Section 57p. 57

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW COMPENDIUM VOLUME II

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

PREAMBLE

The High Contracting Parties,

Proclaiming

their earnest wish to see peace prevail

among peoples,

Recalling that every State has the duty, in conformity with

the Charter of the United Nations, to refrain in its

international relations from the threat or use of force

against the sovereignty, territorial integrity or political

independence of any State, or in any other manner

inconsistent with the purposes of the United Nations,

Believing

it

necessary

nevertheless

to

reaffirm

and

develop the provisions protecting the victims of armed

conflicts

and

to

supplement

measures

intended

to

reinforce their application,

Expressing their conviction that nothing in this Protocol

or in the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 can be

construed

as

legitimizing

or

authorizing any act of

aggression or any other use of force inconsistent with the

Charter of the United Nations,

Reaffirming further that the provisions of the Geneva

Conventions of 12 August 1949 and of this Protocol must

be fully applied in all circumstances to all persons who

are protected by those instruments, without any adverse

distinction based on the nature or origin of the armed

conflict or on the causes espoused by or attributed to the

Parties to the conflict,

Have agreed on the following:

PART I. GENERAL PROVISIONS

Art 1. General principles and scope of application

1. The High Contracting Parties undertake to respect and

to ensure respect for this Protocol in all circumstances.

2. In cases not covered by this Protocol or by other

international

agreements,

civilians

and

combatants

remain

under

the

protection

and

authority

of

the

principles of international law derived from established

custom,

from

the

principles of humanity and from

dictates of public conscience.

3.

This

Protocol,

which

supplements

the

Geneva

Conventions of 12 August 1949 for the protection of war

victims, shall apply in the situations referred to in Article 2

common to those Conventions.

4. The situations referred to in the preceding paragraph

include armed conflicts in which peoples are fighting

against colonial domination and alien occupation and

against racist regimes in the exercise of their right of

self-determination, as enshrined in the Charter of the

United Nations and the Declaration on Principles of

International

Law

concerning

Friendly Relations and

Co-operation

among

States

in

accordance

with the

Charter of the United Nations.

Art 2. Definitions

For the purposes of this Protocol

(a)

"First

Convention",

"Second

Convention",

"Third

Convention" and "Fourth Convention" mean, respectively,

the

Geneva

Convention for the Amelioration of the

Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in

the Field of 12 August 1949; the Geneva Convention for the

Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and

Ship-wrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea of 12

August 1949; the Geneva Convention relative to the

Treatment of Prisoners of War of 12 August 1949; the

Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian

Persons

in

Time

of

War

of

12

August

1949;

"the

Conventions" means the four Geneva Conventions of 12

August 1949 for the protection of war victims;

(b)

"Rules

of

international

law

applicable

in

armed

conflict" means the rules applicable in armed conflict set

forth in international agreements to which the Parties to

the conflict are Parties and the generally recognized

principles

and

rules

of

international

law

which

are

applicable to armed conflict;

(c) "Protecting Power" means a neutral or other State not

a Party to the conflict which has been designated by a

Party to the conflict and accepted by the adverse Party

and has agreed to carry out the functions assigned to a

Protecting

Power

under

the

Conventions

and

this

Protocol;

(d) "Substitute" means an organization acting in place of a

Protecting Power in accordance with Article 5.

Art 3. Beginning and end of application

Without prejudice to the provisions which are applicable

at all times:

(a) the Conventions and this Protocol shall apply from the

beginning of any situation referred to in Article 1 of this

Protocol.

(b) the application of the Conventions and of this Protocol

shall cease, in the territory of Parties to the conflict, on the

general close of military operations and, in the case of

occupied territories, on the termination of the occupation,

except, in either circumstance, for those persons whose

final release, repatriation or re-establishment takes place

thereafter. These persons shall continue to benefit from

the relevant provisions of the Conventions and of this

Protocol

until

their

final

release

repatriation

or

re-establishment.

Art 4. Legal status of the Parties to the conflict

The application of the Conventions and of this Protocol, as

well as the conclusion of the agreements provided for

therein, shall not affect the legal status of the Parties to

the conflict. Neither the occupation of a territory nor the

application of the Conventions and this Protocol shall

affect the legal status of the territory in question.

Art 5. Appointment of Protecting Powers and of their

substitute

1. It is the duty of the Parties to a conflict from the

beginning of that conflict to secure the supervision and

implementation of the Conventions and of this Protocol

by the application of the system of Protecting Powers,

including inter alia the designation and acceptance of

those

Powers,

in

accordance

with

the

following

paragraphs. Protecting Powers shall have the duty of

safeguarding the interests of the Parties to the conflict.

2. From the beginning of a situation referred to in Article 1,

each Party to the conflict shall without delay designate a

Protecting

Power

for

the

purpose

of

applying

the

Conventions and this Protocol and shall, likewise without

delay and for the same purpose, permit the activities or a

Protecting Power which has been accepted by it as such

after designation by the adverse Party.

3. If a Protecting Power has not been designated or

accepted from the beginning of a situation referred to in

Article 1, the International Committee of the Red Cross,

without prejudice to the right of any other impartial

humanitarian organization to do likewise, shall offer its

good offices to the Parties to the conflict with a view to

the designation without delay of a Protecting Power to

which

the

Parties

to the conflict consent. For that

purpose it may inter alia ask each Party to provide it with

a list of at least five States which that Party considers

acceptable to act as Protecting Power on its behalf in

relation to an adverse Party and ask each adverse Party to

provide a list or at least five States which it would accept

as the Protecting Power of the first Party; these lists shall

be communicated to the Committee within two weeks

after the receipt or the request; it shall compare them

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