Too often the term “prisoner of war” (PoW) conjures up black-and-white images of soldiers detained in the Second World War. Recent events have brought PoWs back into the fore of the public consciousness, in particular how they must be treated and what rights they are entitled to in contemporary conflicts.
In this post published to mark the anniversary of the 1949 Geneva Conventions Ellen Policinski, ICRC Legal Adviser, highlights aspects of the Third Geneva Convention (GCIII) that may be particularly relevant today, including some of the findings of the updated ICRC Commentary on GCIII.