Article 80 - Measures for execution
Article 81 - Activities of the
Red Cross and other humanitarian organizations
Article 82 - Legal
advisers in armed forces
Article 83 - Dissemination
Article 84 -
Rules of application
Article 85 - Repression of breaches of this Protocol
Article 86 -
Failure to act
Article 87 - Duty of commanders
Article 88 - Mutual
assistance in criminal matters
Article 89 - Co-operation
Article
90 - International Fact-Finding Commission
Article 91 -
Responsibility
Section I. General
Provisions
Art 80. Measures for execution
1. The High Contracting Parties and the Parties to the
conflict shall without delay take all necessary measures for the
execution of their obligations under the Conventions and this
Protocol.
2. The High Contracting Parties and the Parties to the conflict
shall give orders and instructions to ensure observance of the
Conventions and this Protocol, and shall supervise their execution.
Art 81. Activities of the Red Cross and other humanitarian
organizations
1. The Parties to the conflict shall grant to the
International Committee of the Red Cross all facilities, within
their power so as to enable it to carry out the humanitarian
functions assigned to it by the Conventions and this Protocol in
order to ensure protection and assistance to the victims of
conflicts; the International Committee of the Red Cross may also
carry out any other humanitarian activities in favour of these
victims, subject to the consent of the Parties to the conflict
concerned.
2. The Parties to the conflict shall grant to their respective
Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion and Sun) organizations the
facilities necessary for carrying out their humanitarian activities
in favour of the victims of the conflict, in accordance with the
provisions of the Conventions and this Protocol and the fundamental
principles of the Red Cross as formulated by the International
Conferences of the Red Cross.
3. The High Contracting Parties and the Parties to the conflict
shall facilitate in every possible way the assistance which Red
Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion and Sun) organizations and the League
of Red Cross Societies extend to the victims of conflicts in
accordance with the provisions of the Conventions and this Protocol
and with the fundamental principles of the red Cross as formulated
by the International Conferences of the Red Cross.
4. The High Contracting Parties and the Parties to the conflict
shall, as far as possible, make facilities similar to those
mentioned in paragraphs 2 and 3 available to the other humanitarian
organizations referred to in the Conventions and this Protocol which
are duly authorized by the respective Parties to the conflict and
which perform their humanitarian activities in accordance with the
provisions of the Conventions and this Protocol.
Art 82. Legal advisers in armed forces
The High Contracting
Parties at all times, and the Parties to the conflict in time of armed
conflict, shall ensure that legal advisers are available, when
necessary, to advise military commanders at the appropriate level on the
application of the Conventions and this Protocol and on the appropriate
instruction to be given to the armed forces on this subject.
Art 83. Dissemination
1. The High Contracting Parties undertake, in time of peace
as in time of armed conflict, to disseminate the Conventions and
this Protocol as widely as possible in their respective countries
and, in particular, to include the study thereof in their programmes
of military instruction and to encourage the study thereof by the
civilian population, so that those instruments may become known to
the armed forces and to the civilian population.
2. Any military or civilian authorities who, in time of armed
conflict, assume responsibilities in respect of the application of
the Conventions and this Protocol shall be fully acquainted with the
text thereof.
Art 84. Rules of application
The High Contracting Parties shall communicate to one another, as
soon as possible, through the depositary and, as appropriate, through
the Protecting Powers, their official translations of this Protocol, as
well as the laws and regulations which they may adopt to ensure its
application.
Section II. Repression of Breaches of the Conventions and of this
Protocol
Article 85 - Repression of breaches of this Protocol
1. The provisions of the Conventions relating to the
repression of breaches and grave breaches, supplemented by this
Section, shall apply to the repression of breaches and grave
breaches of this Protocol.
2. Acts described as grave breaches in the Conventions are grave
breaches of this Protocol if committed against persons in the power
of an adverse Party protected by Articles 44, 45 and 73 of this
Protocol, or against the wounded, sick and shipwrecked of the
adverse Party who are protected by this Protocol, or against those
medical or religious personnel, medical units or medical transports
which are under the control of the adverse Party and are protected
by this Protocol.
3. In addition to the grave breaches defined in Article 11, the
following acts shall be regarded as grave breaches of this Protocol,
when committed wilfully, in violation of the relevant provisions of
this Protocol, and
causing death or serious injury to body or
health:
(a) making the civilian population or individual
civilians the object of attack;
(b) launching an indiscriminate
attack affecting the civilian population or civilian objects in the
knowledge that such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury
to civilians or damage to civilian objects, as defined in Article
57, paragraph 2 (a)(iii);
(c) launching an attack against works
or installations containing dangerous forces in the knowledge that
such attack will cause excessive loss of life, injury to civilians
or damage to civilian objects, as defined in Article 57, paragraph 2
(a)(iii);
(d) making non-defended localities and demilitarized
zones the object of attack;
(e) making a person the object of
attack in the knowledge that he is hors de combat;
(f) the
perfidious use, in violation of Article 37, of the distinctive
emblem of the red cross, red crescent or red lion and sun or of
other protective signs recognized by the Conventions or this
Protocol.
4. In addition to the grave breaches defined in the preceding
paragraphs and in the Conventions, the following shall be regarded
as grave breaches of this Protocol, when committed wilfully and in
violation of the
Conventions or the Protocol:
(a) the transfer
by the occupying Power of parts of its own civilian population into
the territory it occupies, or the deportation or transfer of all or
parts of the population of the occupied territory within or outside
this territory, in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Convention;
(b) unjustifiable delay in the repatriation of prisoners of war or
civilians;
(c) practices of apartheid and other inhuman and
degrading practices involving outrages upon personal dignity, based
on racial discrimination;
(d) making the clearly-recognized
historic monuments, works of art or places of worship which
constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of peoples and to
which special protection has been given by special arrangement, for
example, within the framework of a competent international
organization, the object of attack, causing as a result extensive
destruction thereof, where there is no evidence of the violation by
the adverse Party of Article 53, subparagraph (b), and when such
historic monuments, works of art and places of worship are not
located in the immediate proximity of military objectives;
(e)
depriving a person protected by the Conventions or referred to in
paragraph 2 or this Article of the rights of fair and regular trial.
5. Without prejudice to the application of the Conventions and of
this Protocol, grave breaches of these instruments shall be regarded
as war crimes.
Art 86. Failure to act
1. The High Contracting Parties and the Parties to the
conflict shall repress grave breaches, and take measures necessary
to suppress all other breaches, of the Conventions or of this
Protocol which result from a failure to act when under a duty to do
so.
2. The fact that a breach of the Conventions or of this Protocol
was committed by a subordinate does not absolve his superiors from
penal disciplinary responsibility, as the case may be, if they knew,
or had information which should have enabled them to conclude in the
circumstances at the time, that he was committing or was going to
commit such a breach and if they did not take all feasible measures
within their power to prevent or repress the breach.
Art 87. Duty of commanders
1. The High Contracting Parties and the Parties to the
conflict shall require military commanders, with respect to members
of the armed forces under their command and other persons under
their control, to prevent and, where necessary, to suppress and to
report to competent authorities breaches of the Conventions and of
this Protocol.
2. In order to prevent and suppress breaches, High Contracting
Parties and Parties to the conflict shall require that, commensurate
with their level of responsibility, commanders ensure that members
of the armed forces under their command are aware of their
obligations under the Conventions and this Protocol.
3. The High Contracting Parties and Parties to the conflict shall
require any commander who is aware that subordinates or other
persons under his control are going to commit or have committed a
breach of the Conventions or of this Protocol, to initiate such
steps as are necessary to prevent such violations of the Conventions
or this Protocol, and, where appropriate, to initiate disciplinary
or penal action against violators thereof.
Art 88. Mutual assistance in criminal matters
1. The High Contracting Parties shall afford one another the
greatest measure of assistance in connexion with criminal
proceedings brought in respect of grave breaches of the Conventions
or of this Protocol.
2. Subject to the rights and obligations established in the
Conventions and in Article 85, paragraph 1 of this Protocol, and
when circumstances permit, the High Contracting Parties shall
co-operate in the matter of extradition. They shall give due
consideration to the request of the State in whose territory the
alleged offence has occurred.
3. The law of the High Contracting Party requested shall apply in
all cases. The provisions of the preceding paragraphs shall not,
however, affect the obligations arising from the provisions of any
other treaty of a bilateral or multilateral nature which governs or
will govern the whole or part of the subject of mutual assistance in
criminal matters.
Art 89. Co-operation
In situations of serious violations or the
Conventions or of this Protocol, the High Contracting Parties undertake
to act jointly or individually, in co-operation with the United Nations
and in conformity with the United Nations Charter.
Art 90. International Fact-Finding Commission
1. (a) An International Fact-Finding Commission (hereinafter
referred to as "the Commission") consisting of 15 members of high
moral standing and acknowledged impartiality shall be established;
(b) When not less than 20 High Contracting Parties have agreed to
accept the competence of the Commission pursuant to paragraph 2, the
depositary shall then, and at intervals of five years thereafter,
convene a meeting of representatives of those High Contracting
Parties for the purpose of electing the members of the Commission.
At the meeting, the representatives shall elect the members of the
Commission by secret ballot from a list of persons to which each of
those High Contracting Parties may nominate one person;
(c) The
members of the Commission shall serve in their personal capacity and
shall hold office until the election of new members at the ensuing
meeting;
(d) At the election, the High Contracting Parties shall
ensure that the persons to be elected to the Commission individually
possess the qualifications required and that, in the Commission as a
whole, equitable geographical representation is assured;
(e) In
the case of a casual vacancy, the Commission itself shall fill the
vacancy, having due regard to the provisions of the preceding
subparagraphs;
(f) The depositary shall make available to the
Commission the necessary administrative facilities for the
performance of its functions.
2. (a) The High Contracting Parties may at the time of signing,
ratifying or acceding to the Protocol, or at any other subsequent
time, declare that they recognize ipso facto and without special
agreement, in relation to any other High Contracting Party accepting
the same obligation, the competence of the Commission to inquire
into allegations by such other Party, as authorized by this Article;
(b) The declarations referred to above shall be deposited with the
depositary, which shall transmit copies thereof to the High
Contracting Parties;
(c) The Commission shall be competent to:
(i) inquire into any facts alleged to be a grave breach as defined
in the Conventions and this Protocol or other serious violation of
the Conventions or of this Protocol;
(ii) facilitate, through its
good offices, the restoration of an attitude of respect for the
Conventions and this Protocol;
(d) In other situations, the
Commission shall institute an inquiry at the request of a Party to
the conflict only with the consent of the other Party or Parties
concerned;
(e) Subject to the foregoing provisions or this
paragraph, the provisions of Article 52 of the First Convention,
Article 53 of the Second Convention, Article 132 or the Third
Convention and Article 149 of the Fourth Convention shall continue
to apply to any alleged violation of the Conventions and shall
extend to any alleged violation of this Protocol.
3. (a) Unless otherwise agreed by the Parties concerned, all
inquiries shall be undertaken by a Chamber consisting of seven
members appointed as
follows:
(i) five members of the
Commission, not nationals of any Party to the conflict, appointed by
the President of the Commission on the basis of equitable
representation of the geographical areas, after consultation with
the Parties to the conflict;
(ii) two ad hoc members, not
nationals of any Party to the conflict, one to be appointed by each
side;
(b) Upon receipt of the request for an inquiry, the
President of the Commission shall specify an appropriate time-limit
for setting up a Chamber. If any ad hoc member has not been
appointed within the time-limit, the President shall immediately
appoint such additional member or members of the Commission as may
be necessary to complete the membership of the Chamber.
4. (a) The Chamber set up under paragraph 3 to undertake an
inquiry shall invite the Parties to the conflict to assist it and to
present evidence. The Chamber may also seek such other evidence as
it deems appropriate and may carry out an investigation of the
situation in loco;
(b) All evidence shall be fully disclosed to
the Parties, which shall have the right to comment on it to the
Commission;
(c) Each Party shall have the right to challenge such
evidence.
5. (a) The Commission shall submit to the Parties a report on the
findings of fact of the Chamber, with such recommendations as it may
deem appropriate;
(b) If the Chamber is unable to secure
sufficient evidence for factual and impartial findings, the
Commission shall state the reasons for that inability;
(c) The
Commission shall not report its findings publicly, unless all the
Parties to the conflict have requested the Commission to do so.
6. The Commission shall establish its own rules, including rules
for the presidency or the Commission and the presidency of the
Chamber. Those rules shall ensure that the functions of the
President of the Commission are exercised at all times and that, in
the case of an inquiry, they are exercised by a person who is not a
national of a Party to the conflict.
7. The administrative expenses of the Commission shall be met by
contributions from the High Contracting Parties which made
declarations under paragraph 2, and by voluntary contributions. The
Party or Parties to the conflict requesting an inquiry shall advance
the necessary funds for expenses incurred by a Chamber and shall be
reimbursed by the Party or Parties against which the allegations are
made to the extent of 50 per cent of the costs of the Chamber. Where
there are counter-allegations before the Chamber each side shall
advance 50 per cent of the necessary funds.
Art 91. Responsibility
A Party to the conflict which violates the provisions of the
Conventions or of this Protocol shall, if the case demands, be liable to
pay compensation. It shall be responsible for all acts committed by
persons forming part of its armed forces.
