DECLARATION CONCERNING ASPHYXIATING GASES Signed at The Hague, July 29, 1899 The contracting Powers agree to abstain from the use of projectiles the sole object of which is the diffusion of asphyxiating or deleterious gases. The present Declaration is only binding on the contracting Powers in the case of a war between two or more of them. It shall cease to be binding from the time when, in a war between the contracting Powers, one of the belligerents shall be joined by a non-contracting Power. DECLARATION CONCERNING EXPANDING BULLETS Signed at The Hague, July 29, 1899 The contracting Parties agree to abstain from the use of bullets which expand or flatten easily in the human body, such as bullets with a hard envelope which does not entirely cover the core or is pierced with incisions. The present Declaration is only binding for the contracting Power's in the case of a war between two or more of them. It shall cease to be binding from the time when, in a war between the contracting Powers, one of the belligerents is joined by a noncontracting Power. GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1906 FOR THE AMELIORA- CHAPTER I. THE SICK AND Wounded Article 1. Officers, soldiers, and other persons officially attached to armies, who are sick or wounded, shall be respected and cared for, without distinction of nationality, by the belligerent in whose power they are. A belligerent, however, when compelled to leave his sick or wounded in the hands of his adversary, shall leave with them, so far as military conditions permit, a portion of the personnel and matériel of his sanitary service to assist in caring for them. Art. 2. Subject to the care that must be taken of them under the preceding article, the sick and wounded of an army who fall into the power of the other belligerent become prisoners of war, and the general rules of international law in respect to prisoners become applicable to them. The belligerents remain free, however, to mutually agree upon such clauses, by way of exception or favor, in relation to the wounded or sick as they may deem proper. They shall especially have authority to agree 1. To mutually return the sick and wounded left on the field of battle after an engagement. 2. To send back to their own country the sick and wounded who have recovered, or who are in a condition to be transported and whom they do not desire to retain as prisoners. 3. To send the sick and wounded of the enemy to a neutral State, with the consent of the latter and on condition that it shall charge itself with their internment until the close of hostilities. Art. 3. After every engagement the belligerent who remains in possession of the field of battle shall take measures to search for the wounded and to protect the wounded and dead from robbery and illtreatment. He will see that a careful examination is made of the bodies of the dead prior to their interment or incineration. Art. 4. As soon as possible each belligerent shall forward to the authorities of their country or army the marks or military papers of identification found upon the bodies of the dead, together with a list of names of the sick and wounded taken in charge by him. Belligerents will keep each other mutually advised of internments and transfers, together with admissions to hospitals and deaths which occur among the sick and wounded in their hands. They will collect all objects of personal use, valuables, letters, etc., which are found upon the field of battle, or have been left by the sick or wounded who have died in sanitary formations or other establishments, for transmission to persons in interest through the authorities of their own country. Art. 5. Military authority may make an appeal to the charitable zeal of the inhabitants to receive and, under its supervision, to care for the sick and wounded of the armies, granting to persons responding to such appeals special protection and certain immunities. CHAPTER II-SANITARY FORMATIONS AND ESTABLISHMENTS Art. 6. Mobile sanitary formations (i. e., those which are intended to accompany armies in the field) and the fixed establishments belonging to the sanitary service shall be protected and respected by bellig erents. Art. 7. The protection due to sanitary formations and establishments ceases if they are used to commit acts injurious to the enemy. Art. 8. A sanitary formation or establishment shall not be deprived of the protection accorded by article 6 by the fact 1. That the personnel of a formation or establishment is armed and uses its arms in self-defense or in defense of its sick and wounded. 2. That in the absence of armed hospital attendants, the formation is guarded by an armed detachment or by sentinels acting under competent orders. 3. That arms or cartridges, taken from the wounded and not yet turned over to the proper authorities, are found in the formation or establishment. CHAPTER III. PERSONNEL Art. 9. The personnel charged exclusively with the removal, transportation, and treatment of the sick and wounded, as well as with the administration of sanitary formations and establishments, and the chaplains attached to armies, shall be respected and protected under all circumstances. If they fall into the hands of the enemy they shall not be considered as prisoners of war. These provisions apply to the guards of sanitary formations and establishments in the case provided for in section 2 of article 8. Art. 10. The personnel of volunteer aid societies, duly recognized and authorized by their own governments, who are employed in the sanitary formations and establishments of armies, are assimilated to the personnel contemplated in the preceding article, upon condition that the said personnel shall be subject to military laws and regulations. Each State shall make known to the other, either in time of peace or at the opening, or during the progress of hostilities, and in any case before actual employment, the names of the societies which it has authorized to render assistance, under its responsibility, in the official sanitary service of its armies. Art. 11. A recognized society of a neutral State can only lend the services of its sanitary personnel and formations to a belligerent with the prior consent of its own government and the authority of such belligerent. The belligerent who has accepted such assistance is required to notify the enemy before making any use thereof. Art. 12. Persons described in articles 9, 10, and 11 will continue in the exercise of their functions, under the direction of the enemy, after they have fallen into his power. When their assistance is no longer indispensable they will be sent back to their army or country, within such period and by such route as may accord with military necessity. They will carry with them such effects, instruments, arms, and horses as are their private property. Art. 13. While they remain in his power, the enemy will secure to the personnel mentioned in Article 9 the same pay and allowances to which persons of the same grade in his own army are entitled. CHAPTER IV.-MATÉRIEL Art. 14. If mobile sanitary formations fall into the power of the enemy, they shall retain their matériel, including the teams, whatever may be the means of transportation and the conducting personnel. Competent military authority, however, shall have the right to employ it in caring for the sick and wounded. The restitution of the matériel shall take place in accordance with the conditions prescribed for the sanitary personnel, and, as far as possible, at the same time. Art. 15. Buildings and matériel pertaining to fixed establishments shall remain subject to the laws of war, but can not be diverted from their use so long as they are necessary for the sick and wounded. Commanders of troops engaged in operations, however, may use them, in case of important military necessity, if, before such use, the sick and wounded who are in them have been provided for. Art. 16. The matériel of aid societies admitted to the benefits of this Convention, in conformity to the conditions therein established, is regarded as private property, and, as such, will be respected under all circumstances, save that it is subject to the recognized right of requisition by belligerents in conformity to the laws and usages of war. CHAPTER V.-CONVOYS OF EVACUATION Art. 17. Convoys of evacuation shall be treated as mobile sanitary formations subject to the following special provisions: 1. A belligerent intercepting a convoy may, if required by military necessity, break up such convoy, charging himself with the care of the sick and wounded whom it contains. 2. In this case the obligation to return the sanitary personnel, as provided for in article 12, shall be extended to include the entire military personnel employed, under competent orders, in the transportation and protection of the convoy. The obligation to return the sanitary matériel, as provided for in article 14, shall apply to railway trains and vessels intended for interior navigation which have been especially equipped for evacuation purposes, as well as to the ordinary vehicles, trains, and vessels which belong to the sanitary service. Military vehicles, with their teams, other than those belonging to the sanitary service, may be captured. The civil personnel and the various means of transportation obtained by requisition, including railway matériel and vessels utilized for convoys, are subject to the general rules of international law. CHAPTER VI.-DISTINCTIVE EMBLEM Art. 18. Out of respect to Switzerland the heraldic emblem of the red cross on a white ground, formed by the reversal of the federal colors, is continued as the emblem and distinctive sign of the sanitary service of armies. Art. 19. This emblem appears on flags and brassards as well as upon all matériel appertaining to the sanitary service, with the permission. of the competent military authority. Art. 20. The personnel protected in virtue of the first paragraph of article 9, and articles 10 and 11, will wear attached to the left arm a brassard bearing a red cross on a white ground, which will be issued and stamped by competent military authority, and accompanied by a certificate of identity in the case of persons attached to the sanitary service of armies who do not have military uniform. Art. 21. The distinctive flag of the Convention can only be displayed over the sanitary formations and establishments which the Convention. provides shall be respected and with the consent of the military authorities. It shall be accompanied by the national flag of the belligerent to whose service the formation or establishment is attached. Sanitary formations which have fallen into the power of the enemy, however, shall fly no other flag than that of the Red Cross so long as they continue in that situation. Art. 22. The sanitary formations of neutral countries which, under the conditions set forth in article 11, have been authorized to render their services, shall fly, with the flag of the Convention, the national flag of the belligerent to which they are attached. The provisions of the second paragraph of the preceding article are applicable to them. Art. 23. The emblem of the red cross on a white ground and the words "Red Cross" or "Geneva Cross" may only be used, whether in time of peace or war, to protect or designate sanitary formations and establishments, the personnel and matériel protected by the Convention. CHAPTER VII.-APPLICATION AND EXECUTION OF THE CONVENTION Art. 24. The provisions of the present Convention are obligatory only on the contracting Powers, in case of war between two or more of them. The said provisions shall cease to be obligatory if one of the belligerent Powers should not be signatory to the Convention. Art. 25. It shall be the duty of the commanders-in-chief of the belligerent armies to provide for the details of execution of the foregoing articles, as well as for unforeseen cases, in accordance with the instructions of their respective governments, and conformably to the general principles of this Convention. Art. 26. The signatory Governments shall take the necessary steps to acquaint their troops, and particularly the protected personnel, with the provisions of this Convention and to make them known to the people at large. SCOTT INT.Law-72 |