A safety net for prisoners of war: five key principles of the Third Geneva Convention

ICRC Humanitarian Law and Policy Blog · Apr 27, 2023 · 12m

After the Second World War, countries came together to improve the legal protection available to certain categories of persons – including prisoners of war – many of whom had suffered greatly during the conflict. The provisions relating to the protection of prisoners of war are contained in the Third Geneva Convention that was adopted in 1949. The vast majority of the 143 articles of that Convention relate to the material conditions for the internment of prisoners of war. In this post, former ICRC Legal Adviser Yvette Issar discusses some of the key principles that run through the Third…