The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and ensure compliance with this Convention in all circumstances.

Apart from the provisions which shall enter into force from the time of peace, this Convention shall apply in the event of a declared war or any other armed conflict arising between two or more of the High Contracting Parties, even if the State Of war is not recognized by one of them.

The Convention shall also apply in all cases of occupation of all or part of the territory of a High Contracting Party, even if such occupation does not meet any military resistance.

If one of the Powers in conflict is not a party to this Convention, the Powers that are party to this Convention shall nevertheless remain bound by it in their mutual relations. They shall also be bound by the Convention to the said Power, if it accepts and applies the provisions thereof.

In the event of an armed conflict not of an international character and emerging in the territory of one of the High Contracting Parties, each Party to the conflict shall be required to apply at least the following provisions:

1.

Persons who are not directly involved in hostilities, including members of the armed forces who have laid down their arms and those who have been hors de combat by illness, injury, detention, or any other cause, shall, in All circumstances, treated with humanity, without any distinction of adverse character based on race, colour, religion or belief, sex, birth or fortune, or any other similar criterion. To this end, are and remain prohibited, at any time and in any place in respect of the persons mentioned above:

A.

Attacks on life and bodily integrity, including murder in all its forms, mutilation, cruel treatment, torture and torture;

B.

The taking of hostages;

C.

Attacks on the dignity of persons, including humiliating and degrading treatment;

D.

Convictions and executions carried out without a prior judgment, rendered by a regularly constituted court, accompanied by judicial guarantees recognised as indispensable by the civilised peoples.

2.

The wounded and sick will be collected and treated.

An impartial humanitarian agency, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, will be able to offer its services to the parties to the conflict.

The Parties to the conflict shall endeavour, on the other hand, to bring into force through special agreements all or part of the other provisions of this Convention.

The application of the foregoing provisions shall not affect the legal status of the Parties to the conflict.

The neutral powers shall apply by analogy the provisions of this Convention to the wounded and sick as well as to members of health and religious personnel belonging to the armed forces of the parties to the conflict, who shall be received or interned On their territory, as well as the dead.

For protected persons who have fallen to the power of the adverse party, this Convention shall apply until the time of their final repatriation.

Apart from the agreements expressly provided for in Art. 10, 15, 23, 28, 31, 36, 37 and 52, the High Contracting Parties may conclude other special agreements on any matter that they deem appropriate to resolve in particular. No special agreement shall prejudice the situation of injured and sick persons, as well as members of health and religious personnel, as regulated by this Convention, nor shall they restrict the rights granted to them by the Convention.

Injured and sick persons, as well as members of health and religious personnel, shall remain for the benefit of such agreements as long as the Convention is applicable to them, except as expressly provided for in the aforementioned agreements or In subsequent agreements, or also unless more favourable measures are taken against them by any of the Parties to the conflict.

Injured and sick persons, as well as members of health and religious personnel, shall in no case be given partial or complete renunciation of the rights guaranteed by this Convention and, where appropriate, the special agreements referred to in Article Previous.

This Convention shall be applied with the assistance of and under the control of the Protecting Powers responsible for safeguarding the interests of the Parties to the conflict. For this purpose, protective Powers may, outside their diplomatic or consular staff, designate delegates from among their own nationals or among nationals of other Neutral Powers. Such delegates shall be subject to the approval of the Power to which they will carry out their duties.

Parties to the conflict will facilitate, to the greatest extent possible, the task of representatives or delegates of the Protecting Powers.

The representatives or delegates of the Protecting Powers shall under no circumstances exceed the limits of their mission, as set out in this Convention; in particular, they shall take into account the pressing security requirements of the State With whom they perform their duties. Only urgent military requirements may permit, on an exceptional and temporary basis, a restriction of their activity.

The provisions of this Convention shall not preclude humanitarian activities which the International Committee of the Red Cross, as well as any other impartial humanitarian agency, will undertake for the protection of the injured and sick, thus Members of health and religious personnel, and for relief to be provided with the approval of the Parties to the conflict concerned.

The High Contracting Parties may, at any time, agree to entrust to a body with all guarantees of impartiality and effectiveness the tasks assigned by this Convention to the Protecting Powers.

If injured and ill persons or members of health and religious personnel do not benefit from, or benefit from, the activity of a Protecting Power or a Designated Agency in accordance with paragraph 1, Detaining power shall require either a neutral State or such an organization to assume the functions vested in this Convention in the protective Powers designated by the Parties to the conflict.

If protection cannot be assured, the Detaining Power shall require a humanitarian agency, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, to carry out the humanitarian tasks vested in the Powers of the Powers Shall accept, subject to the provisions of this Article, the offers of services originating from such an organisation.

Any Neutral Power or any body invited by the Power concerned or offering for the above-mentioned purposes shall, in its activity, remain conscious of its responsibility to the Party to the conflict for which the persons protected by the Convention, and shall provide sufficient guarantees of capacity to carry out the functions in question and to fulfil them impartially.

There shall be no derogation from the foregoing provisions by particular agreement between Powers of which one would be, even temporarily, vis-vis the other Power or its allies, limited in its freedom to negotiate as a result of the Military events, particularly in the event of an occupation of all or an important part of its territory.

Whenever it is mentioned in this Convention of the Protecting Power, such reference shall also refer to the bodies which replace it within the meaning of this Article.

In all cases where they deem it useful in the interests of protected persons, in particular in the event of disagreement between the Parties to the conflict on the application or interpretation of the provisions of this Convention, the Protecting Powers Lend their good offices for the resolution of the dispute.

For this purpose, each of the Protecting Powers may, on the invitation of a Party or spontaneously, propose to the Parties to the conflict a meeting of their representatives and, in particular, the authorities responsible for the fate of the injured and sick, as well as Health and religious personnel, possibly in a properly chosen neutral territory. The Parties to the conflict will be required to respond to the proposals that will be made to them in this regard. The Protecting Powers may, where appropriate, propose to the approval of the Parties to the conflict a person belonging to a neutral power, or a person delegated by the International Committee of the Red Cross, to be called to Participate in this meeting.

Members of the armed forces and other persons referred to in the following article, who shall be injured or ill, shall be respected and protected in all circumstances.

They shall be treated and treated humanely by the Party to the conflict which shall have them in its power, without any distinction of adverse character based on sex, race, nationality, religion, political opinion or any other criterion Similar. Any infringement of their lives and of their person and, inter alia, the fact of completing or exterminating them, subjection to torture, carrying out biological experiments on them, and leaving them in a premeditated manner without any interference is strictly prohibited. Medical aid, or without care, or to expose them to risks of infection or infection created for this purpose.

Only urgent reasons will allow priority in the order of care.

Women will be treated in all special ways due to their gender.

The Party to the conflict, forced to abandon wounded or sick to its adversary, will leave with them, as far as the military requirements permit, part of its personnel and health equipment to help treat them.

This Convention shall apply to the injured and sick in the following categories:

1.

Members of the armed forces of a party to the conflict, as well as members of the militias and the volunteer corps of those armed forces.

2.

Members of other militias and members of other bodies of volunteers, including those of organized resistance movements, belonging to a party to the conflict and acting outside or within their own territory, even if Territory is occupied, provided that these militias or bodies of volunteers, including these organised resistance movements, fulfil the following conditions:

A.

Have a person in charge responsible for his or her subordinates;

B.

Have a fixed and recognizable distinctive sign at a distance;

C.

Openly wear weapons;

D.

To comply with the laws and customs of war in their operations.

3.

Members of the regular armed forces who claim to be a government or authority not recognized by the Detaining Power.

4.

Persons who follow the armed forces without being directly involved, such as civilian members of military aircrew, war correspondents, suppliers, members of work units or services responsible for the welfare of Provided that they have been authorized by the armed forces to accompany them.

5.

Crew members, including commanders, pilots and apprentices of the merchant navy and civil aviation crews of the parties to the conflict who do not receive more favourable treatment under other provisions of the law International.

6.

The population of an unoccupied territory which, in the approach of the enemy, spontaneously takes up arms to fight the invading troops without having had the time to build up into regular armed forces, if it openly carries weapons and if it Respects the laws and customs of war.

In view of the provisions of Art. 12 the wounded and sick of a belligerent, who fell to the power of the enemy, will be prisoners of war and the rules of the law of the people concerning prisoners of war will be applicable to them.

At all times and in particular after a commitment, the Parties to the conflict shall without delay take all possible measures to seek and collect the wounded and sick, to protect them from pillage and ill-treatment, and to ensure that The necessary care, as well as to find the dead and prevent them from being robbed.

Whenever circumstances permit, an armistice, an interruption of fire or local arrangements will be agreed upon to permit the removal, exchange and transportation of the casualties left on the battlefield.

Similarly, local arrangements may be made between the Parties to the conflict for the evacuation or exchange of the wounded and sick from a besieged or encircled area and for the passage of health and religious personnel and health equipment to Destination for this field.

The Parties to the conflict shall record, as soon as possible, all the elements necessary to identify the injured, the sick and the dead of the opposing party in their power. This information should, if possible, include:

A.

Indication of the power on which they depend;

B.

Assignment or service number;

C.

Family name;

D.

The given name (s)

E.

Date of birth;

F.

Any other information on the card or identification plate;

G.

Date and place of capture or death;

H.

Information about injury, illness or cause of death.

As soon as possible, the above information shall be disclosed to the information office referred to in s. 122 of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 ¹ On the treatment of prisoners of war, which will transmit them to the Power on which these persons depend, through the Protecting Power and the Central Prisoners of War Agency.

The Parties to the conflict shall establish and communicate by the means indicated in the preceding paragraph, the acts of death or duly authenticated lists of deaths. They shall also collect and transmit, through the same office, half of a double identity plate, wills or other documents of importance to the family of deceased persons, sums of money, and General, all objects with intrinsic or emotional value found on the dead. These objects, as well as the unidentified objects, will be sent in sealed packages, accompanied by a declaration giving all the details necessary for the identification of the deceased owner, as well as a complete inventory of the package.

The Parties to the conflict shall ensure that the burial or cremation of the dead, individually made to the extent that the circumstances permit, is preceded by a careful and, if possible, medical examination of the bodies, with a view to finding out Death, identity and accountability. Half of the double identity plate or the plate itself, if it is a simple plate, will remain on the corpse.

Bodies may be cremated only for compelling reasons of hygiene or for reasons derived from the religion of the deceased. In the case of incineration, detailed mention shall be made, with an indication of the grounds, on the act of death or on the authenticated list of deaths.

The Parties to the conflict shall, moreover, ensure that the dead are buried honorably, if possible according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged, that their graves are respected, compiled if possible according to the nationality of the Deceased, properly maintained and marked in such a way as to be able to be recovered. To this end and at the beginning of hostilities, they will officially organize a Grave Service, in order to permit exhumations, to ensure the identification of the dead bodies, irrespective of the location of the graves, and their eventual return to the graves. Their country of origin. These provisions apply to the ashes that will be kept by the Grave Service until the country of origin has known the latest provisions it wishes to make on this subject.

As soon as circumstances permit, and at the latest at the end of hostilities, these services will exchange, through the information office referred to in the second paragraph of s. 16, lists indicating the exact location and designation of the graves, as well as the information relating to the dead who are buried there.

The military authority may use the charitable zeal of the inhabitants to voluntarily collect and treat, under its control, the wounded and sick, by giving the persons who have responded to this call protection and facilities Necessary. In the event that the adverse party takes or retakes control of the region, it shall maintain such protection and facilities.

The military authority must allow residents and relief societies, even in the invaded or occupied areas, to spontaneously collect and treat the wounded or sick to any nationality they belong to. The civilian population must respect these wounded and sick, and in particular do not carry out any acts of violence against them.

No one should ever be concerned or condemned for giving care to injured or sick people.

The provisions of this article shall not relieve the occupying Power of its obligations, in the health and moral field, in respect of the wounded and sick.

Fixed establishments and mobile health units of the Health Service shall under no circumstances be subject to attack, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict. If they fall into the hands of the opposing party, they will be able to continue to function as long as the Captive Power has not itself provided the necessary care for the wounded and sick in these institutions and formations.

The competent authorities shall ensure that the health facilities and training referred to above are, to the extent possible, in such a way that possible attacks against military objectives cannot These health facilities and training in danger.

Hospital ships entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 ¹ For the improvement of the fate of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked of the armed forces on the sea, shall not be attacked from the earth.

The protection due to fixed establishments and mobile health units of the Health Service may cease only if it is used to commit, apart from their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy. However, protection will cease only after summing up, in all appropriate cases, a reasonable period of time and which would have remained without effect.

It shall not be considered to be such as to deprive a training or health establishment of the protection provided by s. 19:

1.

The fact that the staff of the training or establishment are armed and that they use their weapons for their own defence or that of their wounded and sick;

2.

The fact that, in the absence of armed nurses, the training or establishment is kept by a picket or sentry or an escort;

3.

The fact that in the training or establishment are portable weapons and ammunition that has been removed from the injured and sick and has not yet been paid to the appropriate service;

4.

The fact that the staff and equipment of the veterinary service are in the training or establishment, without being an integral part of it;

5.

The fact that the humanitarian activity of health training and establishments or their personnel is extended to injured or ill civilians.

From the time of peace, the High Contracting Parties and, after the opening of hostilities, the Parties to the conflict, will be able to establish on their own territory and, if necessary, on the occupied territories, areas and places of health Organised in such a way as to protect the wounded and sick from the effects of the war, as well as the staff responsible for the organisation and administration of these areas and localities and the care to be given to those who will be concentrated there.

From the beginning of a conflict and during the conflict, interested Parties may enter into agreements between themselves for the recognition of the health zones and localities that they would have established. To this end, they may bring into force the provisions laid down in the draft agreement annexed to this Convention, with any modifications that they may deem necessary.

The Protecting Powers and the International Committee of the Red Cross are invited to lend their good offices to facilitate the establishment and recognition of these areas and health localities.

Health personnel exclusively dedicated to the research, removal, transport or treatment of the injured and sick or to the prevention of diseases, the staff exclusively assigned to the administration of training and establishments And chaplains attached to the armed forces will be respected and protected in all circumstances.

Members who are specially trained to be employed as auxiliaries in research or in the removal, transportation or treatment of the injured and ill will also be respected and protected if they Perform these duties at the time they come into contact with the enemy or fall into power.

The same shall apply to staff referred to in Art. 24, the staff of the National Societies of the Red Cross and of the other voluntary relief societies, duly recognized and authorized by their Governments, which shall be employed in the same functions as those of the staff referred to in that audit. The personnel of these companies will be subject to military laws and regulations.

Each High Contracting Party shall notify the other, either at the time of the peace, or at the opening or course of hostilities, in any event before any actual employment, the names of the companies which it has authorized to assist, under its Responsibility, to the official health service of its armies.

A recognized society of a neutral country will only be able to assist its staff and health units in a Party to the conflict with the prior consent of its own government and the authorization of the Party to the conflict itself. Such personnel and training will be placed under the control of that Party to the conflict.

The neutral government will notify the other side of the state accepting the contest. The Party to the conflict which has accepted this contest shall, before any employment, be required to notify the opposing party.

Under no circumstances will this competition be considered as interference in the conflict.

The members of the staff referred to in the first subparagraph shall be duly equipped with the identity documents provided for in Article 40 before leaving the neutral country to which they belong.

The staff assigned to s. 24 and 26 will be retained, if he falls to the power of the opposing party, only to the extent that the health status, the spiritual needs and the number of prisoners of war will require it.

The staff members who will be retained will not be considered prisoners of war. At the very least, however, they will benefit from all the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 ¹ On the treatment of prisoners of war. They shall continue to exercise under the laws and regulations of the Detaining Power, under the authority of its competent services and in accordance with their professional conscience, their medical or spiritual functions for the benefit of Prisoners of war preferably belonging to the armed forces under their control. In addition, for the exercise of their medical or spiritual duties, they shall enjoy the following facilities:

A.

They will be allowed to periodically visit prisoners of war at work detachments or in hospitals outside the camp. The detaining authority shall make available to them the necessary means of transport;

B.

In each camp, the oldest military doctor in the highest rank will be responsible to the military authorities of the camp for all the activities of the selected health personnel. For this purpose, the Parties to the conflict shall agree upon the commencement of hostilities with respect to the correspondence of the ranks of their health personnel, including that of the societies referred to in Art. 26. For all matters pertaining to their mission, this physician, as well as the chaplains, will have direct access to the competent authorities in the camp. They shall provide them with all the facilities necessary for correspondence relating to these matters;

C.

Although it is subject to the internal discipline of the camp in which it is located, the selected personnel will not be required to perform any foreign work on their medical or religious mission.

In the course of hostilities, the Parties to the conflict shall agree on a possible succession of the selected personnel and shall determine the modalities.

None of the above provisions exempts the Detaining Power from its obligations with regard to prisoners of war in the health and spiritual fields.

The staff designated in s. 25, who fell into the hands of the enemy, will be considered a prisoner of war, but he will be employed at health missions as long as the need arises.

Personnel whose retention will not be required under the provisions of s. 28, shall be returned to the Party to the conflict for which they shall report as soon as a road is open for their return and military requirements permit.

Pending their removal, they will not be considered prisoners of war. At the very least, however, they will benefit from all the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 ¹ On the treatment of prisoners of war. They shall continue to perform their duties under the leadership of the opposing party and shall preferably be assigned to the care of the injured and sick of the Party to the conflict in which they are responsible.

At their departure, they will take the effects, personal objects, values and instruments that belong to them.

The choice of personnel whose reference to the Party to the conflict is provided for under s. 30 shall be excluded from any consideration of race, religion or political opinion, preferably according to the chronological order of their capture and their health.

From the outset of hostilities, the parties to the conflict may establish by special agreements the percentage of personnel to be retained according to the number of prisoners and their distribution in the camps.

Persons designated in s. 27, which will be in the power of the adverse party, cannot be accepted.

Unless otherwise agreed, they shall be allowed to return to their country or in the absence of the territory of the Party to the conflict in which they were placed, as soon as a lane is open for their return and military requirements Will allow.

Pending their removal, they shall continue to perform their duties under the leadership of the opposing party, and shall preferably be assigned to the care of the injured and sick of the Party to the conflict in which they were placed.

At their departure, they will carry the effects, personal objects and values, the instruments, the weapons and, if possible, the means of transport belonging to them.

The Parties to the conflict shall ensure that such staff, while in their power, shall maintain the same maintenance, the same housing, the same allowances and the same pay as the corresponding personnel of their army. Food will in any case be sufficient in quantity, quality and variety to ensure a normal balance of health.

The equipment of the mobile health units of the armed forces which will fall into the hands of the other side, will remain affected to the wounded and sick.

The buildings, equipment and depots of the fixed health facilities of the armed forces will remain subject to the law of war, but will not be diverted from their jobs as long as they are necessary for the wounded and sick. However, commanders of field armies will be able to use them, in the event of urgent military necessity, provided that they have first taken the necessary measures to ensure the well-being of the sick and injured who are being treated there.

Material and deposits covered by this Article shall not be intentionally destroyed.

The movable and immovable property of the relief societies admitted for the benefit of the Convention shall be considered private property.

The right of requisition recognized to the belligerents by the laws and customs of war will be exercised only in the event of urgent necessity and once the fate of the wounded and the sick is insured.

The transport of wounded and sick or health equipment will be respected and protected in the same way as mobile health units.

When such transport or vehicles fall into the hands of the opposing party, they shall be subject to the laws of war, provided that the Party to the conflict which has captured them takes care, in all cases, of the injured and sick Contain.

Civilian personnel and all means of transport from the requisition will be subject to the general rules of the law of the people.

Sanitary aircraft, that is, aircraft used exclusively for the evacuation of the wounded and sick and for the transport of personnel and health equipment, will not be attacked but will be respected by the Belligerents during their viewing at altitudes, at times and in accordance with itineraries specifically agreed upon by all interested belligerents.

They will ostensibly bear the distinctive sign provided for in Art. 38, next to the national colours, on their lower, upper and lateral faces. They shall have any other signs or means of recognition fixed by agreement between the belligerents, either at the beginning or in the course of hostilities.

Unless otherwise agreed, the overflight of enemy territory or occupied by the enemy shall be prohibited.

Sanitary aircraft shall obey any summons to land. In the event of a landing, the aircraft, with its occupants, will be able to resume its flight after possible control.

In the event of an accidental landing on enemy territory or occupied by the enemy, the wounded and sick, as well as the crew of the aircraft, will be prisoners of war. Health personnel will be treated in accordance with art. 24 and later.

The health aircraft of the Parties to the conflict may, subject to the second paragraph, fly over the territory of the Neutral Powers and land or land in the event of necessity or to make a stopover there. They shall notify the Neutral Powers in advance of their passage to their territory and obey any summons to land or amerrir. They shall be immune from attacks only during their flight at altitudes, at hours and in accordance with a specific route agreed between the Parties to the conflict and the neutral Powers concerned.

However, the Neutral Powers may lay down conditions or restrictions on the overflight of their territory by the health aircraft or their landing. Any such conditions or restrictions shall be applied equally to all Parties to the conflict.

The injured or diseased, with the consent of the local authority, on a neutral territory by a health aircraft, shall, unless otherwise agreed by the neutral state with the parties to the conflict, be kept by the neutral state, When international law so requires, so that they cannot take part in the operations of war again. The costs of hospitalization and internment will be borne by the Power on which the wounded and sick depend.

As a tribute to Switzerland, the heraldic sign of the red cross on a white background, formed by interversion of the federal colours, is maintained as the emblem and distinctive sign of the Medical Service of the Armed Forces.

However, for countries which already employ a distinctive sign in place of the red cross, the red crescent or the lion and the red sun on a white background, such emblems shall also be accepted for the purposes of this Convention.

Under the control of the competent military authority, the emblem will appear on the flags, armbands and all material relating to the Sanitary Service.

The staff referred to in s. 24, and art. 26 and 27, will bear, attached to the left arm, a moisture resistant armband and equipped with the distinctive sign issued and stamped by the military authority.

This staff, in addition to the identity plate provided for in s. 16, will also carry a special identity card bearing the distinctive sign. This card will have to withstand the humidity and be of such dimensions as it can be put into the pocket. It will be written in the national language, with at least the names and names, the date of birth, the rank and the number of the person concerned. It shall establish in what capacity it is entitled to the protection of this Convention. The card will be equipped with the photograph of the holder and, in addition, either his signature or fingerprints, or both. It will bear the dry stamp of the military authority.

The identity card shall be uniform in each army and as much as possible of the same type in the armed forces of the High Contracting Parties. Parties to the conflict may be guided by the model annexed as an example to this Convention. At the beginning of hostilities, they will communicate the model they use. Each identity card will be established, if possible, in at least two copies, one of which will be retained by the original Power.

Under no circumstances will the above mentioned personnel be deprived of their badges or identification card or the right to wear the armband. In case of loss, he shall have the right to obtain duplicate copies of the card and the replacement of the insignia.

The staff designated in s. 25 shall bear, only while carrying out health functions, a white armband bearing in its middle the distinguishing sign, but of reduced dimensions, delivered and stamped by the military authority.

The military identity documents which this personnel will carry will specify the health instruction received by the holder, the temporary nature of his duties and the right he has to the wearing of the armband.

The distinctive flag of the Convention may only be flown on the training and health facilities which it orders to respect and only with the consent of the military authority.

In both mobile and fixed establishments, it may be accompanied by the national flag of the Party to the conflict in which the training or establishment belongs.

However, the health training that has fallen to the enemy will only fly the flag of the Convention.

Parties to the conflict shall, as far as military requirements permit, take the necessary measures to make clear to the enemy forces land, air and sea, the distinctive emblems reporting the formations and Health facilities, with a view to removing the possibility of any aggressive action.

The health units of the neutral countries which, under the conditions laid down in Art. 27, would have been allowed to provide their services to a belligerent, will have to bear, with the flag of the Convention, the national flag of that belligerent, if the belligerent uses the power conferred on him by art. 42.

Unless the competent military authority orders otherwise, they may, under all circumstances, wear their national flag, even if they fall to the opposing party's power.

The emblem of the red cross on a white background and the words "Red Cross" or "Geneva Cross" shall not, with the exception of the cases referred to in the following paragraphs of this Article, be employed, either in peacetime or in war, than in respect of Designate or protect training and health facilities, personnel and equipment protected by this Convention and other relevant international conventions. The same shall apply to the emblems referred to in Art. 38, second paragraph, for the countries which employ them. National Red Cross Societies and other companies referred to in s. 26 shall be entitled to use the distinctive sign conferring protection of the Convention only under the provisions of that paragraph.

In addition, the National Red Cross Societies (Red Crossers, Lion and Red Sun) may in peacetime, in accordance with national legislation, make use of the name and emblem of the Red Cross for their other activities in accordance with the Principles formulated by the International Conferences of the Red Cross. When these activities continue in time of war, the conditions of use of the emblem will have to be such that it cannot be regarded as intended to confer protection of the Convention-the emblem will be relatively small Size and cannot be placed on a brewing or roof.

International Red Cross agencies and their duly legitimised staff will be allowed to use the red cross sign on a white background at any time.

Exceptionally, in accordance with national legislation, and with the express authorisation of one of the National Red Cross Societies (Croissant-Rouge, Lion and Red Sun), the emblem of the Convention may be used in time of Peace, to report vehicles used as ambulances and to mark the location of emergency stations exclusively reserved for free treatment of wounded or sick.

Each Party to the conflict, through its Commanders in Chief, shall have to provide for the details of the implementation of the foregoing Articles, as well as any unanticipated cases, in accordance with the general principles of this Convention.

Reprisal measures against the injured, sick, personnel, buildings or equipment protected by the Convention are prohibited.

The High Contracting Parties undertake to disseminate as widely as possible, in peacetime and in time of war, the text of the present Convention in their respective countries, including the incorporation of the study into the programmes Military training and, if possible, civil, in such a way that the principles are known to the entire population, including the fighting armed forces, health personnel and chaplains.

The High Contracting Parties shall communicate through the Swiss Federal Council and, during the hostilities, through the Protecting Powers, the official translations of this Convention, as well as the laws and regulations That they may be amended to implement them.

The High Contracting Parties undertake to take all necessary legislative measures to establish appropriate criminal sanctions to be applied to persons who have committed, or given the order to commit, any of the serious offences to the Present Convention as defined in the following Article.

Each Contracting Party will have an obligation to search for those who have committed, or have ordered, to commit, either of these serious offences, and they will have to refer them to their own courts, irrespective of their Nationality. It may also, if it prefers, and under the conditions laid down in its own legislation, deliver them for judgment to another Contracting Party interested in the prosecution, provided that that Contracting Party has held against those People with sufficient loads.

Each Contracting Party shall take the necessary measures to stop acts contrary to the provisions of this Convention, other than the serious offences defined in the following article.

In all circumstances, the accused will benefit from procedural and self-defence guarantees which will not be lower than those laid down in Art. 105 et seq. Of the Geneva Convention of 12 August 1949 ¹ , relating to the treatment of prisoners of war.

The serious offences referred to in the preceding article shall be those that involve any of the following acts, if committed against persons or property protected by the Convention: intentional homicide, torture or treatment Inhuman, including biological experiments, intentionally causing great suffering or serious harm to physical integrity or health, destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by Military necessity and executed on a large scale in an unlawful and arbitrary manner.

No Contracting Party may exempt itself, or exempt another Contracting Party, from the liability incurred by itself or another Contracting Party as a result of the offences provided for in the preceding Article.

At the request of a Party to the conflict, an investigation shall be initiated, depending on the manner in which the parties concerned agree, on any alleged violation of the Convention.

If an agreement on the investigation procedure is not reached, the Parties will agree to choose an arbitrator, who will decide on the procedure to be followed.

Once the violation is found, the Parties to the conflict will put an end to it and reprimand it as soon as possible.

Employment by private individuals, companies or houses of commerce, both public and private, other than those entitled under this Convention, the emblem or the denomination of "Red Cross" or "Geneva cross", as well as any other Sign or of any denomination by making an imitation, shall be prohibited at all times, whatever the purpose of that employment and whatever may have been the previous date of adoption.

Due to the tribute paid to Switzerland by the adoption of the federal colours interverted and the confusion which may arise between the arms of Switzerland and the distinctive sign of the Convention, employment by individuals, companies or houses of Trade, of the coat of arms of the Swiss Confederation, as well as any sign constituting an imitation, either as a trade mark or trade mark or as an element of such trade marks, or in a manner contrary to commercial loyalty, or in Conditions that may injure Swiss national sentiment, will be prohibited at all times.

However, the High Contracting Parties which were not party to the Geneva Convention of 27 July 1929, may grant prior users of the emblems, names or marks referred to in the first subparagraph, a maximum period of three years, as soon as The entry into force of this Convention, for the purpose of abandoning its use, on the understanding that, during that period, the use may not appear, in time of war, as a means of conferring the protection of the Convention.

The prohibition laid down in the first paragraph of this Article shall also apply, without effect on the acquired rights of previous users, to the emblems and names provided for in the second paragraph of Art. 38.

The High Contracting Parties, whose legislation would not be sufficient now, shall take the necessary measures to prevent and repress the abuses referred to in Article 3 at all times. 53.

This Convention shall be established in English and French. Both texts are equally authentic.

The Swiss Federal Council will establish official translations of the Convention in the Russian and Spanish languages.

This Convention, which shall bear the date of this day, may, until 12 February 1950, be signed in the name of the Powers represented at the Conference which opened in Geneva on 21 April 1949, as well as the unrepresented Powers Conference participating in the Geneva Conventions of 1864 ¹ , 1906 ² , or 1929, to improve the lot of the wounded and sick in the armies in the field.

This Convention shall be ratified as soon as possible and ratifications shall be deposited in Bern.

The deposit of each instrument of ratification shall be a record of which a certified copy shall be furnished by the Swiss Federal Council to all the Powers on behalf of which the Convention has been signed or the notified accession.

This Convention shall enter into force six months after at least two instruments of ratification have been deposited.

Thereafter, it shall enter into force for each High Contracting Party six months after the deposit of its instrument of ratification.

This Convention replaces the Conventions of 22 August 1864 ¹ , July 6, 1906 ² And of 27 July 1929 in the relations between the High Contracting Parties.

On the date of its entry into force, this Convention shall be open for accession by any Power on whose behalf this Convention has not been signed.

The accessions will be notified in writing to the Swiss Federal Council and will have effect six months after the date on which they are received.

The Swiss Federal Council will communicate the accessions to all the Powers on behalf of which the Convention has been signed or the notified accession.

The situations under s. 2 and 3 shall give immediate effect to the ratifications filed and to the accessions notified even the Parties to the conflict before or after the commencement of hostilities or occupation. The communication of the ratifications or accessions received from the Parties to the conflict will be made by the Swiss Federal Council by the quickest route.

Each High Contracting Party shall have the right to denounce this Convention.

The notification will be notified in writing to the Swiss Federal Council. The latter shall communicate the notification to the Governments of all High Contracting Parties.

The denunciation will have effect one year after its notification to the Swiss Federal Council. However, the notified denunciation, while the denouncing power is involved in a conflict, will have no effect as long as peace has not been concluded and, in any event, as long as the release and Repatriation of persons protected by this Convention shall not be completed.

Denunciation shall be valid only with regard to the denouncing power. It will have no effect on the obligations that the Parties to the conflict will remain bound to fulfil in accordance with the principles of the law of the people as they result from the established practices between civilized nations, the laws of humanity and the requirements of the Public consciousness.

The Swiss Federal Council shall register this Convention at the United Nations Secretariat. The Swiss Federal Council shall also inform the United Nations Secretariat of all ratifications, accessions and denunciations that it may receive on the subject of this Convention.

In witness whereof, The undersigned, having deposited their respective full powers, have signed this Convention.

Done at Geneva, on 12 August 1949, in the English and French languages, the original to be deposited in the archives of the Swiss Confederation. The Swiss Federal Council will transmit a certified copy of the Convention to each of the signatory states, as well as to the States which have acceded to the Convention.

(Suivent signatures)