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ACT 171 OF 1994
(December 16)
Official Journal No. 41,640 of 20 December 1994
By means of which the "Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 on the protection of victims of armed conflicts without international character (Protocol II)" is hereby approved. Geneva on 8 June 1977.
THE CONGRESS OF COLOMBIA,
Having regard to the text of the "Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 on the Protection of Victims of Armed Conflict Without International Character (Protocol II)", made in Geneva on 8 June 1977.
Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 on the protection of victims of armed conflicts without international character (Protocol II).
PREAMBLE
The High Contracting Parties,
Remembering that the humanitarian principles endorsed by article 3o. common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 are the foundation of respect for the human person in the event of armed conflict without international character,
Remembering, also, that international human rights instruments offer the human person a fundamental protection,
Stressing the need to ensure better protection for victims of such armed conflicts,
Remembering that, in cases not foreseen by the current law, the human person remains under the safeguard of the principles of humanity and the demands of public consciousness,
They come in the following:
SCOPE OF THIS PROTOCOL
ARTICLE 1o. MATERIAL APPLICATION SCOPE.
1. This Protocol, which develops and completes Article 3o. common to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, without amending its present conditions of application, shall apply to all armed conflicts which are not covered by Article 1. of the Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 on the protection of victims of international armed conflicts (Protocol 1) and on the development of the territory of a High Contracting Party between its armed forces and armed forces or armed groups organised which, under the direction of a responsible command, exercise control over a part of that territory to enable them to carry out sustained and concerted military operations; and apply this Protocol.
2. This Protocol shall not apply to situations of internal tensions and internal disturbances, such as riots, sporadic and isolated acts of violence and other similar acts, which are not armed conflicts.
ARTICLE 2o. SCOPE OF PERSONAL APPLICATION.
1. This Protocol shall apply without distinction of an unfavourable nature on the grounds of race, colour, sex, language, religion or belief, political or other opinion, national or social origin, fortune, birth or other condition or any other similar criterion (hereinafter referred to as 'unfavourable distinction') to all persons affected by an armed conflict within the meaning of Article 1.
2. At the end of the armed conflict, all persons who have been subject to deprivation or a restriction of liberty for reasons relating to that conflict, as well as those who were the subject of such measures after the conflict for the same reasons, shall enjoy the protection provided for in Articles 5o. and 6o. until the end of that deprivation or restriction of liberty.
1. Any provision of this Protocol may not be invoked in order to undermine the sovereignty of a State or the responsibility incumbent upon the government to maintain or restore law and order in the State or to defend national unity and territorial integrity of the state by all legitimate means.
2. No provision of this Protocol may be invoked as a justification for intervening, directly or indirectly, whatever the reason, in the armed conflict or in the internal or external affairs of the High Contracting Party in which the territory takes place in that conflict.
HUMAN TRY
ARTICLE 4. FUNDAMENTAL GUARANTEES.
1. All persons who are not directly involved in the hostilities or who have ceased to participate in the hostilities, whether or not they are deprived of their freedom, have the right to respect for their person, their honour, their convictions and their religious practices. They will be treated with humanity in all circumstances, without any inauspicious distinction. It is forbidden to order no survivors.
2. Without prejudice to the general character of the provisions preceding, they are and shall be prohibited at any time and place in respect of the persons referred to in paragraph 1.:
(a) Attacks on the life, health and physical or mental integrity of persons, in particular homicide and cruel treatment, such as torture and mutilation or any form of corporal punishment;
b) Collective punishments;
c) Taking hostages;
d) Acts of terrorism;
e) Attacks on personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, rape, forced prostitution and any form of attack on the pudder;
f) Slavery and the slave trade in all its forms;
g) The pillage;
h) The threats to perform the mentioned acts.
3. Children will be provided with the care and help they need and in particular:
(a) They shall receive an education, including religious or moral education, in accordance with the wishes of the parents or, in the absence thereof, of the persons holding the education;
(b) Appropriate measures shall be taken to facilitate the meeting of temporarily separated families;
c) Children under 15 years of age will not be recruited into armed forces or groups and will not be allowed to participate in hostilities;
(d) The special protection provided for in this Article for children under 15 years of age shall continue to apply to them if, notwithstanding the provisions of paragraph (c), they have been directly involved in the hostilities and have been captured;
e) Measures shall be taken, if appropriate, and whenever possible with the consent of the parents or persons who, by virtue of law or custom, have in the first place the guardian of them, to temporarily transfer children from the area that hostilities take place in an area of the safest country and that they will be accompanied by people who will ensure their safety and well-being.
ARTICLE 5o. PERSONS DEPRIVED OF LIBERTY.
1. In addition to the provisions of Article 4 (4), at least the following provisions shall be respected in respect of persons deprived of liberty on grounds relating to armed conflict, whether they are interned or detained:
(a) The injured and the sick shall be treated in accordance with Article 7o.;
(b) The persons referred to in this paragraph shall receive, to the same extent as the local population, food and drinking water and shall enjoy health and hygiene guarantees and protection against the rigors of the climate and the hazards of the armed conflict;
(c) They shall be authorized to receive individual or collective sowings;
d) Be able to practice their religion and, when requested and appropriate, receive the spiritual assistance of persons exercising religious functions, such as chaplains;
e) If they are to work, they will enjoy working conditions and guarantees similar to those enjoyed by the local civilian population.
2. To the extent of their potential, those responsible for the detention or detention of persons referred to in paragraph 1. shall also respect, within the limits of their competence, the following provisions relating to such persons:
(a) Except where men and women of the same family are housed in common, women shall be kept in custody in premises other than those intended for men and shall be under the immediate supervision of women;
(b) Those persons shall be authorised to send and receive letters and postcards, although their number may be limited by the competent authority if deemed necessary;
(c) The places of detention and detention should not be placed in the vicinity of the combat zone. The persons referred to in paragraph 1. be evacuated when the places of detention or detention are particularly exposed to the hazards resulting from the armed conflict, provided that their evacuation can be carried out under sufficient security conditions;
d) Those persons shall be subject to medical examinations;
e) They shall not endanger their health or their physical or mental integrity, by any unjustified action or omission. It is therefore prohibited to subject the persons referred to in this Article to any medical intervention which is not indicated by their state of health and which does not agree with generally recognised medical standards which are apply in analogous medical circumstances to persons not deprived of liberty.
3. Persons who are not covered by the provisions of paragraph 1. but whose freedom is restricted, in whatever form, for reasons connected with the armed conflict, shall be treated humanely in accordance with the provisions of Article 4. and in paragraphs 1. (a), (c) and (d) and 2. (b) of this Article.
4. If it is decided to release persons who are deprived of liberty, those who decide to release them must take the necessary steps to ensure the safety of such persons.
ARTICLE 6o. CRIMINAL PROCEEDINGS.
1. This Article shall apply to the prosecution and punishment of criminal offences committed in connection with the armed conflict.
2. No sentence shall be imposed or executed in respect of a person found guilty of an offence, but on the basis of a judgment of a court offering the essential guarantees of independence and impartiality. In particular:
(a) The procedure shall provide that the defendant shall be informed without delay of the details of the offence attributed to him and shall guarantee the defendant, in the proceedings preceding the trial and in the course of the trial, all rights and means of defence. required;
(b) No one may be convicted of an offence but on the basis of their individual criminal liability;
c) No one shall be convicted of acts or omissions which at the time of being committed are not criminal according to the law; nor shall it be imposed more serious than the one applicable at the time of the infringement; if, after the commission of the infringement, the law will provide for the imposition of a lighter penalty, the offender will benefit from it;
d) Any person charged with an offence shall be presumed innocent as long as his/her guilt is not proven in accordance with the law;
e) Any person charged with an offence shall be entitled to be present on trial;
f) No one can be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilty.
3. Any sentenced person shall be informed, at the time of his conviction, of his or her rights to seek judicial and other remedies, as well as of the time limits for exercising those rights.
4. No death penalty shall be imposed against persons who are less than 18 years of age at the time of the offence or shall be executed in the women of the child or in the mothers of young children.
5. To cease hostilities, the authorities in power will seek to grant the widest possible amnesty to persons who have taken part in the armed conflict or who are deprived of liberty, interned or detained for reasons of reason. related to the armed conflict.
INJURED, SICK AND SHIPWRECKED
ARTICLE 7o. PROTECTION AND ASSISTANCE.
1. All the injured, sick and shipwrecked, whether or not they have taken part in the armed conflict, will be respected and protected.
2. In all circumstances they will be treated humanely and will receive, as far as possible and in the shortest possible time, the medical care required by their state. No distinction will be made between them that is not based on medical criteria.
ARTICLE 8o. Search. Whenever circumstances permit, and in particular after a combat, all possible measures will be taken without delay to search for and collect the injured, sick and shipwrecked in order to protect them against the pillage and the bad deal with them and assure them the necessary assistance, and to seek the dead, prevent them from being stripped and give their remains a decent destination.
ARTICLE 9o. PROTECTION OF HEALTH AND RELIGIOUS STAFF.
1. The health and religious staff will be respected and protected. You will be provided with all available assistance for the performance of your duties and will not be required to perform tasks that are not compatible with your humanitarian mission.
2. Medical personnel, in the performance of their duties, shall not be required to give priority to the treatment of any person except for reasons of medical order.
ARTICLE 10. GENERAL PROTECTION OF THE MEDICAL MISSION.
1. No one shall be punished for having exercised a medical activity in accordance with that of ontology, whatever the circumstances or the beneficiaries of such activity have been.
2. Persons engaged in a medical activity shall not be required to carry out acts or work contrary to that of ontology or other medical standards intended to protect the injured and the sick or the provisions of this Directive. Protocol, or to refrain from carrying out acts required by those rules or provisions.
3. Subject to the provisions of national law, the professional duties of persons carrying out medical activities shall be respected, as regards the information which they may acquire on the injured and those who are sick with them.
4. Subject to the provisions of national law, the person who pursues a medical activity may not be punished in any way for the failure to provide or refuse to provide information on the injured and the sick to whom attend or have attended.
ARTICLE 11. PROTECTION OF HEALTH UNITS AND MEANS OF TRANSPORT.
1. Health units and the means of health transport shall be respected and protected at all times and shall not be subject to attacks.
2. The protection of the units and the means of transport shall only cease when they are used in order to carry out hostile acts outside their humanitarian tasks. However, the protection shall cease only after an intimation which, having fixed a reasonable period of time, has no effect.
ARTICLE 12. DISTINGUISHING SIGN. Under the direction of the competent authority concerned, the distinguishing sign of the Red Cross, Red Crescent or Lion and Red Sun on a white background shall be held by both the health and religious staff and by the health units and means of transport. This sign must be respected in all circumstances. It shall not be misused.
CIVILIAN POPULATION
ARTICLE 13. PROTECTION OF THE CIVILIAN POPULATION.
1. The civilian population and the civilian population shall enjoy general protection against the dangers arising from military operations. In order to make this protection effective, the following rules shall be observed in all circumstances.
2. The civilian population as such, or the civilian population, will not be attacked. Acts or threats of violence whose main purpose is to terrorise the civilian population are prohibited.
3. Civil persons shall enjoy the protection conferred by this title, except if they participate directly in the hostilities and for the duration of such participation.
ARTICLE 14. PROTECTION OF ESSENTIAL GOODS FOR THE SURVIVAL OF THE CIVILIAN POPULATION. It is forbidden, as a method of combat, to starve civilians. Consequently, it is prohibited to attack, destroy, subtract or inuse for that purpose the goods indispensable for the survival of the civilian population, such as the food items and the agricultural areas that produce them, the crops, the livestock, drinking water facilities and reserves and irrigation works.
ARTICLE 15. PROTECTION OF WORKS AND INSTALLATIONS CONTAINING DANGEROUS FORCES. Works or installations containing dangerous forces, namely: dams, dams and nuclear power stations, will not be the subject of attacks, although be military targets, when such attacks may result in the release of those forces and result in significant losses in the civilian population.
ARTICLE 16. PROTECTION OF CULTURAL GOODS AND PLACES OF WORSHIP. Without prejudice to the provisions of the Hague Convention of 14 May 1954 for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, it is prohibited to commit acts of hostility directed against historical monuments, works of art or places of worship that constitute the cultural or spiritual heritage of the peoples, and use them in support of the military effort.
ARTICLE 17. PROHIBITION OF FORCED DISPLACEMENTS.
1. The displacement of the civilian population cannot be ordered for reasons related to the conflict unless it is demanded by the security of the civilian persons or by the military. If such a move has to be made, all possible measures will be taken to ensure that the civilian population is welcomed in satisfactory conditions of accommodation, health, hygiene, safety and food.
2. Civil persons cannot be forced to leave their own territory for reasons related to the conflict.
ARTICLE 18. RELIEF SOCIETY AND RELIEF ACTIONS.
1. Relief societies established in the territory of the High Contracting Party, such as Red Cross organizations (Red Crescent, Lion and Red Sun), will be able to offer their services for the performance of their traditional functions in relationship with the victims of the armed conflict. The civilian population may, even on its own initiative, offer to collect and care for the injured, sick and shipwrecked.
2. Where the civilian population is suffering from deprivation of hardship due to the lack of supplies essential for its survival, such as food and health supplies, the consent of the High Contracting Party shall be undertaken. (i) interest, in the form of humanitarian aid, in favour of the civilian population, of a purely humanitarian and impartial nature, and without distinction of an unfavourable nature.
FINAL PROVISIONS
ARTICLE 19. BROADCAST. This Protocol should be disseminated as widely as possible.
ARTICLE 20. FIRMA. This Protocol shall be open for signature by the Parties to the Conventions six months after the signing of the Final Act and shall remain open for a period of twelve months.
ARTICLE 21. RATIFICATION. This Protocol shall be ratified as soon as possible. The instruments of ratification shall be deposited with the Swiss Federal Council, depositary of the Conventions.
ARTICLE 22. ACCESSION. This Protocol shall be open to the accession of any Party to the Conventions which would not be a signatory to this Protocol. The instruments of accession shall be deposited with the depositary.
1. This Protocol shall enter into force six months after two instruments of ratification or accession have been deposited.
2. For each Party to the Conventions which ratifies it or which it subsequently adheres to, this Protocol shall enter into force six months after the deposit of its instrument of ratification or accession by that Party.
1. Any High Contracting Party may propose one or more amendments to this Protocol. The text of any proposed amendments shall be communicated to the depositary, which, after consultations with all the High Contracting Parties and with the International Committee of the Red Cross, shall decide whether a conference should be convened to examine the proposed amendment.
2. The depositary shall invite such a conference to the High Contracting Parties and to the Parties to the Conventions, whether or not they are a signatory to this Protocol.
1. In the event that a High Contracting Party denounces this Protocol, the complaint shall take effect only six months after the instrument has been received. However, if the reporting party expires for six months, the complaint shall not take effect before the end of the armed conflict. Persons who have been subject to deprivation or a restriction of liberty for reasons relating to that conflict shall nevertheless continue to benefit from the provisions of this Protocol until their final release.
2. The complaint shall be notified in writing to the depositary. The latter will communicate it to all High Contracting Parties.
ARTICLE 26. NOTIFICATIONS. The depositary shall inform the High Contracting Parties and the Parties to the Conventions, whether or not they are a signatory to this Protocol, of:
(a) The signatures of this Protocol and the deposit of the instruments of ratification and accession, in accordance with Articles 21 and 22;
(b) The date on which this Protocol enters into force, in accordance with Article 23; and
c) Communications and declarations received in accordance with article 24.
1. Once this Protocol has entered into force, the depositary shall forward it to the Secretariat of the United Nations with a view to its registration and publication in accordance with Article 102 of the Charter of the United Nations.
2. The depositary shall also inform the United Nations Secretariat of all ratifications and accessions it receives in relation to this Protocol.
ARTICLE 28. AUTHENTIC TEXTS. The original of this Protocol, of which the Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, English and Russian texts are equally authentic, shall be deposited with the depositary, which shall send certified copies to all Parties in the Conventions.
THE CHIEF LEGAL OFFICER
OF THE FOREIGN MINISTRY
NOTES:
That the present reproduction is faithful photocopy taken from the text of the "Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 on the protection of victims of armed conflicts without international character" (Protocol II) ", made in Geneva on 8 June 1977, which rests in the archives of the Legal Office of this Ministry.
Dada en Santafe de Bogota, D. C., at twenty-four (24) days
of the month of March of a thousand nine hundred and ninety-four (1994).
the Chief Legal Officer,
HECTOR ADOLFO SINTURA VARELA.
Legislative Branch of Public Power.
Presidency of the Republic.
Santafe de Bogota, D. C.,
Approved. Submit to the honorable consideration
National Congress for Constitutional Effects.
(Fdo.) CESAR GAVIRIA TRUJILLO
The Foreign Minister,
(Fdo.) NOEMI SANIN DE RUBIO.
DECRETA:
ARTICLE 1A. Approve the "Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 concerning the protection of victims of armed conflicts without international character" (Protocol II) ", done at Geneva on 8 June 1977.
ARTICLE 2A. In accordance with the provisions of Article 1. of Law 7a. In 1944, the "Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 on the Protection of Victims of Armed Conflict Without International Character (Protocol II)", made in Geneva on 8 June 1977, which by Article 1. of this law shall be adopted, shall bind the country from the date on which the international link with respect to it is perfected.
ARTICLE 3A. This law applies from the date of its publication.
The President of the honorable Senate of the Republic,
JUAN GUILLERMO ANGEL MEJIA.
Secretary General of the honorable Senate of the Republic,
PEDRO PUMAREJO VEGA.
The President of the honorable House of Representatives,
ALVARO BENEDETTI VARGAS.
The Secretary General of the honorable House of Representatives,
DIEGO VIVAS TAFUR.
Republic of Colombia-National Government
Contact and post.
Execute previous Constitutional Court review,
pursuant to article 241-10 of the Political Constitution.
Dada en Santafe de Bogota, D. C., at 16 December 1994.
ERNESTO SAMPER PIZANO
The Minister of Government,
HORACIO SERPA URIBE.
The Deputy Foreign Minister,
in charge of the Issue of the
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
CAMILO REYES RODRIGUEZ.
The Minister of Justice and Law,
NESTOR HUMBERTO MARTINEZ NEIRA.
The Commander General of the Military Forces,
in charge of the Dispatch functions
from the Minister of National Defense,
General HERNANDO CAMILO ZUNIGA.
