Editing Non-combatant (section)

== History ==
=== Hague Conventions ===
The [[Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907]] were one of the first multi-country [[Treaty|treaties]] to agree on rights for non-combatants. These meetings occurred in 1899 and 1907. Three treaties were signed and put into effect in 1899, including the treatment of [[prisoner of war|prisoners of war]] and the protection of [[hospital ship]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/rr/frd/Military_Law/pdf/Hague-Peace-Conference_1899.pdf|title=Hague Peace Conference 1899|publisher=Oxford University Press|access-date=30 April 2019}}</ref> In 1907 thirteen additional treaties were signed. These cover regulations concerning the war on land, the [[declaration of war]], the rights and responsibilities of [[neutral country|neutral countries]], and rights and restrictions during [[Naval warfare|naval war]].<ref name=":5">{{Cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/hague04.asp|title=The Avalon Project - Laws of War : Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague IV); October 18, 1907|website=avalon.law.yale.edu|access-date=2019-04-30}}</ref>

Treaty II, Article 3 of the 1899 Convention maintains that surrendering [[belligerent]] fighters are to be treated as prisoners of war unless they are out of proper uniforms (i.e. [[espionage|spies]]). Article 13 of the same section declares that any other non-combatant or civilian affiliated with but not part of the belligerent military, such as reporters and contractors, have the same right to be treated as a prisoner of war.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6">{{Cite web|url=http://avalon.law.yale.edu/19th_century/hague02.asp|title=The Avalon Project - Laws of War : Laws and Customs of War on Land (Hague II); July 29, 1899|work=avalon.law.yale.edu|access-date=2019-05-03}}</ref>

Article 25 of Treaty II states that undefended communities are protected from any form of attack. In addition to the above, Article 27 states that if any sieges do occur, places devoted to religion, charity or hospitals should be avoided if possible, as long as they have no strategic affiliations.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />

Article 28 states that even when a village is captured through war, pillaging is not allowed by any party. That is repeated in Article 47, Section III. The articles above were reaffirmed by Convention IV of the 1907 Convention.<ref name=":5" /><ref name=":6" />

Many nations signed, including delegates from the [[United Kingdom]], [[United States|the United States]], [[Russia]], and [[Japan]].<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000001-0631.pdf|title=Laws and Customs of War on Land}}</ref> Despite many nations signing at the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, a number of the agreements were broken during [[World War I]], including sections from Treaty IV involving poisons and the attacking of undefended towns and villages.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://codoh.com/library/document/2806/|title=Codoh.com {{!}} Killing Noncombatants|website=codoh.com|access-date=2019-04-30}}</ref>

While some [[Geneva Conventions]] occurred before the Hague Conventions, none touched on the rights of [[Protected persons|protected]] non-combatants in the heat of [[combat]]. The Geneva Conventions recognize and expand on many of the treaties signed at the Hague Conventions, particularly those involving the treatment of non-combatants.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?documentId=AE2D398352C5B028C12563CD002D6B5C&action=openDocument|title=Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries - Geneva Convention (IV) on Civilians, 1949|website=ihl-databases.icrc.org|access-date=2019-04-30}}</ref> As a result, the regulations are still in effect today.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/INTRO/195|title=Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries - Hague Convention (IV) on War on Land and its Annexed Regulations, 1907|website=ihl-databases.icrc.org|access-date=2019-04-30}}</ref>

=== Geneva Conventions ===
The [[Geneva Conventions]] started on April 21, 1949, and were concluded on August 12. The purpose of the Conventions was to establish protections afforded to protected non-combatants in wartime, including civilians under [[military occupation]]s and prisoners of war.<ref name="FWAFD"/> Article 4 of the [[Fourth Geneva Convention]] defines that civilians who "find themselves, in case of a conflict or occupation, in the hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals" are [[protected persons]]. Not included in the status of protected persons are the belligerent's citizens and nationals of a state not party to the Fourth Geneva Convention, and [[neutral country|neutral]] citizens living in a [[belligerent]] country and [[Co-belligerence|co-belligerent]] (i.e., allied) persons as long their state of nationality maintains diplomatic relations with a belligerent power.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/en/ihl-treaties/gciv-1949/article-4|title=Article 4 - Definition of protected persons|website=International Humanitarian Law Datebases}}</ref>

Article 42 of [[Protocol I]] states that [[Attacks on parachutists|aircrews who are parachuting from aircraft in distress cannot be attacked]] regardless of what territory they are over. If aircrews land in territory controlled by the enemy, they must be allowed to [[surrender (military)|surrender]] before being attacked unless it is apparent that they are engaging in a hostile act or attempting to escape. [[Airborne forces]] who are descending by [[parachute]] from an aircraft, whether it is disabled or not, are not given the protection afforded by this Article and, therefore, may be attacked during their descent unless they are ''[[hors de combat]]''.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/ihl/WebART/470-750051?OpenDocument|title=Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries - Additional Protocol (I) to the Geneva Conventions, 1977 - 42 - Occupants of aircraft|website=ihl-databases.icrc.org|access-date=2019-05-07}}</ref>

Article 50 of Protocol 1 defines a civilian as a person who is not a privileged combatant. Article 51 describes the protection that must be given to civilians (unless they are [[unprivileged combatant]]s) and civilian populations. Article 54 deals with the Protection of objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population and is categorical that "Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare is prohibited." Chapter III of Protocol I regulates the targeting of civilian objects. Article 8(2)(b)(i) of the [[Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court]] also prohibits attacks directed against civilians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Article.xsp?action=openDocument&documentId=E1F8F99C4C3F8FE4C12563CD0051DC8A|title=Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries - Additional Protocol (I) to the Geneva Conventions, 1977 - 50 - Definition of civilians and civilian population|website=ihl-databases.icrc.org|access-date=2019-05-07}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/1a13044f3bbb5b8ec12563fb0066f226/5e5142b6ba102b45c12563cd00434741|title=Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries - Additional Protocol (I) to the Geneva Conventions, 1977 - 51 - Protection of the civilian population - Commentary of 1987|website=ihl-databases.icrc.org|access-date=2019-05-07}}</ref>

While not all [[State (polity)|states]] have ratified Protocol I or the Rome Statute, these provisions reiterated existing customary laws of war which are binding for all belligerents in an international conflict.<ref>Customary laws of war:

* {{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v1_cha_chapter1_rule3|title=Customary IHL: Rule 3. Definition of Combatants|author=ICRC|publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross|access-date=1 April 2014}}
* {{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/customary-ihl/eng/docs/v2_rul_rule48|title=Customary IHL: Practice Relating to Rule 48. Attacks against Persons Parachuting from an Aircraft in Distress|author=ICRC|publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross|access-date=1 April 2014}}</ref>

Article 3 in the general section of the [[Geneva Conventions]] states that in the case of armed conflict not of an international character (occurring in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties) that each Party to the conflict shall be bound to apply, as a minimum, the following provisions to "persons taking no active part in the hostilities" (non-combatants).<ref name="GCIV Art 3">{{cite web|url=http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/385ec082b509e76c41256739003e636d/6756482d86146898c125641e004aa3c5|title=Convention (IV) relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War. Geneva, 12 August 1949.|author=Plenipotentiaries|publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross|access-date=1 April 2014}}</ref> Such persons shall in all circumstances be treated humanely, with the following prohibitions:<ref name="GCIV Art 3"/>
:(a) violence to life and person, in particular murder of all kinds, mutilation, cruel treatment, and torture
:(b) taking of [[hostage]]s 
:(c) outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment
:(d) the passing of [[Sentence (law)|sentences]] and the carrying out of [[executions]] without previous judgement pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.<ref name=":10">{{Cite web|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/WebART/365-570006?OpenDocument|title=Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries - Geneva Convention (I) on Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field,1949 - 3 - Conflicts not of an international character|website=ihl-databases.icrc.org|access-date=2019-05-07}}</ref>

=== World War II ===
In [[World War II]], non-combatants were more affected than they were in previous wars.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoXmBDNXhP4C&q=civilian+thomas+de+quincey&pg=PA459|title=From Chivalry to Terrorism: War and the Changing Nature of Masculinity|last=Braudy|first=Leo|date=2010-12-08|publisher=Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group|isbn=9780307773418|language=en}}</ref> Sources claim that over forty-five million civilians and non-combatants lost their lives throughout the war.<ref name=":4">{{Cite web|url=https://www.nationalww2museum.org/students-teachers/student-resources/research-starters/research-starters-worldwide-deaths-world-war|title=Research Starters: Worldwide Deaths in World War II|work=The National WWII Museum {{!}} New Orleans|language=en|access-date=2019-05-03}}</ref> This number, however, is largely debated. Despite the understanding that over 18 million were killed in the [[The Holocaust|Holocaust]] and as a result of other Nazi persecution, the exact number will likely never be determined.<ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/documenting-numbers-of-victims-of-the-holocaust-and-nazi-persecution|title=Documenting Numbers of Victims of the Holocaust and Nazi Persecution|encyclopedia=encyclopedia.ushmm.org|language=en|access-date=2019-05-03}}</ref> There is also difficulty of estimating the numbers for events such as the [[Nanjing Massacre|Nanjing massacre]], though it is estimated that between 200,000 and 300,000 civilians and prisoners of war were slaughtered.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/japan/nanjing-massacre|title=Nanking Massacre|work=HISTORY|language=en|access-date=2019-05-03}}</ref> This does not necessarily include military, non-combatant or civilian people killed by radiation, disease, or other means as a result of war.<ref name=":4" /> After World War II ended, countries got together with the aim to give rights to non-combatants and created the 1949 Geneva Conventions, built off the 1907 Hague Convention.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/Treaty.xsp?documentId=AE2D398352C5B028C12563CD002D6B5C&action=openDocument|title=Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries - Geneva Convention (IV) on Civilians, 1949|work=ihl-databases.icrc.org|access-date=2019-05-03}}</ref>

=== Vietnam War ===
The [[Vietnam War]] was one war in the mid-20th century in which many civilians were killed. Many [[civilians]] were not specifically identified as whether they were non-combatants or ordinary civilians, which might have been directly or indirectly killing hundreds and thousands of Vietnamese civilians.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history%7Clongest|title=404}}</ref> However, there is no exact proportion of the number of non-combatants who have or were specified the exact figure, the statistics that have been given were all the estimates on how many civilians and combatants were killed. Most of the recorded numbers of people missing or killed were not specific, but all were [[Vietnam War casualties|casualties]], meaning there is/was no exact figure for combatants or non-combatants. Military records in the National Archives<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.archives.gov/research/military/vietnam-war/casualty-statistics|title=Vietnam War U.S. Military Fatal Casualty Statistics|date=2016-08-15|website=National Archives|language=en|access-date=2019-05-09}}</ref> do not specify how many non-combatants were killed during the Vietnam War.

Thousands<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/event/Vietnam-War|title=Vietnam War {{!}} Facts, Summary, Casualties, & Combatants|website=Encyclopedia Britannica|language=en|access-date=2019-05-09}}</ref> of people were killed: civilians, casualties, combatants and non-combatants and so as ordinary civilians (citizens) in Vietnam but also in Laos and Cambodia. Thus, all figures do not specify how many non-combatants were killed or injured.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-history|title=Vietnam War|website=HISTORY|language=en|access-date=2019-05-09}}</ref>