The same principle applies in the case of cargo on board the vessels referred to in Article 3. Article 5 The present Convention does not refer to merchant-ships which show by their build that they are intended for conversion into warships. Article 6 The provisions of the present Convention do not apply except between Contracting Powers, and then only if all the belligerents are parties to the Convention. NOTE. Articles 7-11, which follow those printed above are the same, mutatis mutandis, as Articles 4-8 in the Convention with regard to the Opening of Hostilities, which is printed as No. 2 in this Part (see page 178). 4. The Hague Code for War on Land, 1907 SECTION I OF BELLIGERENTS Chapter I - The Status of Belligerent Article 1 The laws, rights, and duties of war apply not only to the army, but also to militia and volunteer corps fulfilling all the following conditions: 1. They must be commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates; 2. They must have a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; 3. They must carry arms openly; and 4. They must conduct their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war. In countries where militia or volunteer corps constitute the army, or form part of it, they are included under the denomination "army." Article 2 The inhabitants of a territory not under occupation, who, on the approach of the enemy, spontaneously take up arms to resist the invading troops without having had time to organize themselves in accordance with Article 1, shall be regarded as belligerents if they carry arms openly and if they respect the laws and customs of war. Article 3 The armed forces of the belligerents may consist of combatants and non-combatants. In the case of capture by the enemy, both have the right to be treated as prisoners of war. Chapter II- Prisoners of War Article 4 Prisoners of war are in the power of the hostile Government, but not of the individuals or corps who capture them. They must be humanely treated. All their personal belongings, except arms, horses and military papers, remain their property. Article 5 Prisoners of war may be interned in a town, fortress, camp, or other place, and are bound not to go beyond certain fixed limits; but they cannot be placed in confinement except as an indispensable measure of safety and only while the circumstances which necessitate the measure continue to exist. Article 6 The State may employ the labour of prisoners of war, other than officers, according to their rank and capacity. The work shall not be excessive and shall have no connection with the operations of the war. Prisoners may be authorized to work for the public service, for private persons, or on their own account. Work done for the State is paid for at rates proportional to the work of a similar kind executed by soldiers of the national army or, if there are no such rates in force, at rates proportional to the work executed. When the work is for other branches of the public service or for private persons the conditions are settled in agreement with the military authorities. The wages of the prisoners shall go towards improving their position, and the balance shall be paid them on their release, deductions on account of the cost of maintenance excepted. Article 7 The Government into whose hands prisoners of war have fallen is charged with their maintenance. In default of special agreement between the belligerents, prisoners of war shall be treated as regards rations, quarters, and clothing on the same footing as the troops of the Government which captured them. Article 8 Prisoners of war shall be subject to the laws, regulations, and orders in force in the army of the State in the power of which they are. Any act of insubordination justifies the adoption towards them of such measures of severity as may be considered necessary. Escaped prisoners who are retaken before being able to rejoin their own army or before leaving the territory occupied by the army which captured them are liable to disciplinary punishment. Prisoners who, after succeeding in escaping, are again taken prisoners, are not liable to any punishment on account of their previous escape. Article 9 Every prisoner of war is bound to give, if questioned on the subject, his true name and rank, and if he infringes this rule, he is liable to have the advantages given to prisoners of his class curtailed. Article 10 Prisoners of war may be set at liberty on parole if the laws of their country allow it, and, in such cases, they are bound, on their personal honour, scrupulously to fulfil, both towards their own Government and the Government by which they were made prisoners, the engagements they may have contracted. In such cases their own Government is bound neither to require of nor accept from them any service incompatible with the parole given. Article 11 A prisoner of war cannot be compelled to accept his liberty on parole; similarly the hostile Government is not obliged to accede to the request of a prisoner to be set at liberty on parole. Article 12 Prisoners of war liberated on parole and recaptured bearing arms against the Government to which they had pledged their honour, or against the allies of that Government, forfeit their right to be treated as prisoners of war, and may be put on trial before the Courts. Article 13 Individuals following an army without directly belonging to it, such as newspaper correspondents or reporters, sutlers or contractors, who fall into the enemy's hands and whom the latter thinks it expedient to detain, are entitled to be treated as prisoners of war, provided they are in possession of a certificate from the military authorities of the army which they were accompanying. Article 14 A bureau for information relative to prisoners of war is instituted at the commencement of hostilities in each of the belligerent States, and, when necessary, in neutral countries which have received belligerents on their territory. The business of this bureau is to reply to all inquiries about the prisoners, to receive from the various services concerned full information respecting internments and transfers, releases on parole, exchanges, escapes, admissions into hospital, deaths, as well as all other information necessary to enable it to make out and keep up to date an individual return for each prisoner of war. The bureau must state in this return the regimental number, name and surname, age, place of origin, rank, unit, wounds, date and place of capture, internment, wounding, and death, as well as any observations of a special character. The individual return shall be sent to the Government of the other belligerent after the conclusion of peace. It is also the business of the information bureau to gather and keep together all personal effects, valuables, letters, etc., found on the field of battle or left by prisoners who have been released on parole, or exchanged, or who have escaped, or died in hospitals or ambulances, and to forward them to those concerned. Article 15 Societies for the relief of prisoners of war, if properly constituted in accordance with the laws of their country and with the object of serving as the channel for charitable effort, shall receive from the belligerents, for themselves and their duly accredited agents, every facility for the efficient performance of their humane task within the bounds imposed by military exigencies and administrative regulations. Representatives of these societies when furnished with a personal permit by the military authorities, may, on giving an undertaking in writing to comply with all measures of order and police which they may have to issue, be admitted to the places of internment for the purpose of distributing relief, as also to the halting places of repatriated prisoners. Article 16 Information bureaux enjoy the privilege of free carriage. Letters, money orders, and valuables, as well as postal parcels, intended for prisoners of war, or dispatched by them, shall be exempt from all postal charges in the countries of origin and destination, as well as in the countries they pass through. Presents and relief in kind for prisoners of war shall be admitted free of all import or other duties, as well as any payment for carriage by State railways. |