Ireland
Practice Relating to Rule 132. Return of Displaced Persons
Ireland’s Geneva Conventions Act (1962), as amended in 1998, provides that any “minor breach” of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, including violations of Articles 45 and 49 of the Geneva Convention IV, is a punishable offence.
In 2009, Ireland’s Minister for Foreign Affairs, in a written response to a question on the situation in Sri Lanka, stated:
As I have stated on many occasions in this House, I am deeply concerned about the situation in Sri Lanka. The immediate priority is still the welfare of the 280,000 or so Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) currently being held in IDP camps in the north of the country. There is urgent need for … IDPs to be facilitated in returning to their homes as soon as possible … [and] for reconstruction to get underway.