Editing Fourth Geneva Convention (section)

== 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&nbsp;... the physical suffering or extermination of protected persons in their hands. This prohibition applies to murder, [[torture]], [[corporal punishment]]s, 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 ====
{{blockquote|
No protected person may be punished for any offense he or she has not personally committed. Collective penalties and likewise all measures of [[intimidation]] or of [[terrorism]] are prohibited. 

[[Pillage]] is prohibited.

[[Reprisal]]s against protected persons and their [[property]] is prohibited.
}}

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 movement|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.<ref name=keylor>Keylor, William R., ''The Twentieth-Century World and Beyond'', Oxford University Press, New York: 2011.</ref> 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".{{citation needed|date=December 2022}}

[[Additional Protocol II]] of 1977 is about the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts explicitly forbidding 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 ====
{{blockquote|
Article 49. Individual or mass [[forced displacement|forcible transfers]], as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.

Nevertheless, the Occupying Power may undertake total or partial evacuation of a given area if the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand. Such evacuations may not involve the displacement of protected persons outside the bounds of the occupied territory except when for material reasons it is impossible to avoid such displacement. Persons thus evacuated shall be transferred back to their homes as soon as hostilities in the area in question have ceased.

The Occupying Power undertaking such transfers or evacuations shall ensure, to the greatest practicable extent, that proper accommodation is provided to receive the protected persons, that the removals are effected in satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition, and that members of the same family are not separated.

The Protecting Power shall be informed of any transfers and evacuations as soon as they have taken place.

The Occupying Power shall not detain protected persons in an area particularly exposed to the dangers of war unless the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand.

The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.
}}

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 [[ICRC]] has expressed the opinion, "that international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of settlements, as these are a form of population transfer into occupied territory".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.icrc.org/en/doc/resources/documents/faq/occupation-faq-051010.htm|title=What does the law say about the establishment of settlements in occupied territory? |publisher=International Committee of the Red Cross|date=5 October 2010}}</ref>

==== Article 50: Children ====
{{blockquote|
Article 50. The Occupying Power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children.

The Occupying Power shall take all necessary steps to facilitate the identification of children and the registration of their parentage. It may not, in any case, change their personal status, nor enlist them in formations or organizations subordinate to it.

Should the local institutions be inadequate for the purpose, the Occupying Power shall make arrangements for the maintenance and education, if possible by persons of their own nationality, language and religion, of children who are orphaned or separated from their parents as a result of the war and who cannot be adequately cared for by a near relative or friend.

A special section of the Bureau set up in accordance with Article 136 shall be responsible for taking all necessary steps to identify children whose identity is in doubt. Particulars of their parents or other near relatives should always be recorded if available.

The Occupying Power shall not hinder the application of any preferential measures in regard to food, medical care and protection against the effects of war which may have been adopted prior to the occupation in favour of children under fifteen years, expectant mothers, and mothers of children under seven.
}}

==== Article 51: Recruitment of Protected persons ====
The Occupying Power may not compel protected persons to serve in its armed or auxiliary forces. No pressure or propaganda which aims at securing voluntary enlistment is permitted.

The Occupying Power may not compel protected persons to work unless they are over eighteen years of age, and then only on work which is necessary either for the needs of the army of occupation, or for the public utility services, or for the feeding, sheltering, clothing, transportation or health of the population of the occupied country. Protected persons may not be compelled to undertake any work which would involve them in the obligation of taking part in military operations. The Occupying Power may not compel protected persons to employ forcible means to ensure the security of the installations where they are performing compulsory labour.

The work shall be carried out only in the occupied territory where the persons whose services have been requisitioned are. Every such person shall, so far as possible, be kept in his usual place of employment. Workers shall be paid a fair wage and the work shall be proportionate to their physical and intellectual capacities. The legislation in force in the occupied country concerning working conditions, and safeguards as regards, in particular, such matters as wages, hours of work, equipment, preliminary training and compensation for occupational accidents and diseases, shall be applicable to the protected persons assigned to the work referred to in this Article.

In no case shall requisition of labour lead to a mobilization of workers in an organization of a military or semi-military character.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War (2nd part) |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/geneva-convention-relative-protection-civilian-persons-time-war |access-date=2022-10-25 |website=OHCHR |language=en}}</ref>

==== Article 53: Prohibited destruction ====
{{blockquote|Article 53. Any destruction by the Occupying Power of real or personal property belonging individually or collectively to private persons, or to the State, or to other public authorities, or to social or cooperative organizations, is prohibited, except where such destruction is rendered absolutely necessary by military operations.}}

In [[The Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949. Commentary]], [[Jean Pictet]] writes:

{{blockquote|To dissipate any misconception in regard to the scope of Article 53, it must be pointed out that the property referred to is not accorded general protection; the Convention merely provides here for its protection in occupied territory. The scope of the Article is therefore limited to destruction resulting from action by the Occupying Power. It will be remembered that Article 23 (g) of the [[Hague Regulations]] forbids the unnecessary destruction of enemy property; since that rule is placed in the section entitled "hostilities", it covers all property in the territory involved in a war; its scope is therefore much wider than that of the provision under discussion, which is only concerned with property situated in occupied territory.<ref>{{cite web|title=Treaties, States parties, and Commentaries – Geneva Convention (IV) on Civilians, 1949–53: Commentary of 1958|url=https://ihl-databases.icrc.org/applic/ihl/ihl.nsf/COM/380-600060?OpenDocument|publisher=International Red Cross}}</ref>}}

==== Article 56: Hygiene and public health ====
Article 56 describes the medical obligations the occupying power has in the occupied territory:
{{blockquote|
To the fullest extent of the means available to it, the Occupying Power has the duty of ensuring and maintaining, with the cooperation of national and local authorities, the medical and hospital establishments and services, public health and hygiene in the occupied territory, with particular reference to the adoption and application of the prophylactic and preventive measures necessary to combat the spread of contagious diseases and epidemics. Medical personnel of all categories shall be allowed to carry out their duties.

If new hospitals are set up in occupied territory and if the competent organs of the occupied State are not operating there, the occupying authorities shall, if necessary, grant them the recognition provided for in Article 18. In similar circumstances, the occupying authorities shall also grant recognition to hospital personnel and transport vehicles under the provisions of Articles 20 and 21.

In adopting measures of health and hygiene and in their implementation, the Occupying Power shall take into consideration the moral and ethical susceptibilities of the population of 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.