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Geneva Conventions of 1949 and Additional Protocols, and their Commentaries
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Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (Protocol I), 8 June 1977.
Commentary
of 1987
Field of application
[p.809] Article 68
-- Field of application
2775 This article determines the personal field of application of Section II which applies "to the civilian population as defined in
this Protocol". The civilian population is defined in Article 50
' (Definition of civilians and civilian population), ' paragraph 2,
as comprising "all persons who are civilians". As regards civilians,
they are defined in Article 50
' (Definition of civilians and
civilian population), ' paragraph 1, as "any person who does not
belong to one of the categories of [p.810] persons referred to in
Article 4A
(1), (2), (3) and (6) of the Third Convention and in
Article 43
of this Protocol". (1)
2776 Moreover, it specifies that the provisions of this Section "are supplementary to" the relevant provisions of the fourth Convention.
As the provisions of the Protocol contain not only a reaffirmation of
some rules, but also a development, it is clear that for the Parties
to the Protocol the provisions of the Conventions should be read
together with the supplementary provisions of Protocol I. This
applies, for instance, to the obligations of the Occupying Power to
ensure the necessary supplies for the civilian population of the
occupied territory, obligations which are augmented in Article 69
' (Basic needs in occupied territories). ' The same also applies to
the fact that relief actions for the benefit of a Party to the
conflict can be provided for the civilian population as a whole, and
not only certain categories. This is important, as under the régime
of the Conventions, an action for the benefit of a Party to the
conflict which is not limited to the prescribed categories could have
been challenged by the adverse Party. Moreover, if the relief came by
sea, it could have been included in actions impeded by a blockade, or
could have been treated as contraband. (2)
2777 Article 68
mentions the most important provisions of the fourth Convention to be supplemented by this Section. These are Article 23
,
which deals with the consignment of medical stores, foodstuffs and
clothing to a Party to a conflict; Article 55
, which establishes the
duty of the Occupying Power to ensure the food and medical supplies
of the population of the occupied territory; Article 59
, which deals
with relief schemes on behalf of the population of the occupied
territory; Article 60
, which is a reminder that relief consignments
to a territory shall in no way relieve the Occupying Power of any of
its responsibilities towards the civilian population, and which
prohibits the diversion of such relief consignments; Article 61
,
which deals with the distribution of relief consignments; and Article
62
, which in principle grants the civilian population in occupied
territory, and other protected persons in occupied territories the
right to receive individual relief consignments sent to them.
2778 These are the most important articles supplemented by this Section, but there are other articles in the fourth Convention which
are affected to a greater or lesser extent, and Article 68
clearly
shows that the enumeration is not exhaustive by stating that the
Section also supplements the "other relevant provisions of the fourth
Convention". On the other hand, the Diplomatic Conference refrained
from specifying -- as in the 1973 draft -- that this Section is
complementary "to such international rules concerning relief as may
be binding upon the High Contracting Parties". It went along with the
opinion of one delegate who considered that this was "somewhat
vaguely worded", and who consequently requested that only the
relevant provisions of the fourth Convention be mentioned. (3)
' Y.S. '
NOTES
(1) [(1) p.810] For further details on this subject, cf.
commentary Art. 50, supra, p. 609;
(2) [(2) p.810] On this subject, cf., in particular, K.J. Skubiszewski, "Use of Force by States", in M. Sorensen
(ed.), ' Manual of Public International Law ', New York,
1968, pp. 836-839; cf. also commentary Art. 54, supra, p.
651, and commentary Art. 14, Protocol II, infra, p. 1455;
(3) [(3) p.810] Cf. O.R. XII, p. 315, CDDH/II/SR.84, paras. 24-25;
GVALNWB1/ICRC
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