they
may have an international character.
The Detaining Power may limit the number of societies and
organizations whose delegates are allowed to carry out their
activities in its territory and under its supervision, on condition,
however, that such limitation shall not hinder the supply of effective
and adequate relief to all protected persons.
The special position of the International Committee of the Red
Cross in this field shall be recognized and respected at all times.
ART. 143. — Representatives or delegates of the Protecting
Powers shall have permission to go to all places where protected
persons are, particularly to places of internment, detention and
work.
They shall have access to all premises occupied by protected
persons and shall be able to interview the latter without witnesses,
personally or through an interpreter.
Such visits may not be prohibited except for reasons of
imperative military necessity, and then only as an exceptional and
temporary measure. Their duration and frequency shall not be
restricted.
Such representatives and delegates shall have full liberty to select
the places they wish to visit.The Detaining or Occupying Power, the
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 219
Relief
societies
and other
organizations
Supervision
Protecting Power and when occasion arises the Power of origin of
the persons to be visited, may agree that compatriots of the
internees shall be permitted to participate in the visits.
The delegates of the International Committee of the Red Cross
shall also enjoy the above prerogatives. The appointment of such
delegates shall be submitted to the approval of the Power governing
the territories where they will carry out their duties.
ART. 144.— The High Contracting Parties undertake, in time of
peace as in time of war, to disseminate the text of the present
Convention as widely as possible in their respective countries, and,
in particular, to include the study thereof in their programmes of
military and, if possible, civil instruction, so that the principles
thereof may become known to the entire population.
Any civilian,military, police or other authorities, who in time of
war assume responsibilities in respect of protected persons, must
possess the text of the Convention and be specially instructed as to
its provisions.
ART. 145. — The High Contracting Parties shall communicate to
one another through the Swiss Federal Council and, during
hostilities, through the Protecting Powers, the official translations of
the present Convention, as well as the laws and regulations which
they may adopt to ensure the application thereof.
ART. 146. — The High Contracting Parties undertake to enact
any legislation necessary to provide effective penal sanctions for
persons committing, or ordering to be committed, any of the grave
breaches of the present Convention defined in the following Article.
Each High Contracting Party shall be under the obligation to
search for persons alleged to have committed, or to have ordered to
be committed, such grave breaches, and shall bring such persons,
regardless of their nationality, before its own courts. It may also, if it
prefers, and in accordance with the provisions of its own legislation,
hand such persons over for trial to another High Contracting Party
concerned, provided such High Contracting Party has made out a
prima facie case.
Each High Contracting Party shall take measures necessary for
the suppression of all acts contrary to the provisions of the present
Convention other than the grave breaches defined in the following
Article.
In all circumstances, the accused persons shall benefit by
safeguards of proper trial and defence, which shall not be less
favourable than those provided by Article 105 and those following
220 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Penal
sanctions
I.
General
observations
Translations.
Rules of
application
Dissemination
of the
Convention
of the Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of
War of August 12, 1949.
ART. 147. — Grave breaches to which the preceding Article
relates shall be those involving any of the following acts, if
committed against persons or property protected by the present
Convention: wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including
biological experiments, wilfully causing great suffering or serious
injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or
unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected
person to serve in the forces of a hostile Power, or wilfully depriving
a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial prescribed
in the present Convention, taking of hostages and extensive
destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military
necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly.
ART. 148. — No High Contracting Party shall be allowed to
absolve itself or any other High Contracting Party of any liability
incurred by itself or by another High Contracting Party in respect of
breaches referred to in the preceding Article.
ART. 149. — At the request of a Party to the conflict, an enquiry
shall be instituted, in a manner to be decided between the interested
Parties, concerning any alleged violation of the Convention.
If agreement has not been reached concerning the procedure for
the enquiry, the Parties should agree on the choice of an umpire
who will decide upon the procedure to be followed. Once the
violation has been established, the Parties to the conflict shall put an
end to it and shall repress it with the least possible delay.
SECTION II
FINAL PROVISIONS
ART. 150. — The present Convention is established in English
and in French. Both texts are equally authentic.
The Swiss Federal Council shall arrange for official translations
of the Convention to be made in the Russian and Spanish languages.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 221
II.
Grave
breaches
III.
Responsibilities
of the
Contracting
Parties
Enquiry
procedure
Languages
ART. 151. — The present Convention,which bears the date of this
day, is open to signature until February 12, 1950, in the name of the
Powers represented at the Conference which opened at Geneva on
April 21, 1949.
ART. 152. — The present Convention shall be ratified as soon as
possible and the ratifications shall be deposited at Berne.
A record shall be drawn up of the deposit of each instrument of
ratification and certified copies of this record shall be transmitted
by the Swiss Federal Council to all the Powers in whose name the
Convention has been signed, or whose accession has been notified.
ART. 153. — The present Convention shall come into force six
months after not less than two instruments of ratification have been
deposited.
Thereafter, it shall come into force for each High Contracting
Party six months after the deposit of the instrument of ratification.
ART. 154. — In the relations between the Powers who are bound
by the Hague Conventions respecting the Laws and Customs ofWar
on Land, whether that of July 29, 1899, or that of October 18, 1907,
and who are parties to the present Convention, this last Convention
shall be supplementary to Sections II and III of the Regulations
annexed to the above-mentioned Conventions of The Hague.
ART. 155. — From the date of its coming into force, it shall be
open to any Power in whose name the present Convention has not
been signed, to accede to this Convention.
ART. 156. — Accessions shall be notified in writing to the Swiss
Federal Council, and shall take effect six months after the date on
which they are received.
The Swiss Federal Council shall communicate the accessions to
all the Powers in whose name the Convention has been signed, or
whose accession has been notified.
ART. 157. — The situations provided for in Articles 2 and 3 shall
give immediate effect to ratifications deposited and accessions
notified by the Parties to the conflict before or after the beginning of
hostilities or occupation. The Swiss Federal Council shall
communicate by the quickest method any ratifications or accessions
received from Parties to the conflict.
222 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
Signature
Ratification
Coming
into force
Relation with
the Hague
Conventions
Accession
Notification
of accessions
Immediate
effect
ART. 158. — Each of the High Contracting Parties shall be at
liberty to denounce the present Convention.
The denunciation shall be notified in writing to the Swiss Federal
Council, which shall transmit it to the Governments of all the High
Contracting Parties.
The denunciation shall take effect one year after the notification
thereof has been made to the Swiss Federal Council. However, a
denunciation of which notification has been made at a time when
the denouncing Power is involved in a conflict shall not take effect
until peace has been concluded, and until after operations
connected with the release, repatriation and re-establishment of the
persons protected by the present Convention have been terminated.
The denunciation shall have effect only in respect of the
denouncing Power. It shall in no way impair the obligations which
the Parties to the conflict shall remain bound to fulfil by virtue of
the principles of the law of nations, as they result from the usages
established among civilized peoples, from the laws of humanity and
the dictates of the public conscience.
ART. 159. — The Swiss Federal Council shall register the present
Convention with the Secretariat of the United Nations. The Swiss
Federal Council shall also inform the Secretariat of the United
Nations of all ratifications, accessions and denunciations received
by it with respect to the present Convention.
IN WITNESS WHEREOF the undersigned, having deposited their
respective full powers, have signed the present Convention.
DONE at Geneva this twelfth day of August 1949, in the English
and French languages. The original shall be deposited in the
Archives of the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss Federal Council
shall transmit certified copies thereof to each of the signatory and
acceding States.
PROTECTION OF CIVILIAN PERSONS 223
Denunciation
Registration
with the
United
Nations
ANNEX I
DRAFT AGREEMENT RELATING TO HOSPITAL
AND SAFETY ZONES AND LOCALITIES
ARTICLE 1. — Hospital and safety zones shall be strictly reserved for the persons
mentioned in Article 23 of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the
Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of August 12, 1949,
and in Article 14 of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian
Persons in Time ofWar of August 12, 1949, and for the personnel entrusted with the
organization and administration of these zones and localities and with the care of the
persons therein assembled.
Nevertheless, persons whose permanent residence is within such zones shall
have the right to stay there.
ART. 2. — No persons residing, in whatever capacity, in a hospital and safety
zone shall perform any work, either within or without the zone, directly connected
with military operations or the production of war material.
ART. 3. — The Power establishing a hospital and safety zone shall take all
necessary measures to prohibit access to all persons who have no right of residence
or entry therein.
ART. 4. — Hospital and safety zones shall fulfil the following conditions:
a) They shall comprise only a small part of the territory governed by the Power
which has established them.
b) They shall be thinly populated in relation to the possibilities of
accommodation.
c) They shall be far removed and free from all military objectives, or large
industrial or administrative establishments.
d) They shall not be situated in areas which, according to every probability,may
become important for the conduct of the war.
ART. 5.— Hospital and safety zones shall be subject to the following obligations:
a) The lines of communication and means of transport which they possess shall
not be used for the transport of military personnel or material, even in
transit.
b) They shall in no case be defended by military means.
ART. 6. — Hospital and safety zones shall be marked by means of oblique red
bands on a white ground, placed on the buildings and outer precincts.
Zones reserved exclusively for the wounded and sick may be marked by means
of the Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion and Sun) emblem on a white ground.
They may be similarly marked at night by means of appropriate illumination.
ART. 7. — The Powers shall communicate to all the High Contracting Parties in
peacetime or on the outbreak of hostilities, a list of the hospital and safety zones in
the territories governed by them. They shall also give notice of any new zones set
up during hostilities.
As soon as the adverse Party has received the above-mentioned notification, the
zone shall be regularly established.
If, however, the adverse Party considers that the conditions of the present
agreement have not been fulfilled, it may refuse to recognize the zone by giving
immediate notice thereof to the Party responsible for the said zone, or may make
its recognition of such zone dependent upon the institution of the control provided
for in Article 8.
ART. 8. — Any Power having recognized one or several hospital and safety zones
instituted by the adverse Party shall be entitled to demand control by one or more
Special Commissions, for the purpose of ascertaining if the zones fulfil the
conditions and obligations stipulated in the present agreement.
For this purpose, members of the Special Commissions shall at all times have
free access to the various zones and may even reside there permanently. They shall
be given all facilities for their duties of inspection.
ART. 9. — Should the Special Commissions note any facts which they consider
contrary to the stipulations of the present agreement, they shall at once draw the
attention of the Power governing the said zone to these facts, and shall fix a time
limit of five days within which the matter should be rectified.They shall duly notify
the Power who has recognized the zone.
If, when the time limit has expired, the Power governing the zone has not
complied with the warning, the adverse Party may declare that it is no longer bound
by the present agreement in respect of the said zone.
ART. 10. — Any Power setting up one or more hospital and safety zones, and the
adverse Parties to whom their existence has been notified, shall nominate or have
nominated by the Protecting Powers or by other neutral Powers, persons eligible to
be members of the Special Commissions mentioned in Articles 8 and 9.
ART. 11. — In no circumstances may hospital and safety zones be the object of
attack. They shall be protected and respected at all times by the Parties to the
conflict.
ART. 12. — In the case of occupation of a territory, the hospital and safety zones
therein shall continue to be respected and utilized as such.
HOSPITAL AND SAFETY ZONES 225
Their purpose may,however,be modified by the Occupying Power,on condition
that all measures are taken to ensure the safety of the persons accommodated.
ART. 13. — The present agreement shall also apply to localities which the Powers
may utilize for the same purposes as hospital and safety zones.
226 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949 – ANNEX I
ANNEX II
DRAFT REGULATIONS
CONCERNING COLLECTIVE RELIEF
ARTICLE 1. — The Internee Committees shall be allowed to distribute collective
relief shipments for which they are responsible, to all internees who are dependent
for administration on the said Committee’s place of internment, including those
internees who are in hospitals, or in prisons or other penitentiary establishments.
ART. 2. — The distribution of collective relief shipments shall be effected in
accordance with the instructions of the donors and with a plan drawn up by the
Internee Committees. The issue of medical stores shall, however, be made for
preference in agreement with the senior medical officers, and the latter may, in
hospitals and infirmaries, waive the said instructions, if the needs of their patients
so demand.Within the limits thus defined, the distribution shall always be carried
out equitably.
ART. 3.— Members of Internee Committees shall be allowed to go to the railway
stations or other points of arrival of relief supplies near their places of internment
so as to enable them to verify the quantity as well as the quality of the goods
received and to make out detailed reports thereon for the donors.
ART. 4. — Internee Committees shall be given the facilities necessary for
verifying whether the distribution of collective relief in all sub-divisions and
annexes of their places of internment has been carried out in accordance with their
instructions.
ART. 5.— Internee Committees shall be allowed to complete, and to cause to be
completed by members of the Internee Committees in labour detachments or by
the senior medical officers of infirmaries and hospitals, forms or questionnaires
intended for the donors, relating to collective relief supplies (distribution,
requirements, quantities, etc.). Such forms and questionnaires, duly completed,
shall be forwarded to the donors without delay.
ART. 6. — In order to secure the regular distribution of collective relief supplies
to the internees in their place of internment, and to meet any needs that may arise
through the arrival of fresh parties of internees, the Internee Committees shall be
allowed to create and maintain sufficient reserve stocks of collective relief. For this
purpose, they shall have suitable warehouses at their disposal; each warehouse shall
be provided with two locks, the Internee Committee holding the keys of one lock,
and the commandant of the place of internment the keys of the other.
ART. 7. — The High Contracting Parties, and the Detaining Powers in particular,
shall, so far as is in any way possible and subject to the regulations governing the
food supply of the population, authorize purchases of goods to be made in their
territories for the distribution of collective relief to the internees. They shall
likewise facilitate the transfer of funds and other financial measures of a technical
or administrative nature taken for the purpose of making such purchases.
ART. 8. — The foregoing provisions shall not constitute an obstacle to the right
of internees to receive collective relief before their arrival in a place of internment
or in the course of their transfer, nor to the possibility of representatives of the
Protecting Power, or of the International Committee of the Red Cross or any other
humanitarian organization giving assistance to internees and responsible for
forwarding such supplies, ensuring the distribution thereof to the recipients by any
other means they may deem suitable.
228 FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949 – ANNEX II
Write legibly and in block letters — 1.Nationality...............................................
2. Surname 3. First names (in full) 4. First name of father
................................................................................................................................
5. Date of birth .................…................ 6. Place of birth.......................................
7. Occupation .........................................................................................................
8.Address before detention....................................................................................
9.Address of next of kin ........................................................................................
................................................................................................................................
10. Interned on: * ...................................................................................................
(or)
Coming from (hospital, etc.) on: ..........................................................................
11. State of health * ................................................................................................
12. Present address .................................................................................................
13. Date.....................…........................ 14. Signature............................................
* Strike out what is not applicable.Do not add any remarks. See explanations on