Protocol I: Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts. August 12 is the 224th day of the year (225th in leap years) in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1949 is a common year starting on Saturday. ...

This article is a commentary, see Wikisource:Protocol I for full text.

Introduction

Protocol I is an amendment to the Geneva Conventions. The Geneva Conventions consist of treaties formulated in Geneva, Switzerland that set the standards for international law for humanitarian concerns. ...

Adopted on June 8, 1977 by the Diplomatic Conference on the Reaffirmation and Development of International Humanitarian Law applicable in Armed Conflicts presided over by Pierre Graber of Switzerland. The protocol enters into force on either December 7, 1979 (six months after its adoption by the conference), or six months after each party's ratification. June 8 is the 159th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (160th in leap years), with 206 days remaining. ... 1977 was a common year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1977 calendar). ... International Humanitarian Law (IHL), also known as the law of war, the laws and customs of war or the law of armed conflict, is the legal corpus comprised of the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Regulations, as well as subsequent treaties, case law, and customary international law. ... Pierre Graber (December 6, 1908 - July 19, 2003) was a Swiss politician. ... December 7 is the 341st day (342nd on leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1979 is a common year starting on Monday. ...

It has not been adopted by several nations, including the United States, Afghanistan and Iraq, and is thus not universally applicable. The U.S. objection is on the basis that it would extend Geneva Conventions protection to some unlawful combatants (see Part III Article 44). Unlawful combatant (also illegal combatant or unprivileged combatant) describes a person who engages in combat without fulfilling the conditions that confer lawful combatant status according to the laws of war. ...

Part I GENERAL PROVISIONS

Article 1. Paragraph 4 ... in which peoples are fighting against colonial domination and alien occupation and against racist regimes... could cause legal problems under international law:

• It does not state that the people who are fighting, have to be fighting within the laws and customs of war and any foreign military occupation (Including that of UN mandated occupations) are alien occupations.
• As there is no definition of what constitutes a racist regime, personnel to the party to the conflict which is later defined as a racist regime by an international court, may have followed orders in good faith with no coercion, which they at the time thought to be within international law, that turn out not to be. For example if a person is arrested and treated as a common criminal under the jurisdiction of a racist regime for baring arms against that regime, then the people involved in the imprisonment of that person will have broken international law, because they have not treated that person as a prisoner of war under this protocol.

Article 2.-Definitions

For the purposes of this Protocol:

(a) "First Convention", "Second Convention", "Third Convention" and "Fourth Convention"...

(b) "Rules of international law applicable in armed conflict"...

(c) "Protecting Power" means a neutral or other State not a Party to the conflict which has been designated by a Party to the conflict and accepted by the adverse Party and has agreed to carry out the functions assigned to a Protecting Power under the Conventions and this Protocol;...

Article 5. states that parties to the conflict must make sure that there is supervision by a "Protecting Power". This article makes sure that in a conflict there are people, not part of the conflict, to monitor the implementation of the Geneva Conventions by the Parties to the conflict. Before this article was introduced the Geneva Conventions implied that this should be done, but there was no explicit treaty obligation for the parties to allow monitoring. The laws of war (Jus in bello) define the conduct and responsibilities of belligerent nations, neutral nations and individuals engaged in warfare, in relation to each other and to protected persons, usually meaning civilians. ...

Part II WOUNDED, SICK AND SHIPWRECKED

• Section I.-General protection
• Section II.-Medical transportation
• Section III.-Missing and dead persons

Part III METHODS AND MEANS OF WARFARE COMBATANT AND PRISONER-OF-WAR STATUS

Section I.-Methods and means of warfare

Article 35.-Basic rules

paragraph 3. states It is prohibited to employ methods or means of warfare which are intended, or may be expected, to cause widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural environment. In the case of threatening to retaliate in kind to weapons of mass destruction, this would seem to limit the use of atomic weapons to neutron bombs. A neutron bomb is a type of nuclear weapon specifically designed to release a relatively large portion of its energy as energetic neutron radiation. ...

The United Kingdom, one of the declared nuclear powers, in a "Declaration made upon signature"^[1] stated "(i) That the new rules introduced by the Protocol are not intended to have any effect on and do not regulate or prohibit the use of nuclear weapons;".

Article 44. -Combatants and prisoners of war

This is the most controversial section of Protocol I. More specifically the paragraphs 3 through to 5. It is the primary cause for US administrations not adopt this protocol.

3. In order to promote the protection of the civilian population from the effects of hostilities, combatants are obliged to distinguish themselves from the civilian population while they are engaged in an attack or in a military operation preparatory to an attack. Recognizing, however, that there are situations in armed conflicts where, owing to the nature of the hostilities an armed combatant cannot so distinguish himself, he shall retain his status as a combatant, provided that, in such situations, he carries his arms openly:

( a ) During each military engagement, and

( b ) During such time as he is visible to the adversary while he is engaged in a military deployment preceding the launching of an attack in which he is to participate.

Acts which comply with the requirements of this paragraph shall not be considered as perfidious within the meaning of Article 37, paragraph 1 ( c ).

4. A combatant who falls into the power of an adverse Party while failing to meet the requirements set forth in the second sentence of paragraph 3 shall forfeit his right to be a prisoner of war, but he shall, nevertheless, be given protections equivalent in all respects to those accorded to prisoners of war by the Third Convention and by this Protocol. This protection includes protections equivalent to those accorded to prisoners of war by the Third Convention in the case where such a person is tried and punished for any offences he has committed.

5. Any combatant who falls into the power of an adverse Party while not engaged in an attack or in a military operation preparatory to an attack shall not forfeit his rights to be a combatant and a prisoner of war by virtue of his prior activities.

This is a large extension of the laws of war because of the second sentence of paragraph 3. This sentence appears to give lawful combatant status to guerrillas who are not wearing a military uniform that distiguishes them from the civilian population. It has been generally accepted that to be a belligerent in a conflict one must be recognisable as such. As is stated in the first sentence, without such identification not only are belligerent occupation forces open to attack from combatants posing as civilians, but enemy civilians are more likely to be attacked by belligerent occupying forces who can use the legitimate legal defence that they thought they were engaging an enemy combatant. In general police are trained to asses the situation and only to fire if certain of their target's hostile intent, while soldiers are trained to asses a target and to fire if not certain of their targets peaceful intent. The laws of war (Jus in bello) define the conduct and responsibilities of belligerent nations, neutral nations and individuals engaged in warfare, in relation to each other and to protected persons, usually meaning civilians. ... Distinguish from the type of ape called a gorilla. ...

Section II.-Combatant and prisoner-of-war status

Article 47.-Mercenaries

See the article Mercenary for a detailed discussion on "Article 47"

Article 47 is a good indication of international community's view on what constitutes a mercenary. A mercenary is a soldier who fights, or engages in warfare primarily for private gain, usually with little regard for ideological, national or political considerations. ...

Declaration made upon signature

On signing an international treaty or convention, countries frequently enter reservations, or words to clarify their understanding of the document. For example the United Kingdom's declaration^[2] not only excluded nuclear weapons, (see above), but it also included clarification on many points including one which states that In relation to Article 44 that the situation described in the second sentence of paragraph 3 of the Article can exist only in occupied territory or in armed conflicts covered by paragraph 4 of Article 1, and ... [that] the word 'deployment' in paragraph 3(b) of the Article as meaning 'any movement towards a place from which an attack is to be launched';

Further reading

• 1977 Additional Protocols — short bibliography (by ICRC)
• "New rules for victims of armed conflicts, Commentary on the two 1977 Protocols additional to the Geneva Conventions of 1949", by M. Bothe, K.J.Partsch, W.A. Solf, Pub: Martinus Nijhoff The Hague/Boston/London, 1982, ISBN 9024725372
• "Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949" (eds) Sandoz Y., Swinarski C., Zimmermann B.; with the collaboration of Jean Pictet, C. Pilloud, J. de Preux, H. P. Gasser, C. F. Wenger, P. Eberlin and S. Junod, Pub ICRC/Martinus Nijhoff, Geneva, 1987, ISBN 9024734606

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is historically a committee of Swiss nationals, although non-Swiss nationals have recently been allowed (the committee appoints new members to itself to replace those who resign or die) which leads the international Red Cross movement (often simply known after its symbol...

External links

• International Review of the Red Cross, 1997 - No. 320 Special issue: 20th anniversary of the 1977 Additional Protocols
• U.N. document on Protocol I
• President Reagan's message to the Senate on Protocols I & II

Footnotes

see Wikipedia:Footnote3

1. ⇧ UK Declaration made upon signature - 12/12/1977 SOURCE: Corrected Letter of 28 January 1998 sent to the Swiss Government by Christopher Hulse, HM Ambassador of the United Kingdom. Link is to the web site Queen's University Belfast
2. ⇧ dito