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Back to: Convention (II) for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea. Geneva, 12 August 1949.
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Article 18 - Search for casualties after an engagement

After each engagement, Parties to the conflict shall, without delay, take all possible measures to search for and collect the shipwrecked, wounded and sick, to protect them against pillage and ill-treatment, to ensure their adequate care, and to search for the dead and prevent their being despoiled.

Whenever circumstances permit, the Parties to the conflict shall conclude local arrangements for the removal of the wounded and sick by sea from a besieged or encircled area and for the passage of medical and religious personnel and equipment on their way to that area.

Table of Contents
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Foreword
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Acknowledgements
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Introduction
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Title of the Convention:
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Preamble
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Chapter I: General provisions
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Article 1 - Respect for the Convention
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Article 2 - Application of the Convention
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Article 3 - Conflicts not of an international character
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Article 4 - Field of application
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Article 5 - Application by neutral powers
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Article 6 - Special agreements
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Article 7 - Non-renunciation of rights
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Article 8 - Protecting powers
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Article 9 - Activities of the ICRC and other impartial humanitarian organizations
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Article 10 - Substitutes for Protecting Powers
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Article 11 - Conciliation procedure
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Chapter II: Wounded, sick and shipwrecked
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Article 12 - Protection and care of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked
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Article 13 - Protected persons
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Article 14 - Handing over of wounded, sick and shipwrecked to a belligerent
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Article 15 - Wounded, sick and shipwrecked taken on board a neutral warship or neutral military aircraft
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Article 16 - Status of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked who have fallen into enemy hands
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Article 17 - Wounded, sick and shipwrecked landed in a neutral port
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Article 18 - Search for casualties after an engagement
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Article 19 - Recording and forwarding of information
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Article 20 - Prescriptions regarding the dead
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Article 21 - Appeals to neutral vessels
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Chapter III: Hospital ships
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Article 22 - Notification and protection of military hospital ships
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Article 23 - Protection of medical establishments ashore
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Article 24 - Hospital ships utilized by relief societies and private individuals of Parties to the conflict
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Article 25 - Hospital ships utilized by relief societies and private persons of neutral countries
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Article 26 - Tonnage of hospital ships
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Article 27 - Protection of coastal rescue craft and fixed coastal installations
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Article 28 - Protection of sick-bays
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Article 29 - Hospitals ships in a port fallen into enemy hands
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Article 30 - Employment of hospital ships and coastal rescue craft
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Article 31 - Right of control and search of hospital ships and coastal rescue craft
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Article 32 - Stay of hospital ships and coastal rescue craft in a neutral port
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Article 33 - Converted merchant vessels
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Article 34 - Discontinuance of protection of hospital ships
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Article 35 - Conditions not depriving hospital ships of protection
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Chapter IV: Personnel
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Article 36 - Protection of the personnel of hospital ships
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Article 37 - Protection of medical and religious personnel of other ships
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Chapter V: Medical transports
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Article 38 - Ships used for the conveyance of medical equipment
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Article 39 - Medical aircraft
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Article 40 - Flight over neutral countries. Landing of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked
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Chapter VI: The distinctive emblem
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Article 41 - Use of the emblem
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Article 42 - Identification of medical and religious personnel
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Article 43 - Marking of hospital ships and coastal rescue craft
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Article 44 - Limitation in the use of the distinctive signs
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Article 45 - Prevention of misuse of the distinctive signs
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Chapter VII: Execution of the Convention
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Article 46 - Detailed execution. Unforeseen cases
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Article 47 - Prohibition of reprisals
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Article 48 - Dissemination of the Convention
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Article 49 - Translations. Implementing laws and regulations
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Chapter VIII: Repression of abuses and infractions
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Article 50 - Penal sanctions
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Article 51 - Grave Breaches
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Article 52 - Responsibilities of the Contracting Parties
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Article 53 - Enquiry procedure
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Final provisions
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Article 54 - Languages
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Article 55 - Signature
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Article 56 - Ratification
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Article 57 - Coming into force
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Article 58 - Relation to the 1907 Hague Convention (X)
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Article 59 - Accession
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Article 60 - Notification of accessions
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Article 61 - Immediate effect
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Article 62 - Denunciation
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Article 63 - Registration with the United Nations
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Testimonium
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Sources
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Annex - Identity card for members of medical and religious personnel attached to the armed forces at sea
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Article 18
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