The Law of War

Protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts
The Protocol prescribes that men and women must be separated, except when they are members of the
same family; that they must be allowed to send and receive letters; that places of internment and detention
must not be located near the combat zone and that the physical or mental health and integrity of the
internees or detainees must not be endangered by any unjustified act or omission.
c) Penal prosecutions
Sentences may only be pronounced by a court offering the essential guarantees of independence and
impartiality: the accused to be informed without delay of the particulars of the offence alleged against him,
exclusion of collective responsibility and of conviction for an act or omission which did not constitute an
offence at the time it was committed, presumption of innocence, judgement passed in the presence of the
accused, no coercion to obtain confessions, information of the right of appeal. The death penalty must not
be pronounced on those who were under eighteen at the time of the offence nor on pregnant women or
mothers of dependent infants.[P. II, 6]
d) Non-discrimination
All these guarantees must be applied without any adverse distinction founded on any grounds whatever;
they continue to be applicable until the end of the deprivation or restriction of liberty.[P. II, 2]
31-12-1988
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