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Let us first understand the Geneva Convention:
Henry Dunant Swiss businessman- reaches to a town called Solferino Italy in 1859 for business expansion.
-Battle of Solferino (b/w Italy & Austria) was taking place then which led to a causality of 40 thousand soldiers (23 thousand from Austria) & Austria lost the battle.
-Dunant observed that Austrian soldier, who were injured and disabled were killed in Italy. Moved by plight of injured, he started helping the out without discrimination. People who witnessed this were touched by his gestured and joined in.
When he got back to Geneva (Switzerland), he wrote a book called “A memory of Solferino” . He not only shared his experience through this book, he also suggested a potential solution for plight of injured and fallen soldiers a Neutral Third party to take care of the injured without discrimination. He also proposed for an international agreement to lay down principles to be followed during war times.
In an effort to actualise his solutions, a meeting was called two objectives of the meetings- 1. Creation of a Permanent Relief Agency - 2. An International Treaty to allow a Neutral Third Party to provide aid in war zones.]
- 1st Geneva Convention, 1864- “Condition of the Wounded & the Sick in Armed forces”- 12 party states.
2nd Geneva Convention, 1906 “Protecting the Wounded, the sick & the Shipwrecked Military Personnel at Sea”- replaces the 1st Convention
World War Ist 1914-1919- It was realised that provisions of Geneva Conventions & Hague Conventions (also on Rules of War) were not been respected/ followed.
- 3rd Geneva Convention, 1929- Signed & Ratified by many nations, including Germany.
World War 2nd-1939-1945 Provisions of the Convention grossly breached, specially by Germany. Concentration camps, large scale ethnic cleansing, holocausts, Scientific experiments on captivated soldiers etc took place.
4th Geneva Convention 1949- Modified an updated according to lessons from 2nd World War. Every country in the world is a party and thus, this instrument is universally applicable.
Defining element of this convention was that provisions regarding Prisoners of War and Non-combatants (Civilians) were added. Following are some important provisions:
Article 9 (Common provision)
Article 12 (Convention III): Detaining country to be responsible for treatment of Prisoners of War.
Article 13 (Convention III): Prisoners to be treated in a humane way
Article 14 (Convention III): Respect for prisoner
Article 15 (Convention III): Maintenance of Prisoner
Article 16 (Convention III): Equality of Treatment
In addition to abovementioned provisions, following provisions have also been laid down under 1949 conventions for Prisoners of War:
1. PoWs must not be tortured or mistreated.
2. They are only required to give their name, rank, Birth date & serial number when captured.
3. They must receive suitable housing and adequate amounts of food.
4. They should not be treated differentially/ no discrimination should be made.
5. They have right to correspond with family and receive care packages.
6. Red Cross has right to visit them & examine their living conditions.
Current Scenario
Background- Following the Pulwaman attack of 14th February 2019; Air strikes were carried out by India in Pakistani territory on dawn of 26th February. Next day, Pakistani fighter jets breached LoC in retaliation, who were engaged by Indian war jets. An Indian warplane while chasing away Pakistani planes entered in Pakistani airspace and was shot down by Pakistan. The pilot has been arrested, who remains in Pakistani custody.
Following the arrest, a video is released which shows pilot is bleeding from the plane crash. Pakistani army personnel and a crowd follows him as he is been taken away from crash site. Another video comes up where he is been questioned and he politely answers some questions and refuse to answer some. These videos make rounds in social media and questions regarding validity of action under Geneva convention have come up. Lets look into legality of the actions that have taken place until yet.
Does provisions of Geneva Conventions apply?
Article 2 of Convention which lays down application
Article 4 defines prisoner of wars
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