Prisoner of war

A prisoner of war (in English: prisoner off war , POW , PoW , but PW ) is a Combattant which is imprisoned by an enemy power in times of Guerre or just immediately after the end of an armed conflict.

International treaties force to treat in a human way the prisoners of war. They apply as of the capture of the prisoners until their release or their repatriation. One of the principal provisions of these conventions prohibits to the Torture prisoners and stipulates that one can request from a prisoner only his name, his birth date, his ranks and number of military identity.

Article 4 of the third Geneva Convention protects the Militaire S captured, some guerillas and militiamans like certain civilians. The statute of the prisoners does not cover the non-combatant ones not-not armed who are captured in time of war. The latter are protected by the fourth Geneva Convention.

Qualification as prisoner of war

In theory, to profit from the statute of prisoner of war, the prisoner must have operated according to the Lois of the war, i.e. it must depend on a chain of command, carry a uniform or a distinctive sign and show his weapons openly. Also, the Franc-tireur S, the Terrorist S and the Espion S are excluded from it. In practice, these criteria are not always strictly applied. For example, the members of guerillas often do not carry of uniform nor do not carry weapons openly, but profit sometimes from the statute of prisoner of war when they are captured. However, the guerillas or the other combatants can not profit from this statute if they try to use at the same time the statutes soldier and civilian. Also it is important to carry a uniform (or at least a badge in the case of guerillas) in time of war.

Prisoner salary

The prisoner of war salary can depend on the resources, the social considerations and the policies of the governments and the soldiers in question. For example, during the Second world war, the prisoners Soviet S of the Nazi Germany and the prisoners German of the Soviet Union were often treated négligemment or with brutality. The Nazi regime regarded the Soviet prisoners as submen, also of many Soviet prisoners were the object of forced labors or were assassinated pursuant to the policy of racial purification of the IIIe Reich. A Soviet prisoner who survived Auschwitz was the father of the Ukrainian president Viktor Iouchtchenko. The official justification of the Germans was the fact that the Soviet Union had not signed Geneva Convention. The British and American prisoners were treated generally better by the Germans. Soviet side, the German prisoners of war were regarded as having lost their right to a treatment right and equitable because of the massive crimes committed against the Soviet civilians lasting the German invasion. Moreover, as the major part of the Soviet labor force was from now on with the hands of Germany, the German prisoners of war were used as forced labor (in the same manner that the Soviet civilians stopped for crimes of political right or policies were treated).

One knows enough little that the prisoners of war, even protected by Geneva Convention, condemned by the military tribunals German (for insubordination, relationship with German women or made of common right), were taken along in camps or fortresses to the mode " paraconcentrationnaire" such as for example the fortress of Graudenz.

To the theater of the Peaceful , some of the most inhuman treatments were applied by the Japan board. The prisoners held by the Japanese forces were subjected to brutal treatments, including the forced labor, the deprivation of food, beating up after the attempts at escape as well as the refusal of any medical care. Whereas the allied prisoners of war had a death rate of approximately 2 % with 4 % in the German prison camps, this rate was generally of 20 % with 30 % in the Japanese camps. That was due for a share to the physical ill-treatments of the Japanese, but the situation was worsened by the malnutrition and the absence of drugs, in particular against the Malaria. In the same way, during the War of Indo-China and the War of Vietnam, the French and American soldiers captured by the Democratic republic of Vietnam were often tabassés and tortured in violation of their statute of prisoners of war. Similar treatments were imposed by the Iraqi and American forces during the war of the Gulf, the invasion of Afghanistan, and the invasion of Iraq of 2003. After the fall of the mode of Saddam Hussein, the American forces were badly perceived because of the evidence of abuse against the prisoners of war. The the United States used the term of prisoner of war enemies (EPW) for the hostile forces, holding the term of prisoner of war for their own troops or their allies.

Prisoners at the time of the First World War

If the prison camps of the Second World war are known, those of the First are it less. The number of prisoners of the guerrre 14-18 was however very high. A little more than 6.600.000 soldiers were done prisoners at the time of the conflict including 2.250.000 by Germany. Little by little one redécouvre what were these camps where denutrition, the punishments and moral harassing were the pillars and of which the number amounted to approximately 300. The return of the majority of the prisoners in 1919 was done under such conditions (many prisoners returned by their own means) and the company if was concerned little with them which they fell little by little into the lapse of memory, contrary with Hairy victorious.

Alternative definitions

Certain groups define the prisoner of war according to their interior policy. Since the rights of the prisoners of war, guaranteed by the Government S, are the result of treated multilateral, these definitions do not have a value Légal E and those which claim rights because of these definitions would be regarded as criminals of common right if they had been stopped according to the laws of other jurisdictions. It should however be noted that in certain cases, these groups do not require such rights.

Prisoners since Geneva Convention (1929)

List nations having the greatest number of prisoners of war in the wars having taken place since the effective date of the first Geneva Convention in 1929. The USSR had not signed Geneva Convention. ^Clark.

* There currently does not exist reliable or neutral estimate.

(**) the prisoners of war of the Belgian Armée maintained in Germany were exclusively Walloon except the officers and warrant officers of active Flemish.

List famous prisoners

Here a list of prisoners who knew a certain celebrity because of this experiment:

Documentary on the prisoners

the stories of several American pilots killed above the Vietnam of North are the subject of documentary the Return with Honor of the American Film Foundation in 1999, presented by Tom Hanks.

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