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This rule does not prohibit States from reassigning their own military medical andreligious personnel to non-medical duties or from transferring their own personnel outside of themedical service. Similarly, this rule constitutes an obligation on States and does not directlybind individuals. 337.2.3 Reprisals Prohibited. Reprisals against the wounded, sick, or shipwrecked persons,personnel, buildings, vessels, or equipment protected by the GWS or GWS-Sea are prohibited. 347.3 RESPECT AND PROTECTION OF THE WOUNDED, SICK, AND SHIPWRECKEDMembers of the armed forces and other persons mentioned in Article 13 of the GWS andthe GWS-Sea, who are wounded, sick, or shipwrecked, shall be respected and protected in allcircumstances. 35 Such persons are among the categories of persons placed hors de combat;making them the object of attack is strictly prohibited. 367.3.1 Definitions of Wounded, Sick, and Shipwrecked.7.3.1.1 Wounded or Sick. The meanings of “wounded” and “sick” are a matter ofcommon sense and good faith. 37 They include:choice of renouncing their rights, and the difficulty, and even impossibility, of proving the existence of duress orpressure. Among the reasons given in favour of the present Article 7, two points call for notice. The Conferencedid not overlook the fact that the absolute character of the rule drafted might entail for some persons what onedelegate termed ‘unfortunate’ results. It adopted the rule, because it seemed to safeguard the interests of themajority. If provision were made for exceptions in the case of certain individuals, would that not at once open abreach which others, in much greater numbers, would, perhaps, have cause to regret?”).33 GWS COMMENTARY 85 (“One last question remains to be considered. Rights entail obligations. With the focuson the individual under Article 7, can the rules of the Conventions, or certain of them, be considered as obligationswhich are directly incumbent on the persons protected? There can be no doubt that certain stipulations, such as therespect due to the wounded and sick, are also incumbent on persons who can claim protection under the Convention.For example, a member of the medical personnel who, profiting by his duties, plundered the wounded or dead on thebattlefield, would be liable to the punishment which the law of his country or of the enemy stipulates in of theobligation by which every contracting State is bound to repress such breaches. This question arises in connectionwith Article 7, which appears to take the form of an obligation on the persons protected, stating, as it does, that thelatter ‘may in no circumstances renounce …’. It was for this reason that, in their ‘Remarks and Proposals’ submittedto the Diplomatic Conference, the International Committee of the Red Cross pointed out that the general effect ofthe Conventions was to impose obligations on the States parties to the Conventions rather than on individuals, andproposed to draft Article 7 in that sense.”).34 Refer to § 18.18.3.2 (Reprisals Prohibited by the 1949 Geneva Conventions).35 GWS art. 12 (“Members of the armed forces and other persons mentioned in the following Article, who arewounded or sick, shall be respected and protected in all circumstances.”); GWS-SEA art. 12 (“Members of the armedforces and other persons mentioned in the following Article, who are at sea and who are wounded, sick orshipwrecked, shall be respected and protected in all circumstances, it being understood that the term ‘shipwreck’means shipwreck from any cause and includes forced landings at sea by or from aircraft.”).36 Refer to § 5.10 (Persons Placed Hors de Combat).37 See also GWS COMMENTARY 136 (“No attempt has ever been made in the Geneva Convention to define what ismeant by a ‘wounded or sick’ combatant; nor has there ever been any definition of the degree of severity of a woundor a sickness entitling the wounded or sick combatant to respect. That is as well; for any definition wouldnecessarily be restrictive in character, and would thereby open the door to every kind of misinterpretation and abuse.415