Fourth Geneva Convention

The Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, more commonly referred to as the Fourth Geneva Convention and abbreviated as GCIV, is one of the four treaties of the Geneva Conventions. It was adopted in August of 1950. While the first three conventions dealt with combatants, the Fourth Geneva Convention was the first to deal with humanitarian protections for civilians in a war zone. There are currently 196 countries party to the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including this and the other three treaties.
In 1993, the United Nations Security Council adopted a report from the Secretary-General and a Commission of Experts which concluded that the Geneva Conventions had passed into the body of customary international law, thus making them binding on non-signatories to the Conventions whenever they engage in armed conflicts.
Part I. General provisions.
This sets out the overall parameters for GCIV:
Article 2: Application of the Convention.
Article 2 states that signatories are bound by the convention both in war, armed conflicts where war has not been declared, and in an occupation of another country's territory.
The scope of article 2 is broad:
In the commentary to the article Jean Pictet writes:
Article 3: Conflicts not of an international character.
Article 3 states that even where there is not a conflict of international character, the parties must as a minimum adhere to minimal protections described as: non-combatants, members of armed forces who have laid down their arms, and combatants who are "hors de combat" (out of the fight) due to wounds, detention, or any other cause "shall in all circumstances be treated humanely", with the following prohibitions:
Article 4: Definition of protected persons.
Article 4 defines who is "protected person":
It explicitly excludes "Nationals of a State which is not bound by the Convention" and the citizens of a neutral state or an allied state if that state has normal diplomatic relations "within the State in whose hands they are".
A number of articles specify how "protecting powers", "ICRC" and "other humanitarian organizations" may aid "protected persons".
The definition of "protected person" in this article is arguably the most important article in this section because many of the articles in the rest of GCIV only apply to "protected persons".
Article 5: Derogations.
Article 5 provides for the suspension of persons' rights under the Convention for the duration of time that this is "prejudicial to the security of such State", although "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."
The common interpretation of article 5 is that its scope is very limited. Derogation is limited to individuals "definitely suspected of" or "engaged in activities hostile to the security of the State." In paragraph two of the article, "spy or saboteur" is mentioned.
Part II. General Protection of Populations Against Certain Consequences of War.
Article 13: Field of application of part II.
The list of basis on which distinction might be drawn is not exhaustive.
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 32: Prohibition of corporal punishment, torture, etc..
A protected person may not have anything done "of such a character as to cause physical suffering or extermination... the physical suffering or extermination of protected persons in their hands. This prohibition applies to murder, torture, corporal punishments, mutilation and medical or scientific experiments not necessitated by the medical treatment. While popular debate remains on what constitutes a legal definition of torture, the ban on corporal punishment simplifies the matter; even the most mundane physical abuse is thereby forbidden by Article 32, as a precaution against alternate definitions of torture.
The prohibition on scientific experiments was added, in part, in response to experiments by German and Japanese doctors during World War II of whom Josef Mengele was the most infamous.
Article 33: Individual responsibility, collective penalties, pillage and reprisals.
Under the 1949 Geneva Conventions, collective punishment is a war crime. By collective punishment, the drafters of the Geneva Conventions had in mind the reprisal killings of World War I and World War II. In the First World War, the Germans executed Belgian villagers in mass retribution for resistance activity during the Rape of Belgium. In World War II, both German and Japanese forces carried out a form of collective punishment to suppress resistance. Entire villages or towns or districts were held responsible for any resistance activity that occurred at those places. The conventions, to counter this, reiterated the principle of individual responsibility. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Commentary to the conventions states that parties to a conflict often would resort to "intimidatory measures to terrorize the population" in hopes of preventing hostile acts, but such practices "strike at guilty and innocent alike. They are opposed to all principles based on humanity and justice."
Additional Protocol II of 1977 explicitly forbids collective punishment. But as fewer states have ratified this protocol than GCIV, GCIV Article 33 is the one more commonly quoted.
Section III. Occupied territories.
Articles 47–78 impose substantial obligations on occupying powers. As well as numerous provisions for the general welfare of the inhabitants of an occupied territory, an occupier may not forcibly deport protected persons, or deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into occupied territory (Art.49).
Article 49: Deportations, transfers, evacuations.
The reference in the last paragraph to "deportation", is commonly understood as the "expulsion" of foreign nationals, whereas the expulsion of nationals would be called "extradition, banishment" or "exile". If ethnic groups are affected by "deportation", it may also be referred to as population transfer. "Transfer" in this case literally means to move or pass from one place to another. The International Committee of the Red Cross has expressed the opinion, "that international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of settlements, as these are a form of population transfer into occupied territory."
Article 53: Prohibited destruction.
In The Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. Commentary, Jean Pictet writes:
Article 56: Hygiene and public health.
Article 56 describes the medical obligations the occupying power has in the occupied territory:
Article 78: Security measures. Internment and assigned residence. Right of appeal.
Article 78 deals with internment. It allows the occupying power for "imperative reasons of security" to "subject them [protected persons] to assigned residence or to internment." The article does not allow the occupying power to take collective measures: each case must be decided separately.
Part IV. Execution of the Convention.
This part contains "the formal or diplomatic provisions which it is customary to place at the end of an international Convention to settle the procedure for bringing it into effect are grouped together under this heading (1). They are similar in all four Geneva Conventions.
Annexes.
The ICRC commentary on the Fourth Geneva convention states that when the establishment of hospital and safety zones in occupied territories were discussed reference was made to a draft agreement and it was agreed to append it as an annex I to the Fourth Geneva Convention.
The ICRC states that "the Draft Agreement has only been put forward to States as a model, but the fact that it as carefully drafted at the Diplomatic Conference, which finally adopted it, gives it a very real value. It could usefully be taken as a working basis, therefore, whenever a hospital zone is to be established."
The ICRC states that Annex II is a "...draft which, according to Article 109 (paragraph 1) of the Convention, will be applied in the absence of special agreements between the Parties, deals with the conditions for the receipt and distribution of collective relief shipments. It is based on the traditions of the International Committee of the Red Cross which submitted it, and on the experience the Committee gained during the Second World War."
Annex III contains an example internment card, letter and correspondence card: