1

Protected Persons (I) Wounded, Sick and

Shipwrecked
The classification protected person can mean many things. While it always
designates those individuals who benefit from protection within the framework of IHL,
the types of individuals may vary depending upon which convention accords the
protection:
- Wounded and sick in armed forces in the field for Convention I;
- Wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea for
Convention II;
- Prisoners of war for Convention III;
- Civilian persons in time of war for Convention IV.
This document will limit its focus to protected persons as defined by Geneva
Conventions I and II (a forthcoming document will consider prisoners of war and
civilians in time of war). As a point of departure, the terms wounded, sick and
shipwrecked will be defined within the context of IHL.

1. Introduction
The terms wounded and sick apply to persons who as the result of trauma,
suffer from disease or other physical or mental illness or disability, and who require
medical treatment while abstaining from any hostile acts. This definition taken from
article 8 (a) of Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions (Protocol I) both
broadens and narrows the normal understandings of these words. On one hand, this
definition is broader in that it includes those persons who are not wounded or sick in the
ordinary sense of the words but who need immediate medical care (pregnant women,
newborns, disabled, etc.). On the other hand, the definition is narrower because it only
protects those persons who refrain from participating in acts of hostility (a wounded
soldier may still make use of his weapon).
This same article 8 of Protocol I defines shipwrecked in paragraph (b) by
specifying that it covers those persons who find themselves in a perilous situation at sea
or in other waters due to misfortune affecting them or affecting the vessel or aircraft
carrying them, and who refrain from committing any hostile acts. Protocol I continues by
specifying that, so long as they abstain from engaging in any hostile acts, these persons
will continue to be considered shipwrecked during their rescue until they have acquired
another status under the Conventions or Protocol I: status as protected person pursuant to
Article 4 of the Fourth Convention if the shipwrecked is a civilian and is disembarked
in a harbour belonging to the enemy; if the shipwrecked is a serviceman, he may get
combatant status if collected by his own forces, internee status if collected by a neutral
warship or disembarked in a neutral harbour, prisoner of war status if, lastly, he is

2
collected by the enemy armed forces. In all cases, the shipwrecked also retains his
status as wounded or sick to the extent his health situation warrants it. The exercise of the
right of search and surrender granted to warships vis--vis hospital ships and merchant
vessels may also bring a change in the status of the shipwrecked (See Articles 31 and
14 of Convention II, respectively). Lastly, individuals who find themselves in a
hazardous situation on land (polar areas, desert, jungle), and those whose hazardous
situation is not the result of misfortune but of a voluntary action, such as the
accomplishment of a mission (military commando, frogman), are not to be considered
shipwrecked; in this very last case, however, these individuals would be granted
shipwrecked status should they renounce their mission or any other act of hostility.

2. General obligations of Parties to a conflict to respect and protect

the wounded, sick and shipwrecked
A. Essential concepts to acquire
The fundamental principle underlying the obligations of Parties to a conflict vis-vis the wounded, sick and shipwrecked can be found in article 12 of the first Geneva
Convention of 1949, Members of the armed forces and other persons mentioned in the
following Article, who are wounded or sick, shall be respected and protected in all
circumstances. In a nutshell, this article encapsulates the core of principles elaborated by
Henry Dunant in his work A Memory of Solferino. Article 10, paragraph 1, of Protocol
I repeats this responsibility, but further extends its field of application by specifying that
All the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, to whichever Party they belong, shall be
respected and protected. In other words, this protection is no longer limited only to
combatants and other groups listed in article 13 of the first Convention, but also includes
the entire civilian population.
The question therefore arises as to what exactly this obligation to respect and
protect entails. On this point, the Commentary of Protocol I (p. 146) specifies that to
respect means to spare, not to attack, while protect means to come to someone's
defence, to lend help and support. Thus it is prohibited to attack the wounded, sick or
shipwrecked, to kill them, maltreat them or injure them in any way, and there is also an
obligation to come to their rescue. From this analysis one can conclude that these
obligations of respect and protection impose inter alia upon Parties to a conflict:
-

To treat the wounded, sick and shipwrecked within their power, without any
discrimination against sex, race, nationality, religion, political opinion or other
similar criterion (only reasons of medical urgency may justify prioritizing the
order of care);
To treat protected persons with humanity and to not threaten their lives or
their persons; in particular, acts of torture are strictly forbidden;
To not carry out medical or scientific experiments, nor purposely leave
persons without medical help or treatment, nor knowingly expose them to
risks of contagion or infection (See articles 15, 16 and 17 of Convention I and
articles 18, 19 and 20 of Convention II). Those obligations to respect and to

3
protect the wounded, sick and shipwrecked also apply to non-international
armed conflicts (See Common Article 3 (1) to the four Geneva Conventions
and article 8 of Additional Protocol II).
Those obligations may see their implementation facilitated through the setting up
of hospital zones and localities that impose the suspension of hostilities in space, and the
declaration of truce that suspends them in time.
B. Bibliographical references

See the document from Basic rules of the Geneva Conventions and their
Additional
Protocols,
available
on
the
ICRC
website,
at:
https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/icrc_002_0365.pdf. This document
also contains some remarks about the protection of medical personnel, units and
transportation, which will be developed infra.
DOSWALD-BECK (Louise), HENCKAERTS (Jean-Marie), Customary
International Humanitarian Law, ICRC, Bruylant, Brussels, 2005, Chapter 34, pp.
396-405.
SASSOLI/BOUVIER/QUINTIN, pp. 230-232.
SOLF (W.A.), Development of the Protection of the Wounded, Sick and
Shipwrecked under the Protocols Additional to the 1949 Geneva Conventions,
in: Etudes et essais sur le droit international humanitaire et sur les principes de la
Croix-Rouge en lhonneur de Jean Pictet, CICR, Genve, 1984, pp. 237-248.
C. Do I know?

What are the fundamental concepts governing the obligation to respect and protect
the wounded, sick and shipwrecked in non-international armed conflicts?
Can I identify the main differences with the treaty law applicable in international
armed conflicts?
What is the current relevant customary law for both international armed conflicts
and for non-international armed conflicts?

3. The protection of medical and religious personnel, as well as

medical establishments and mobile medical units
A. Essential Concepts to acquire
Medical personnel are the personnel exclusively tasked with the search for, the
collection of, transport or treatment (including first aid) of the wounded, sick and
shipwrecked, as well as with the prevention of illness, and include personnel who
administer medical units or medical transports. This designation therefore includes
different categories of persons defined by article 8 (c) of Protocol I including, but not
limited to, military and civil medical personnel of a Party to the conflict who are assigned,

4
either permanently or temporarily1, to these tasks by a Party to the conflict. Religious
personnel include those persons, military or civilian such as chaplains, rabbis, mullahs
who are exclusively devoted to a religious ministry (regardless of which religion they
practice).
Medical units are defined as establishments and other units (whether fixed or
mobile) organized in order to provide the services mentioned supra for medical personnel.
Article 8 (e) of Protocol I makes express reference to hospitals, blood transfusion centres,
preventative medicine centres and institutes, as well as medical depots and the medical
and pharmaceutical stores of such units.
Medical transportation indicates the conveyance by land, water or air of the
wounded, sick, shipwrecked or medical supplies protected by IHL. On land, it refers
primarily to ambulances (article 35 of Geneva Convention I); on water, to hospital ships
(articles 22 to 35 of Convention II), and by air, to medical aircraft (articles 35 to 36 of
Convention I and 24 to 31 of Protocol I).
Medical and religious personnel, medical units and medical transports (whether
military or civil) as well as medical supplies must be respected and protected. This duty
of respect and protection of personnel is the logical corollary to fulfilling the
responsibilities of caring for war victims, including preventing all direct attacks on
protected persons and objects. However, further obligations flow from the responsibility
of the competent authorities to ensure that the medical establishments and units
mentioned above are, as far as possible, located such that subsequent attacks against
military objectives are not likely to put these establishments and units in danger.
Only personnel and units exclusively assigned to medical or religious functions
benefit from this special protection. From this one can infer, for example, that a medical
unit accompanying a combat unit whose personnel have the right to participate directly in
hostilities does not enjoy such protection. Furthermore, protected status is only conferred
upon personnel, units and transports assigned to medical duties by a Party to the conflict.
Other persons working in similar capacity are also protected, but only as civilians.
The protected status of medical personnel is nevertheless only accorded so long as
they refrain from committing any act of hostility against the enemy. IHL does not
precisely define acts of hostility. However, it does provide some guidance by listing acts
that cannot be considered as hostile, including being guarded by a sentry or armed escort,
or carrying light individual weapons for their own defence or to defend the wounded and
sick in their care (against, for example, criminal acts perpetrated by mobs or looters).
Nevertheless, once personnel or medical units commit hostile acts, their protection will
still not cease until after a warning has been given which sets, as appropriate, a
reasonable time limit in which to cease the hostile activities. Only after such warning has
remained unheeded will the personnel lose their protected status.

When the medical personnel are temporary, this protection only applies so long as the personnel is
carrying out the medical services or if the personnel fall under the power of the enemy.

5
Special conditions apply to the loss of protection of medical transports by sea or by
air. Hospital ships, as for any medical unit, have to be respected and protected. However,
three conditions have to be fulfilled for them to benefit from such immunity: notification
to the parties to the conflict (Article 22 of Convention II); exclusive use (Articles 30 and
33 of Convention II); and marking (Article 43 of Convention II2). As for medical aircrafts,
their level of protection depends on the area where they operate areas not controlled by
the adverse Party, contact or similar zones, areas controlled by an adverse Party (Articles
24 to 30 of Additional Protocol I).3
The respect and protection of medical and religious personnel, medical units and
medical transports are crafted to maintain their ability to provide humanitarian services,
in particular to not prevent without good cause access to victims. More precisely, medical
personnel should be able to access areas where their services are required, to the extent
that security and logistical measures of the interested Party allow. In effect, in order to
accomplish the activities which justify their protection, it is necessary that these
personnel, units and transports are able, to the extent that circumstances permit, to have
access to victims.
In the context of civilian medical personnel, this principle of freedom of movement
is subject to two conditions. The first is functional: the freedom of medical personal is
limited to any place where their services are essential. The term essential must not be
used too restrictively; it is not limited only to emergency situations (for example, on the
battlefield) but merely requires that the access be for medical reasons. Beyond the access
justified by the services they provide, the movement of civilian medical personnel may be
restricted in the same manner as the rest of the civilian population. The second limit
concerns restrictions related to controls (of identity), or of security (against spying or
sabotage) as required by the interested Party to the conflict, i.e. the Party who has
effective control over the territory to which access is sought. This party must,
nevertheless, fulfill its obligations of maintaining public health within the territory over
which it has control.
Medical supplies are also protected; specifically, they must not be intentionally
destroyed. In addition, article 33 of Geneva Convention I requires that the supplies of
mobile medical units of the armed forces which fall into the hands of the enemy must be
reserved for the care of wounded and sick. In the case of the buildings, material and
stores of fixed medical establishments of the armed forces, these may not be diverted
from that purpose as long as they are required for the care of wounded and sick.
Nevertheless, the commanders of forces in the field may make use of them, in case of
urgent military necessity, provided that they make prior arrangements for the welfare of
the sounded and sick for whom they care for.
2

On the protection (and the loss of protection) of hospital ships, see also San Remo Manual on
International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, notably Rules 47 to 51, as well as Rules 169 to
173.
3
On the protection (and the loss of protection) of medical aircrafts, see also San Remo Manual on
International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea, notably Rules 53 and 54, as well as Rules 174 to
183. See also the Section L of the Manual on International Law Applicable to Air and Missile Warfare,
dedicated to the special protection of medical aircrafts.

6
B. Bibliographical references

DOSWALD-BECK (Louise), HENCKAERTS (Jean-Marie), Customary

International Humanitarian Law, ICRC, Bruylant, Brussels, 2005, Chapter 7, pp.
79-104.
San Remo Manual on International Law Applicable to Armed Conflicts at Sea,
adopted on 12 June 1994, at:
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/560?OpenDocument.
HPCR Manual on International Law applicable to Air and Missile Warfare, Bern,
15 May 2009, at: http://www.ihlresearch.org/amw/manual/.
KLEFFNER (Jann K.), Protection of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, in:
FLECK (Dieter), The Handbook of Humanitarian Law in Armed Conflicts, Oxford
University Press, 2008, pp. 325-358.
C. Do I know?

What are the applicable rules relative to the protection of personnel, medical units
and transports applicable in non-international armed conflicts?
What is the state of international customary law in both international and noninternational armed conflicts?
What are the rules that regulate protection of medical ships?
May medical ships use encrypted communications? What guidance does the San
Remo Manual (available at:
http://www.icrc.org/ihl.nsf/FULL/560?OpenDocument) offer on this subject?
What is the legal binding nature of the Manuel of San Remo?
What are the rules applicable to the protection of medical air transports? Can I
identify the main differences in this regard between the provisions of the Geneva
Conventions and the Additional Protocol I? What are the differences on this issue
between the rules of the Additional Protocol I and those of the Manual on
International Law applicable to Air and Missile Warfare? What are the reasons
invoked to justify such differences? What is the legal scope of this Manual on the
Air and Missile Warfare?
D. Case study

Facts:

The newspaper Le Monde obtained a memorandum issued by a special meeting

of the Ministers of the Government of San Juan reporting many events that had taken
place in an armed conflict between San Juan and lHeyrissera. The events are denounced
as flagrant violations of international humanitarian law. The Minister of Defence of San
Juan convenes an emergency meeting of its different branches in order to discuss the
thorny legal problems at issue. However, this meeting aims also to quell the wave of
strong criticism that has erupted in international media.

Documents

a. Confidential communication
TOP SECRET
Armed forces of San Juan
Department of General K. As TOIPRANDLER Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of
Staff of the armed forces
Re: Recent events
To: Judge Advocate General of the Army;
Judge Advocate General of the Navy;
Judge Advocate General of the Army, Special Operations;
Judge Advocate General of the Army, Psychological Operations
Regrets: Judge Advocate General of the Air Force (crisis management)
HIGHEST PRIORITY.
The recent events of the last few days have brought strong criticism from the
international media damaging the image and credibility of our armed forces and our
government. The local press of Heyrissera has evidently led the pack, but other media
outlets repeatedly write about the lack of respect of San Juan for aerial navigation,
unjustified direct attacks on civilian aircraft in flight, or even further grave and
repeated violations of international humanitarian law. It is therefore imperative to react
as quickly as possible to counter this press campaign.
You are summoned to a meeting in my office this morning along with the press secretary,
Colonel Poor Leter NITE. I invite you, the recipients of this letter, to participate in
discussions regarding potential violations of law which may have been committed by
your respective departments, and in cases where violations have occurred, to decide
which heads must roll. In addition, I want you to present to Colonel NITE the main points
for a press release that will put a positive spin on events for the media. It is imperative
that our press release is legally sound in order to prevent all future criticism by the
international press.
b. Article of Le Monde
San Juan and Heyrissera are guilty of flagrant violations of humanitarian
law: the war rages on
Le Monde was able to obtain a memorandum issued by an emergency meeting of
the Government Ministers of San Juan, which details the escalation of the situation as
well as numerous other events which took place in the region.
The Memo relates the following facts:
Thursday, March 2, around 10:10 AM. An aircraft flying at least 30 miles East off
the coast of Felicity Island is detected by our radars. Around 10:35 AM, the aircraft
suddenly abandons its Northeasterly direction as well as the aerial corridor reserved for
civilian air transportation and heads directly towards the island from a distance of
approximately 17 miles. Fearing an enemy or terrorist attack against its ship located less

8
than 2 miles away, the captain of the frigate 'Metoila I' radios a message to the aircraft.
After receiving no response, and aware of the urgency of the situation, he fires a missile
one minute after sending his message. The aircraft is destroyed, causing the death of 5
passengers. The first steps of the investigation reveal that the aircraft in question was
leased by an obscure company which is based in Niadu and specializes in oil exploration.
The aircraft had been on a mission to photograph a potential oil find in the area.
Morning of Friday, March 3. New incidents break out in the West of country
between unidentified armed groups and government armed forces. Immediately after the
shots were exchanged, two aircraft bearing the marks of a red frame on a white
background and a red cross inside the frame were immediately dispatched to the location
by the medical units of San Juan with the mission of urgently evacuating the wounded
members of the government's armed forces to the national hospital of San Juan City. No
other medical facility or medical transport is available in the immediate environment,
though the wounds of certain guerrillas require urgent medical care. The field
commander decides therefore to load all wounded and captured enemy members in a
troop-transport helicopter in order to transfer them under heavy surveillance to a
detention centre equipped with medical facilities located about fifty kilometres away.
After a few minutes in flight above the tropical forest, these three aircraft are attacked
and destroyed by the rebels.
Saturday, March 4, 2:15 PM. Following an aerial attack by San Juan, the
Heyrisseran submarine the 'Tanvatalo' is hit. The vessel, whose navigational controls
have been damaged and are now unresponsive, is carried by the current. It surfaces and
runs aground along the Northern coast of San Juan. Part of the crew embarks on rubber
boats and attempts to flee. There being insufficient rubber boats, another group
including a few wounded deploys distress buoys and hides along the shore waiting for
potential rescuers. The Heyrisseran authorities order by radio two privately owned
hydroplanes registered in Bakalo to change course and attempt to rescue the shipwrecked
crew; these are the two nearest hydro-planes to the location of the shipwreck. These
hydroplanes are intercepted immediately upon their unauthorized flight over our
territorial waters by our fighter planes. Upon the arrival of our planes, one of the
hydroplanes refuses to follow the instructions of our fighters and attempts to flee; the
hydroplane is shot down after it fails to respond to two calls. The second hydro-plane is
seized by the military authorities upon its landing in San Juan. The plans are to transform
it such that it can be used in the future by the San Juan Air Force.

Task: meet with the Chief of Staff of the Armed Forces and Colonel Nite to discuss
the points mentioned in this confidential note. Meeting duration: 15 minutes.

4. Rights and duties of the medical and religious personnel

A. Essential Concepts to acquire
Medical and religious personnel have a number of duties. The primary ones are:

To respect and protect the wounded and sick;

To refrain from directly participating in hostilities; in this regard, they may only
carry light arms for self-defence and that of persons under their care;
They must be easily distinguishable.

Medical and religious personnel also enjoy certain rights. Notably, they may not
be punished for carrying out medical activities compatible with medical ethics, regardless
of the person receiving care. Furthermore, these persons shall not be forced to perform
acts or carry out work contrary to the rules of medical ethics, or to refrain from carrying
out work required by those rules and provisions (article 16 Protocol I). Medical
activities compatible with medical ethics covers a relatively wide scope: the determining
factor is that the activity must have as its purpose the improvement of health or the
lessening of suffering of the wounded and sick. These activities do not include treatments
that are not related to the state of health of the wounded and sick (such as messages,
which could be transmitted to help him or her).
Furthermore, article 16(3) of Protocol I explicitly states that persons engaged in
medical activities shall not be compelled to provide information considering the wounded
and sick who are, or who have been, under his care if the care-giver believes that the
transmission of such information would prove harmful to the patients or to their families.
Medical personnel are likewise not required to provide information concerning the
wounded and sick to anyone belonging either to an adverse Party, or to his own Party
(except in cases where they are required by the law of their Party).
Infringements on the medical mission are as well violations of the obligations to
protect and to respect the wounded and sick; it may be also corollaries of the prohibitions
to carry out physical mutilation, or medical and scientific experiments that are not
required by the state of the person's health and / or are not in conformity with generally
accepted medical standards. Protection of medical units is also intrinsically linked with
the protection of medical personnel. Direct threats to the medical personnel (threats to kill,
to mistreat or to imprison) as well as indirect threats (threats against the family of the
medical personnel) result in coercion against the medical personnel. For military medical
personnel, a simple military order may even amount to duress, the sanctions for failure to
follow the order being very severe; however simple pressure such as removing or not
giving certain material benefits is not sufficient.
Military and religious personnel benefit from certain rights in case of capture by
an adverse Party. Permanent medical personnel (article 24 of Geneva Convention I) are
not accorded the status of prisoner of war. Nevertheless, medical personnel may be held
in order to provide care to prisoners of war, with preference given to those prisoners of
war belonging to the same Party. At such time that their detention is no longer
indispensable, members of the permanent medical personnel must be returned to the
Party to the conflict to whom they belong (article 30). In contrast, auxiliary medical
personnel (article 25 of Convention I) will be considered prisoners of war, but they will
be used in medical activities so long as their services are needed.

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B. Bibliographical references

HAROUEL-BURELOUP (Vronique): Trait de droit humanitaire, Paris, PUF

(droit), 2005, Chapitre 5 Droits et devoir du personnel sanitaire, pp. 243-257.
ICRC, "Health care in danger: the responsibilities of health personnel to work
in armed conflict and other emergencies," August 2012, available at:
https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/publications/icrc-002-4104.pdf.
PICTET (Jean), The medical profession and humanitarian law, International
Review of the Red Cross, vol. 25, 1985, pp. 191-209.
For more information, please consult, Ethical Codes and Declarations Relevant
to the Health Professions, An Amnesty International compilation of selected
ethical
and
human
rights
texts,
167
p.,
available
at:
https://www.amnesty.org/download/Documents/200000/act750051985en.pdf.

C. Do I know?

May medical personnel and medical units from a neutral third Party country be
held as prisoners of war?
Is the prohibition on communicating medical information absolute or are there
exceptions?
May tissue or organs for transplant be removed from the wounded and sick,
and if so, under what conditions?

5. Dead and missing persons

The first and second Geneva Conventions impose upon Parties to an armed
conflict at all times and without delay, the obligation to take all possible measures to
search for and collect the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, and to protect them against
pillage and ill- treatment. These two Conventions also oblige Parties to an armed conflict
at all times, and without delay, to take all possible measures to search for the dead and to
prevent that they are left abandoned (articles 15 and 18 respectively).
The Parties to the conflict also are obliged to record, without delay, any pertinent
information they possess that identifies the wounded, sick and dead of the adverse Party
who have fallen into their hands. This information must be communicated, always as
soon as possible, to the official information bureau for prisoners of war, who will then
transmit this information to the representative of the protecting Power and the central
Agency of prisoners of war (articles 16 and 19 of Conventions I and II respectively).
Finally, the Parties to the conflict have the obligation to ensure that the burial or
incineration of the dead performed individually in all cases where circumstances permit
are preceded by a careful, and if possible, medical examination of the body, with the
purposes of confirming death, establishing identity and preparing a report. Furthermore,
the Parties to the conflict must ensure that the dead are buried honourably, and if possible
according to the rites of the religion to which they belonged, that their graves are
respected and if possible grouped by nationality of the dead as well as properly

11
maintained and marked such that they may always be located (see Articles 17 and 20
respectively of Conventions I and II as well as article 34 of Protocol I).
One of the primary goals of these articles is to prevent the disappearance of
persons. Within the context of IHL, a person is generally considered missing when his or
her family is without news and / or that s/he was reported missing according to reliable
information in an armed conflict international or non-international. In the specific
context of international armed conflicts, IHL imposes the obligation on belligerent parties
to take all possible measures to find out what happened to those people labelled as
missing. Article 33 (1) of Protocol I states that, As soon as circumstances permit, and at
the latest from the end of active hostilities, each Party to the conflict shall search for the
persons who have been reported missing by an adverse Party. Protocol I also accords the
right to families to know the fate of their relatives (article 32).
A. Bibliographical references

On the question of missing, see Fact sheet issued by the ICRC's Advisory Service,
Missing
persons
and
their
family,
available
at:
https://www.icrc.org/en/document/missing-persons-and-their-familiesfactsheet#.VL1z1EfF81Y. This document contains recommendations for drafting
national legislation on that matter.
See also the article by Sophie Martin, The missing, in the special issue of the
International Review of the Red Cross, on that topic, n 848, 2002, pp. 723-726,
available at https://www.icrc.org/eng/assets/files/other/irrc_848_martin.pdf. The
other contributions of this issue also constitute an important source to get
information.
B. Do I know?

What is the Information Bureau for prisoners of war and what are its primary
responsibilities insofar as the wounded and sick are concerned?
Under what conditions a body may be cremated? Why are the conditions imposed
upon cremation more restrictive than those imposed upon burial?

6. Distinctive signs and emblems

A. Essential Concepts to acquire
One of the goals of the first Geneva Convention of 1864 (Text no. 2 of the
Competition Compilation) was to adopt a unique emblem in order to facilitate the
identification of medical personnel and ambulances of armed forces on land. In order to
perform this function, this emblem had to be familiar to all, easy to reproduce and
recognizable from a distance. The red cross was chosen to fulfill these requirements.
Eventually, other States however wanted to use other emblems in place of the red cross,
and two (the red crescent and the red lion and sun) were recognized by the first Geneva
Convention in 1929. The Geneva Conventions of 1949 therefore recognize three

12
emblems. An additional emblem, the red crystal, was recognized in the third additional
Protocol to the Geneva Conventions adopted the 8th of December 2005.
These emblems may be used in two different ways. The protective use of the
emblem distinguishes medical units and establishments as well as the personnel and
supplies protected by the Geneva Conventions. In order to be effective in its protective
function, the emblem should be large enough to be visible from a distance. The indicative
use shows only that a person or an object is linked to the International Movement of the
Red Cross and Red Crescent. In this context, the emblem must be of a comparatively
smaller size and the conditions of its use must exclude all confusion with the emblem in
protective use. Taking into account the theme of this document the protection of
wounded, sick and shipwrecked emphasis will be made on the protective use of the
emblem. In this regard, IHL requires that Parties to a conflict ensure that military and
religious personnel, as well as medical units and transports, are able to be identified. In
particular, the emblem should be placed on their flags and armbands, as well as on other
medical supplies. Of special note is that the emblems may only be worn by the medical
personnel and units protected by IHL and only with the consent and under the control of
competent authorities. Annex 1 of Protocol I details other ways to clearly identify
medical units and transports through means of distinctive signals including light signals,
radio signals, or other electronic signals.
It is nevertheless clear that the use of signals is not a requirement to confer
protection. Certainly, distinctive emblems, signs or signals greatly facilitate effective
implementation of the protection. However, should an adverse Party have recognized the
protected nature of a person or object, it may not ignore such protection by invoking the
absence of these emblems, signs or signals.
As the goal of these distinctive signs and signals is to indicate that the persons or
objects who wear them is under a special international protection and therefore must not
be the object of an attack, all inappropriate or abusive use risks diminishing the
credibility of the protective regime. Usage is considered unjustified when it is used by
those persons or units that do not have the right to use the signs, or when persons and
units normally authorized to use the emblem do so in improper ways. Under certain
conditions, these acts may amount to perfidy.
B. Bibliographical references
On the historical aspects of the norms regulating the red cross and red crescent
emblems, see the ICRC document, The History of the emblems, available at:
https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/emblem-history.htm.
For
more
information, see, BUGNION, (Franois), The emblem of the Red Cross: a brief history,
ICRC, Geneva, 1977, p. 81.
On the current regulation of emblems, participants may consult the following
documents:
For the doctrinal aspect, see the short extract, What are the provisions of

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humanitarian law governing use of the emblem?, from ICRC publication

International humanitarian law: answers to your questions, available at:
https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/5kze8s.htm.
For an analysis on recent development about that issue, see BUGNION,
(Franois), Towards a comprehensive solution to the question of the emblem Revised fourth edition, International Review of the Red Cross, No. 838, June
2000, pp. 427-478, and QUGUINER (Jean-Franois), Commentary on the
Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to
the Adoption of an Additional Distinctive Emblem (Protocol III), International
Review of the Red Cross, No 865, 2007, pp. 175-208.
Finally, for more details, see: BOUVIER, (Antoine), Special aspects of the use
of the red cross or red crescent emblem, International Review of the Red Cross,
n
272,
1989,
pp.
438-458,
available
at:
https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/57jmba.htm.
See also ICRC, "Study on the use of the emblems: Operational problems and
commercial and other non-operational issues", 2011, available at the following
address:
https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/misc/emblem-study011009.htm.

C. Do I know?

Under what precise conditions may the emblem be used? Would your answer be
different if the State is or isn't a party to Protocol I?
Do the conditions to use the emblem differ depending on whether it is used in
time of peace or in times of armed conflict?
What are the obligations of the Parties to the Geneva Conventions and to the
additional Protocols in order to protect the emblems?
D. Compilation of texts and collection of documents

Regulations on the use of the Emblem of the Red Cross or the Red Crescent by
the National Societies adopted by the 20th Red Cross and Red Crescent
International Conference (Vienna, 1965) and revised by the Council of Delegates
(Budapest, 1991), available at:
https://www.icrc.org/eng/resources/documents/article/other/57jmbg.htm.
E. Links to current events

Additional Protocol III, adopted on December 8, 2005, had as its goal the
adoption of an additional distinctive emblem. Please read the text of this Protocol
thoroughly in order to answer the following questions.

What problems were encountered in the regulation of emblems before 2005 that
justified the adoption of the third additional Protocol?
Was the third additional Protocol adopted by consensus or by majority vote?

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Is the name of the emblem of the Additional Protocol III the red crystal
mentioned in this treaty? If no, by what means has it been established?
Does the third additional Protocol authorize incorporating, within the emblem of
the third Protocol, other emblems? If so, what are the emblems which can be
incorporated? May an emblem be incorporated no matter how the emblem is
used?
May a state that has chosen to use the red crescent to mark its medical and
religious services also use the red cross? If so, under what conditions?
Will the ICRC and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies change their names to reflect the new emblem? Are these members of
the Movement authorized to use the additional emblem? If so, under what
conditions may they do so?
Is the third additional Protocol in force? How many States are signatories to the
third additional Protocol? How many States have ratified it?