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No distinction may be made among them founded on any grounds other than medical ones. Rule 110: The wounded, sick, and shipwrecked must receive, to the fullest extent practicable and with the least possible delay, the medical care and attention required by their condition.Rule 109: Whenever circumstances permit, and particularly after an engagement, each party to the conflict must, without delay, take all possible measures to search for, collect, and evacuate the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked without adverse distinction.The study on the rules of customary international humanitarian law published in 2005 by the ICRC makes provisions for the protection of wounded, sick, and shipwrecked persons, which are applicable in international and non-international armed conflicts. Guarantees Provided by Customary International Humanitarian Law Such measures may also be implemented for civilian internees who are seriously ill or injured (GCIV Art. their mental or physical powers remain considerably impaired, even after treatment. their state of health has deteriorated so as to fulfill the conditions laid down for direct repatriation prisoners of war whose mental or physical health, according to medical opinion, is seriously threatened by continued captivity but whose accommodation in a neutral country might remove such a threat.Ĭertain prisoners of war accommodated in a neutral country can be directly repatriated following their treatment, under an agreement between the powers concerned, if:.wounded and sick whose recovery may be expected within one year, or sooner if treated in a neutral country.Those who may be accommodated in a neutral State are: the wounded or sick who, according to medical opinion, are not likely to recover within one year.

the wounded or sick who have recovered but whose mental or physical fitness seems to have been gravely and permanently diminished.the incurably wounded or sick whose mental or physical fitness seems to have been gravely diminished.Those whose diseases or wounds warrant a direct repatriation are: The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols establish the conditions under which seriously sick or wounded prisoners of war may be evacuated or hospitalized in a neutral State, rather than continuing to treat them in the hospitals of the detaining power and continuing to consider them prisoners of war.Īrticle 110 of the Third Geneva Convention sets forth the list of diseases and illnesses that require a prisoner of war to be repatriated directly or accommodated in a neutral country. These provisions take into account the vulnerability and the risks of abuse faced by such seriously ill or injured persons, and the advantages that may be gained by treating them in a peaceful and safe environment (GCIII Arts. Wounded or sick prisoners of war who are suffering from certain serious injuries or diseases are entitled to special measures of protection under humanitarian law. Members of medical personnel are entitled to special protection in order to facilitate their movement and access to any place where their services are needed (GCI Art. Humanitarian law imposes the obligation to search for, collect, and care for the wounded and sick (GCI–IV Common Art. ▸ Distinctive (or protective) emblems, signs, and signals ▸ Medical services ▸ Requisition ▸ Siege

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Finally, it authorizes the free passage and delivery of medicine and medical supplies, including to besieged areas (GCIV Art. 14) and allows the use of the distinctive emblem of the red cross to protect such installations (GCI Arts. Humanitarian law also protects medical installations from attacks (GCIV Art. It specifies which medical acts are permitted and which are not-namely, when the wounded and sick persons are at the mercy of an authority of which they are not a national, due to a situation of occupation or detention (GCI–IV Common Art. Humanitarian law protects the independence and integrity of doctors by reaffirming the rules of medical ethics.

Protection of, and Obligations of, Medical Personnel

Sick person