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Additional Protocol I
Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949
and relating to the Protection of Victims of
International Armed Conflicts
Signed on 12 December 1977 - Entry into Force 7 December 1978
PART II: WOUNDED, SICK AND SHIPWRECKED
SECTION I: GENERAL PROTECTION
Article 8 - Terminology
Article 9 - Field of application
Article 10 - Protection and care
Article 11 - Protection of persons
Article 12 - Protection of medical units
Article 13 - Discontinuance of protection of civilian medical units
Article 14 - Limitations on requisition of civilian medical units
Article 15 - Protection of civilian medical and religious personnel
Article 16 - General protection of medical duties
Article 17 - Role of the civilian population and of aid societies
Article 18 - Identification
Article 19 - Neutral and other States not Parties to the Conflict
Article 20 - Prohibition of reprisals
Article 21 - Medical vehicles
Article 22 - Hospital ships and coastal rescue craft
Article 23 - Other medical ships and craft
Article 24 - Protection of medical aircraft
Article 25 - Medical aircraft in areas not controlled by an adverse Party
Article 26 - Medical aircraft in contact or similat zones
Article 27 - Medical aircraft in areas controlled by an adverse Party
Article 28 - Restrictions on operations of medical aircraft
Article 29 - Notifications and agreements concerning medical aircraft
Article 30 - Landing and inspection of medical aircraft
Article 31 - Neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict
Article 32 - General principle
Article 33 - Missing persons
Article 34 - Remains of deceased
Section I : General Protection
Art 8. Terminology
For the purposes of this Protocol:
(1) "Wounded" and "sick" mean persons, whether military or civilian, who,
because of trauma, disease or other physical or mental disorder or
disability, are in need of medical assistance or care and who refrain from
any act of hostility. These terms also cover maternity cases, new-born
babies and other persons who may be in need of immediate medical assistance
or care, such as the infirm or expectant mothers, and who refrain from any
act of hostility;
(2) "Shipwrecked" means persons, whether military or civilian, who are in
peril at sea or in other waters as a result of misfortune affecting them or
the vessel or aircraft carrying them and who refrain from any act of
hostility. These persons, provided that they continue to refrain from any
act of hostility, shall continue to be considered shipwrecked during their
rescue until they acquire another status under the Conventions or this
Protocol;
(3) "Medical personnel" means those persons assigned, by a Party to the
conflict, exclusively to the medical purposes enumerated under (5) or to the
administration of medical units or to the operation or administration of
medical transports. Such assignments may be either permanent or
temporary. The term includes:
(a) medical personnel of a Party to the conflict, whether military or
civilian, including those described in the First and Second Conventions, and
those assigned to civil defence organizations;
(b) medical personnel of national Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion and
Sun) Societies and other national voluntary aid societies duly recognized
and authorized by a Party to the conflict;
(c) medical personnel or medical units or medical transports described in
Article 9, paragraph 2.
(4) "Religious personnel" means military or civilian persons, such as
chaplains, who are exclusively engaged in the work of their ministry and
attached:
(a) to the armed forces of a Party to the conflict;
(b) to medical units or medical transports of a Party to the conflict;
(c) to medical units or medical transports described in Article 9, Paragraph
2; or
(d) to civil defence organizations of a Party to the conflict.
The attachment of religious personnel may be either permanent or
temporary, and the relevant provisions mentioned under (11) apply to them;
(5) "Medical units" means establishments and other units, whether
military or civilian, organized for medical purposes, namely the search for,
collection, transportation, diagnosis or treatment - including first-aid
treatment - of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, or for the prevention of
disease. The term includes for example, hospitals and other similar units,
blood transfusion centres, preventive medicine centres and institutes,
medical depots and the medical and pharmaceutical stores of such units.
Medical units may be fixed or mobile, permanent or temporary;
(6) "Medical transportation" means the conveyance by land, water or air
of the wounded, sick, shipwrecked, medical personnel, religious personnel,
medical equipment or medical supplies protected by the Conventions and by
this Protocol;
(7) "Medical transports" means any means of transportation, whether
military or civilian, permanent or temporary, assigned exclusively to
medical transportation and under the control of a competent authority of a
Party to the conflict;
(8) "Medical vehicles" means any medical transports by land;
(9) "Medical ships and craft" means any medical transports by water;
(10) "Medical aircraft" means any medical transports by air;
(11) "Permanent medical personnel", "permanent medical units" and
"permanent medical transports" mean those assigned exclusively to medical
purposes for an indeterminate period. "Temporary medical personnel"
"temporary medical-units" and "temporary medical transports" mean those
devoted exclusively to medical purposes for limited periods during the whole
of such periods. Unless otherwise specified, the terms "medical personnel",
"medical units" and "medical transports" cover both permanent and temporary
categories;
(12) "Distinctive emblem" means the distinctive emblem of the red cross,
red crescent or red lion and sun on a white ground when used for the
protection of medical units and transports, or medical ana religious
personnel, equipment or supplies;
(13) "Distinctive signal" means any signal or message specified for the
identification exclusively of medical units or transports in Chapter III of
Annex I to this Protocol.
Art 9. Field of application
1. This Part, the provisions of which are intended to ameliorate the
condition of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, shall apply to all those
affected by a situation referred to in Article 1, without any adverse
distinction founded on race, colour, sex, language, religion or belief
political or other opinion, national or social origin, wealth, birth or
other status, or on any other similar criteria.
2. The relevant provisions of Articles 27 and 32 of the First Convention
shall apply to permanent medical units and transports (other than hospital
ships, to which Article 25 of the Second Convention applies) and their
personnel made available to a Party to the conflict for humanitarian
purposes:
(a) by a neutral or other State which is not a Party to that conflict;
(b) by a recognized and authorized aid society of such a State;
(c) by an impartial international humanitarian organization.
Art10. Protection and care
1. All the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, to whichever Party they belong,
shall be respected and protected.
2. In all circumstances they shall be treated humanely and shall receive,
to the fullest extent practicable and with the least possible delay, the
medical care and attention required by their condition. There shall be no
distinction among them founded on any grounds other than medical ones.
Article 11 - Protection of persons
1. The physical or mental health and integrity of persons who are in the
power of the adverse Party or who are interned, detained or otherwise
deprived of liberty as a result of a situation referred to in Article 1
shall not be endangered by any unjustified act or omission. Accordingly, it
is prohibited to subject the persons described in this Article to any
medical procedure which is not indicated by the state of health of the
person concerned and which is not consistent with generally accepted medical
standards which would be applied under similar medical circumstances to
persons who are nationals of the Party conducting the procedure and who are
in no way deprived of liberty.
2. It is, in particular, prohibited to carry out on such persons, even
with
their consent:
(a) physical mutilations;
(b) medical or scientific experiments;
(c) removal of tissue or organs for transplantation, except where these acts
are justified in conformity with the conditions provided for in paragraph 1.
3. Exceptions to the prohibition in paragraph 2 (c) may be made only in
the case of donations of blood for transfusion or of skin for grafting,
provided that they are given voluntarily and without any coercion or
inducement, and then only for therapeutic purposes, under conditions
consistent with generally accepted medical standards and controls designed
for the benefit of both the donor and the recipient.
4. Any wilful act or omission which seriously endangers the physical or
mental health or integrity of any person who is in the power of a Party
other than the one on which he depends and which either violates any of the
prohibitions in paragraphs 1 and 2 or fails to comply with the requirements
of paragraph 3 shall be a grave breach of this Protocol.
5. The persons described in paragraph 1 have the right to refuse any
surgical operation. In case of refusal, medical personnel shall endeavour to
obtain a written statement to that effect, signed or acknowledged by the
patient.
6. Each Party to the conflict shall keep a medical record for every
donation of blood for transfusion or skin for grafting by persons referred
to in paragraph 1, if that donation is made under the responsibility of that
Party. In addition, each Party to the conflict shall endeavour to keep a
record of all medical procedures undertaken with respect to any person who
is interned, detained or otherwise deprived of liberty as a result of a
situation referred to in Article 1. These records shall be available at all
times for inspection by the Protecting Power.
Art12.
Protection of medical units
1. Medical units shall be respected and protected at all times and shall
not be the object of attack.
2. Paragraph 1 shall apply to civilian medical units, provided that they:
(a) belong to one of the Parties to the conflict;
(b) are recognized and authorized by the competent authority of one of the
Parties to the conflict; or
(c) are authorized in conformity with Article 9, paragraph 2, of this
Protocol or Article 27 of the First Convention.
3. The Parties to the conflict are invited to notify each other of the
location of their fixed medical units. The absence of such notification
shall not exempt any of the Parties from the obligation to comply with the
provisions of paragraph 1.
4. Under no circumstances shall medical units be used in an attempt to
shield military objectives from attack. Whenever possible, the Parties to
the conflict shall ensure that medical units are so sited that attacks
against military objectives do not imperil their safety.
Art 13. Discontinuance of protection of civilian medical units
1. The protection to which civilian medical units are entitled shall not
cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian function,
acts harmful to the enemy. Protection may, however, cease only after a
warning has been given setting, whenever appropriate, a reasonable
time-limit, and after such warning has remained unheeded.
2. The following shall not be considered as acts harmful to the enemy:
(a) that the personnel of the unit are equipped with light individual
weapons for their own defence or for that of the wounded and sick in their
charge;
(b) that the unit is guarded by a picket or by sentries or by an escort;
(c) that small arms and ammunition taken from the wounded and sick, and not
yet handed to the proper service, are found in the units;
(d) that members of the armed forces or other combatants are in the unit for
medical reasons.
Article 14 - Limitations on requisition of civilian medical units
1. The Occupying Power has the duty to ensure that the medical needs of
the civilian population in occupied territory continue to be satisfied.
2. The Occupying Power shall not, therefore, requisition civilian medical
units, their equipment, their matriel or the services of their personnel, so
long as these resources are necessary for the provision of adequate medical
services for the civilian population and for the continuing medical care of
any wounded and sick already under treatment.
3. Provided that the general rule in paragraph 2 continues to be
observed, the Occupying Power may requisition the said resources, subject to
the following particular conditions:
(a) that the resources are necessary for the adequate and immediate medical
treatment of the wounded and sick members of the armed forces of the
Occupying Power or of prisoners of war;
(b) that the requisition continues only while such necessity exists; and
(c) that immediate arrangements are made to ensure that the medical needs of
the civilian population, as well as those of any wounded and sick under
treatment who are affected by the requisition, continue to be satisfied.
Art 15. Protection of civilian medical and religious personnel
1. Civilian medical personnel shall be respected and protected.
2. If needed, all available help shall be afforded to civilian medical
personnel in an area where civilian medical services are disrupted by reason
of combat activity.
3. The Occupying Power shall afford civilian medical personnel in
occupied territories every assistance to enable them to perform, to the best
of their ability, their humanitarian functions. The Occupying Power may not
require that, in the performance of those functions, such personnel shall
give priority to the treatment of any person except on medical grounds. They
shall not be compelled to carry out tasks which are not compatible with
their humanitarian mission.
4. Civilian medical personnel shall have access to any place where their
services are essential, subject to such supervisory and safety measures as
the relevant Party to the conflict may deem necessary.
5. Civilian religious personnel shall be respected and protected. The
provisions of the Conventions and of this Protocol concerning the protection
and identification of medical personnel shall apply equally to such persons.
Art 16. General protection of medical duties
1. Under no circumstances shall any person be punished for carrying out
medical activities compatible with medical ethics, regardless of the person
benefiting therefrom.
2. Persons engaged in medical activities shall not be compelled to
perform acts or to carry out work contrary to the rules of medical ethics or
to other medical rules designed for the benefit of the wounded and sick or
to the provisions of the Conventions or of this Protocol, or to refrain from
performing acts or from carrying out work required by those rules and
provisions.
3. No person engaged in medical activities shall be compelled to give to
anyone belonging either to an adverse Party, or to his own Party except as
required by the law of the latter Party, any information concerning the
wounded and sick who are, or who have been, under his care, if such
information would, in his opinion, prove harmful to the patients concerned
or to their families. Regulations for the compulsory notification of
communicable diseases shall, however, be respected.
Art 17. Role of the civilian population and of aid societies
1. The civilian population shall respect the wounded, sick and
shipwrecked, even if they belong to the adverse Party, and shall commit no
act of violence against them. The civilian population and aid societies,
such as national Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion and Sun) Societies, shall
be permitted, even on their own initiative, to collect and care for the
wounded, sick and shipwrecked, even in invaded or occupied areas. No one
shall be harmed, prosecuted, convicted or punished for such humanitarian
acts.
2. The Parties to the conflict may appeal to the civilian population and
the aid societies referred to in paragraph 1 to collect and care for the
wounded, sick and shipwrecked, and to search for the dead and report their
location; they shall grant both protection and the necessary facilities to
those who respond to this appeal. If the adverse Party gains or regains
control of the area, that Party also shall afford the same protection and
facilities for as long as they are needed.
Art 18. Identification
1. Each Party to the conflict shall endeavour to ensure that medical and
religious personnel and medical units and transports are identifiable.
2. Each Party to the conflict shall also endeavour to adopt and to
implement methods and procedures which will make it possible to recognize
medical units and transports which use the distinctive emblem and
distinctive signals.
3. In occupied territory and in areas where fighting is taking place or
is likely to take place, civilian medical personnel and civilian religious
personnel should be recognizable by the distinctive emblem and an identity
card certifying their status.
4. With the consent of the competent authority, medical units and
transports shall be marked by the distinctive emblem. The ships and craft
referred to in Article 22 of this Protocol shall be marked in accordance
with the provisions of the Second Convention.
5. In addition to the distinctive emblem, a Party to the conflict may, as
provided in Chapter III of Annex I to this Protocol, authorize the use of
distinctive signals to identify medical units and transports. Exceptionally,
in the special cases covered in that Chapter, medical transports may use
distinctive signals without displaying the distinctive emblem.
6. The application of the provisions of paragraphs 1 to 5 of this article
is governed by Chapters I to III of Annex I to this Protocol. Signals
designated in Chapter III of the Annex for the exclusive use of medical
units and transports shall not, except as provided therein, be used for any
purpose other than to identify the medical units and transports specified in
that Chapter.
7. This article does not authorize any wider use of the distinctive
emblem in peacetime than is prescribed in Article 44 of the First
Convention.
8. The provisions of the Conventions and of this Protocol relating to
supervision of the use of the distinctive emblem and to the prevention and
repression of any misuse thereof shall be applicable to distinctive signals.
Art 19. Neutral and other States not Parties to the conflict
Neutral and other States not Parties to the conflict shall apply the relevant
provisions of this Protocol to persons protected by this Part who may be
received or interned within their territory, and to any dead of the Parties to
that conflict whom they may find.
Arti 20. - Prohibition of reprisals
Reprisals against the persons and objects protected by this Part are
prohibited.
SECTION II. MEDICAL TRANSPORTATION
Art 21. Medical vehicles
Medical vehicles shall be respected and protected in the same way as mobile
medical units under the Conventions and this Protocol.
Art 22. Hospital ships and coastal rescue craft
1. The provisions of the Conventions relating to:
(a) vessels described in Articles 22, 24, 25 and 27 of the Second
Convention,
(b) their lifeboats and small craft,
(c) their personnel and crews, and
(d) the wounded; sick and shipwrecked on board.
shall also apply where these vessels carry civilian wounded, sick and
shipwrecked who do not belong to any of the categories mentioned in Article
13 of the Second Convention. Such civilians shall not, however, be subject
to surrender to any Party which is not their own, or to capture at sea. If
they find themselves in the power of a Party to the conflict other than
their own they shall be covered by the Fourth Convention and by this
Protocol.
2. The protection provided by the Conventions to vessels described in
Article 25 of the Second Convention shall extend to hospital ships made
available for humanitarian purposes to a Party to the conflict:
(a) by a neutral or other State which is not a Party to that conflict; or
(b) by an impartial international humanitarian organization,
provided that, in either case, the requirements set out in that Article
are complied with.
3. Small craft described in Article 27 of the Second Convention shall be
protected, even if the notification envisaged by that Article has not been
made. The Parties to the conflict are, nevertheless, invited to inform each
other of any details of such craft which will facilitate their
identification and recognition.
Art 23. Other medical ships and craft
1. Medical ships and craft other than those referred to in Article 22 of
this Protocol and Article 38 of the Second Convention shall, whether at sea
or in other waters, be respected and protected in the same way as mobile
medical units under the Conventions and this Protocol. Since this protection
can only be effective if they can be identified and recognized as medical
ships or craft, such vessels should be marked with the distinctive emblem
and as far as possible comply with the second paragraph of Article 43 of the
Second Convention.
2. The ships and craft referred to in paragraph 1 shall remain subject to
the laws of war. Any warship on the surface able immediately to enforce its
command may order them to stop, order them off, or make them take a certain
course, and they shall obey every such command. Such ships and craft may not
in any other way be diverted from their medical mission so long as they are
needed for the wounded, sick and shipwrecked on board.
3. The protection provided in paragraph 1 shall cease only under the
conditions set out in Articles 34 and 35 of the Second Convention. A clear
refusal to obey a command given in accordance with paragraph 2 shall be an
act harmful to the enemy under Article 34 of the Second Convention.
4. A Party to the conflict may notify any adverse Party as far in advance
of sailing as possible of the name, description, expected time of sailing,
course and estimated speed of the medical ship or craft, particularly in the
case of ships of over 2,000 gross tons, and may provide any other
information which would facilitate identification and recognition. The
adverse Party shall acknowledge receipt of such information.
5. The provisions of Article 37 of the Second Convention shall apply to
medical and religious personnel in such ships and craft.
6. The provisions of the Second Convention shall apply to the wounded,
sick and shipwrecked belonging to the categories referred to in Article 13
of the Second Convention and in Article 44 of this Protocol who may be on
board such medical ships and craft. Wounded, sick and shipwrecked civilians
who do not belong to any or the categories mentioned in Article 13 of the
Second Convention shall not be subject, at sea, either to surrender to any
Party which is not their own, or to removal from such ships or craft; if
they find themselves in the power of a Party to the conflict other than
their own, they shall be covered by the Fourth Convention and by this
Protocol.
Art 24. Protection of medical Aircraft
Medical aircraft shall be respected and protected, subject to the provisions of
this Part.
Art 25. Medical aircraft in areas not controlled by an adverse Party
In and over land areas physically controlled by friendly forces, or in and over
sea areas not physically controlled by an adverse Party, the respect and
protection of medical aircraft of a Party to the conflict is not dependent on
any agreement with an adverse Party. For greater safety, however, a Party to the
conflict operating its medical aircraft in these areas may notify the adverse
Party, as provided in Article 29, in particular when such aircraft are making
flights bringing them within range of surface-to-air weapons systems of the
adverse Party.
Art 26. Medical aircraft in contact or similar zones
1. ln and over those parts of the contact zone which are physically
controlled by friendly forces and in and over those areas the physical
control of which is not clearly established, protection for medical aircraft
can be fully effective only by prior agreement between the competent
military authorities of the Parties to the conflict, as provided for in
Article 29. Although, in the absence of such an agreement, medical aircraft
operate at their own risk, they shall nevertheless be respected after they
have been recognized as such.
2. "Contact zone" means any area on land where the forward elements of
opposing forces are in contact with each other, especially where they are
exposed to direct fire from the ground.
Art 27. Medical aircraft in areas controlled by an adverse Party
1. The medical aircraft of a Party to the conflict shall continue to be
protected while flying over land or sea areas physically controlled by an
adverse Party, provided that prior agreement to such flights has been
obtained from the competent authority of that adverse Party.
2. A medical aircraft which flies over an area physically controlled by
an adverse Party without, or in deviation from the terms of, an agreement
provided for in paragraph 1, either through navigational error or because of
an emergency affecting the safety of the flight, shall make every effort to
identify itself and to inform the adverse Party of the circumstances. As
soon as such medical aircraft has been recognized by the adverse Party, that
Party shall make all reasonable efforts to give the order to land or to
alight on water, referred to in Article 30, paragraph 1, or to take other
measures to safeguard its own interests, and, in either case, to allow the
aircraft time for compliance, before resorting to an attack against the
aircraft.
Art 28. Restrictions on operations of medical aircraft
1. The Parties to the conflict are prohibited from using their medical
aircraft to attempt to acquire any military advantage over an adverse Party.
The presence of medical aircraft shall not be used in an attempt to render
military objectives immune from attack.
2. Medical aircraft shall not be used to collect or transmit intelligence
data and shall not carry any equipment intended for such purposes. They are
prohibited from carrying any persons or cargo not included within the
definition in Article 8 (6). The carrying on board of the personal effects
of the occupants or of equipment intended solely to facilitate navigation,
communication or identification shall not be considered as prohibited,
3. Medical aircraft shall not carry any armament except small arms and
ammunition taken from the wounded, sick and shipwrecked on board and not yet
handed to the proper service, and such light individual weapons as may be
necessary to enable the medical personnel on board to defend themselves and
the wounded, sick and shipwrecked in their charge.
4. While carrying out the flights referred to in Articles 26 and 27,
medical aircraft shall not, except by prior agreement with the adverse
Party, be used to search for the wounded, sick and shipwrecked.
Art 29. Notifications and agreements concerning medical aircraft
1. Notifications under Article 25, or requests for prior agreement under
Articles 26, 27, 28, paragraph 4, or 31 shall state the proposed number of
medical aircraft, their flight plans and means of identification, and shall
be understood to mean that every flight will be carried out in compliance
with Article 28.
2. A Party which receives a notification given under Article 25 shall at
once acknowledge receipt of such notification. 3. A Party which receives a
request for prior agreement under Articles 25, 27, 28, paragraph 4, or 31
shall, as rapidly as possible, notify the
requesting Party:
(a) that the request is agreed to;
(b) that the request is denied; or
(c) of reasonable alternative proposals to the request. It may also propose
prohibition or restriction of other flights in the area during the time
involved. If the Party which submitted the request accepts the alternative
proposals, it shall notify the other Party of such acceptance.
4. The Parties shall take the necessary measures to ensure that
notifications and agreements can be made rapidly.
5. The Parties shall also take the necessary measures to disseminate
rapidly the substance of any such notifications and agreements to the
military units concerned and shall instruct those units regarding the means
of identification that will be used by the medical aircraft in question.
Art 30. Landing and inspection of medical aircraft
1. Medical aircraft flying over areas which are physically controlled by an
adverse Party, or over areas the physical control of which is not clearly
established, may be ordered to land or to alight on water, as appropriate,
to permit inspection in accordance with the following paragragraphs [sic].
Medical aircraft shall obey any such order.
2. If such an aircraft lands or alights on water, whether ordered to do
so or for other reasons, it may be subjected to inspection solely to
determine the matters referred to in paragraphs 3 and 4. Any such inspection
shall be commenced without delay and shall be conducted expeditiously. The
inspecting Party shall not require the wounded and sick to be removed from
the aircraft unless their removal is essential for the inspection. That
Party shall in any event ensure that the condition of the wounded and sick
is not adversely affected by the inspection or by the removal.
3. If the inspection discloses that the aircraft:
(a) is a medical aircraft within the meaning of Article 8 (10),
(b) is not in violation of the conditions prescribed in Article 28, and
(c) has not flown without or in breach of a prior agreement where such
agreement is required,
the aircraft and those of its occupants who belong to the adverse Party
or to a neutral or other State not a Party to the conflict shall be
authorized to continue the flight without delay.
4. If the inspection discloses that the aircraft:
(a) is not a medical aircraft within the meaning of Article 8 (10),
(b) is in violation or the conditions prescribed in Article 28, or
(c) has flown without or in breach of a prior agreement where such agreement
is required,
the aircraft may be seized. Its occupants shall be treated in conformity with
the relevant provisions of the Conventions and of this Protocol. Any aircraft
seized which had been assigned as a permanent medical aircraft may be used
thereafter only as a medical aircraft.
Art 31. Neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict
1. Except by prior agreement, medical aircraft shall not fly over or land in
the territory of a neutral or other State not a Party to the conflict.
However, with such an agreement, they shall be respected throughout their
flight and also for the duration of any calls in the territory. Nevertheless
they shall obey any summons to land or to alight on water, as appropriate.
2. Should a medical aircraft, in the absence of an agreement or in
deviation from the terms of an agreement, fly over the territory of a
neutral or other State not a Party to the conflict, either through
navigational error or because of an emergency affecting the safety of the
flight, it shall make every effort to give notice of the flight and to
identify itself. As soon as such medical aircraft is recognized, that State
shall make all reasonable efforts to give the order to land or to alight on
water referred to in Article 30, paragraph 1, or to take other measures to
safeguard its own interests, and, in either case, to allow the aircraft time
for compliance, before resorting to an attack against the aircraft.
3. If a medical aircraft, either by agreement or in the circumstances
mentioned in paragraph 2, lands or alights on water in the territory of a
neutral or other State not Party to the conflict, whether ordered to do so
or for other reasons, the aircraft shall be subject to inspection for the
purposes of determining whether it is in fact a medical aircraft. The
inspection shall be commenced without delay and shall be conducted
expeditiously. The inspecting Party shall not require the wounded and sick
of the Party operating the aircraft to be removed from it unless their
removal is essential for the inspection. The inspecting Party shall in any
event ensure that the condition of the wounded and sick is not adversely
affected by the inspection or the removal. If the inspection discloses that
the aircraft is in fact a medical aircraft, the aircraft with its occupants,
other than those who must be detained in accordance with the rules of
international law applicable in armed conflict, shall be allowed to resume
its flight, and reasonable facilities shall be given for the continuation of
the flight. If the inspection discloses that the aircraft is not a medical
aircraft, it shall be seized and the occupants treated in accordance with
paragraph 4.
4. The wounded, sick and shipwrecked disembarked, otherwise than
temporarily, from a medical aircraft with the consent of the local
authorities in the territory of a neutral or other State not a Party to the
conflict shall, unless agreed otherwise between that State and the Parties
to the conflict, be detained by that State where so required by the rules of
international law applicable in armed conflict, in such a manner that they
cannot again take part in the hostilities. The cost of hospital treatment
and internment shall be borne by the State to which those persons belong.
5. Neutral or other States not Parties to the conflict shall apply any
conditions and restrictions on the passage of medical aircraft over, or on
the landing of medical aircraft in, their territory equally to all Parties
to the conflict.
Section III Missing and Dead Persons
Art 32. General principle
In the implementation of this Section, the activities of the High Contracting
Parties, of the Parties to the conflict and of the international humanitarian
organizations mentioned in the Conventions and in this Protocol shall be
prompted mainly by the right of families to know the fate of their relatives.
Art 33. Missing persons
1. As soon as circumstances permit, and at the latest from the end of active
hostilities, each Party to the conflict shall search for the persons who
have been reported missing by an adverse Party. Such adverse Party shall
transmit all relevant information concerning such persons in order to
facilitate such searches.
2. In order to facilitate the gathering of information pursuant to the
preceding paragraph, each Party to the conflict shall, with respect to
persons who would not receive more favourable consideration under the
Conventions and this Protocol:
(a) record the information specified in Article 138 of the Fourth Convention
in respect of such persons who have been detained, imprisoned or otherwise
held in captivity for more than two weeks as a result of hostilities or
occupation, or who have died during any period of detention;
(b) to the fullest extent possible, facilitate and, if need be, carry out
the search for and the recording of information concerning such persons if
they have died in other circumstances as a result of hostilities or
occupation.
3. Information concerning persons reported missing pursuant to paragraph
1 and requests for such information shall be transmitted either directly or
through the Protecting Power or the Central Tracing Agency of the
International Committee of the Red Cross or national Red Cross (Red
Crescent, Red Lion and Sun) Societies. Where the information is not
transmitted through the International Committee of the Red Cross and its
Central Tracing Agency, each Party to the conflict shall ensure that such
information is also supplied to the Central Tracing Agency.
4. The Parties to the conflict shall endeavour to agree on arrangements
for teams to search for, identify and recover the dead from battlefield
areas, including arrangements, if appropriate, for such teams to be
accompanied by personnel of the adverse Party while carrying out these
missions in areas controlled by the adverse Party. Personnel of such teams
shall be respected and protected while exclusively carrying out these
duties.
Art 34. Remains of deceased
1. The remains of persons who have died for reasons related to occupation or
in detention resulting from occupation or hostilities and those or persons
not nationals of the country in which they have died as a result of
hostilities shall be respected, and the gravesites of all such persons shall
be respected, maintained and marked as provided for in Article 130 of the
Fourth Convention, where their remains or gravesites would not receive more
favourable consideration under the Conventions and this Protocol.
2. As soon as circumstances and the relations between the adverse Parties
permit, the High Contracting Parties in whose territories graves and, as the
case may be, other locations of the remains of persons who have died as a
result of hostilities or during occupation or in detention are situated,
shall conclude agreements in order:
(a) to facilitate access to the gravesites by relatives of the deceased and
by representatives of official graves registration services and to regulate
the practical arrangements for such access;
(b) to protect and maintain such gravesites permanently;
(c) to facilitate the return of the remains of the deceased and of personal
effects to the home country upon its request or, unless that country
objects, upon the request of the next of kin.
3. In the absence of the agreements provided for in paragraph 2 (b) or
(c) and if the home country or such deceased is not willing to arrange at
its expense for the maintenance of such gravesites, the High Contracting
Party in whose territory the gravesites are situated may offer to facilitate
the return of the remains of the deceased to the home country. Where such an
offer has not been accepted the High Contracting Party may, after the expiry
of five years from the date of the offer and upon due notice to the home
country, adopt the arrangements laid down in its own laws relating to
cemeteries and graves.
4. A High Contracting Party in whose territory the grave sites referred
to
in this Article are situated shall be permitted to exhume the remains only:
(a) in accordance with paragraphs 2 (c) and 3, or
(b) where exhumation is a matter or overriding public necessity, including
cases of medical and investigative necessity, in which case the High
Contracting Party shall at all times respect the remains, and shall give
notice to the home country or its intention to exhume the remains together
with details of the intended place of reinterment.
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