5cjxburmr

nationals whom it may capture among the ranks of enemy forces. 86 This rule is significant innon-international armed conflicts in which a State is fighting a rebel group composed of its owncitizens. 87Although, as a matter of international law, nationals may not assert the privileges ofcombatant status against their own State, they may be subject to the liabilities of combatantstatus in relation to their own State under that State’s domestic law. For example, under U.S.law, U.S. nationals who join enemy forces have been subject to the liabilities of combatantstatus, such as potentially being made the object of attack or detained. 884.4.4.3 Nationals of Allied or Co-Belligerent States. Nationals of an allied or cobelligerentState who are serving with enemy forces are in a position that is similar to theposition of nationals of a State who are serving with enemy forces. If the nationals of an alliedor co-belligerent State who are serving with enemy forces are captured by a State, they may betransferred to their State of nationality (i.e., the co-belligerent or allied State), which is notrequired to afford them POW status. 89 However, U.S. practice as the Detaining Power in thissituation has been to afford POW treatment to such individuals if they claim such protection. 9086 See Public Prosecutor v. Oie Hee Koi and Associated Appeals (UK Privy Council, Dec. 4 1967), LEVIE,DOCUMENTS ON POWS 737, 741 (quoting LAUTERPACHT, II OPPENHEIM’S INTERNATIONAL LAW) (“‘The privilegesof members of armed forces cannot be claimed by members of the armed forces of a belligerent who go over to theforces of the enemy and are afterwards captured by the former. They may be, and always are, treated as criminals.The same applies to traitorous subjects of a belligerent who, without having been members of his armed forces, fightin the armed forces of the enemy. Even if they appear under the protection of a flag of truce, deserters and traitorsmay be seized and punished.’ This edition was published in 1951 after Aug. 12, 1949, the date of the GenevaConventions, and in their lordships’ opinion correctly states the relevant law.”).87 Refer to § 17.12 (Use of Captured or Surrendered Enemy Personnel in NIAC).88 See, e.g., Hamdi v. Rumsfeld 542 U.S. 507, 519 (2004) (plurality) (“There is no bar to this Nation’s holding oneof its own citizens as an enemy combatant.”); Ex parte Quirin, 317 U.S. 1, 37 (1942) (“Citizenship in the UnitedStates of an enemy belligerent does not relieve him from the consequences of a belligerency which is unlawfulbecause in violation of the law of war.”); In re Territo, 156 F. 2d 142, 145 (9th Cir. 1946) (rejecting the argument ofpetitioner, an Italian army draftee, that he could not be subject to the liabilities of combatant status and detainedbecause he was a U.S. citizen).89 For example, DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY PAMPHLET 20-213, History of Prisoner Of War Utilization By TheUnited States Army, 1776-1945, 198 (Jun. 24, 1955) (“During the [Second World] war many soldiers of a state oforigin other than Germany were found in German uniform among German prisoners of war. Therefore when Alliedforces captured these prisoners they segregated them by nationalities. The individual PW was then interrogated byrepresentatives of his country’s government in exile. If acceptable to that government and if he was willing, the PWwas sent to Great Britain for service in an army unit of his national government. If the PW was rejected, he wastreated in all respects as a German prisoner of war.”).90 For example, Announcement Concerning Soviet Allegations on Allied Prisoners of War, May 3, 1945, 12DEPARTMENT OF STATE BULLETIN 864 (May 6, 1945) (“In as much as the American Government has alwaysinsisted that all wearers of the American uniform, whether American citizens or not, are, as American soldiers,entitled to full protection of the [1929] Geneva convention and has so informed the enemy, these German prisonersof war of apparent Soviet nationality claiming such protection are being held as German prisoners of war in order toprotect American soldiers in enemy hands.”).111