Chapter

Recueil

Protection of the victims of armed conflicts : wounded, sick and shipwrecked persons

José Francisco Rezek

International dimensions of humanitarian law

Geneva : Henry Dunant Institute;Paris : UNESCO;Dordrecht [etc.] : M. Nijhoff, 1988

p. 153-166

English

This article summarizes the protection of wounded, sick and shipwrecked persons under IHL. The author outlines the definition of ‘wounded, sick and shipwrecked persons’, explaining the underlying rationale for the protection of such categories of persons, and the duties of states towards those persons in times of conflict. The author then details the protection and regulation of medical units, hospital zones and localities, medical and religious personnel, and medical transport, outlining the type of actions and omissions that may compromise claims to protection. The article also covers the obligations towards missing and dead persons, the use of identification symbols and emblems, and the duties of neutral states and humanitarian organizations in conflict. The various obligations and rights of the following are also examined and contrasted: states who are parties to the conflict, neutral states, soldiers, civilians, medical and other personnel, and humanitarian organizations. The author also comments on the underlying rationale of particular rules. For example, provisions in the 1949 Geneva Conventions concerned with dead persons are informed by the respect shown to the dead by various civilizations. Similar provisions in the 1977 Additional Protocols are concerned primarily with the right of families to know the fate of their relatives. [Summary by students at the University of Toronto, Faculty of Law (IHRP)]

• International dimensions of humanitarian law / Institut Henry-Dunant, UNESCO