Section 58p. 58

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW COMPENDIUM VOLUME II

and seek the agreement of any proposed State named on

both lists.

4. If, despite the foregoing, there is no Protecting Power,

the Parties to the conflict shall accept without delay an

offer which may be made by the International Committee

of the Red Cross or by any other organization which offers

all guarantees of impartiality and efficacy, after due

consultations

with

the

said

Parties and taking into

account the result of these consultations, to act as a

substitute. The functioning of such a substitute is subject

to the consent of the Parties to the conflict; every effort

shall be made by the Parties to the conflict to facilitate

the operations of the substitute in the performance of its

tasks under the Conventions and this Protocol.

5. In accordance with Article 4, the designation and

acceptance of Protecting Powers for the purpose of

applying the Conventions and this Protocol shall not

affect the legal status of the Parties to the conflict or of

any territory, including occupied territory.

6. The maintenance of diplomatic relations between

Parties to the conflict or the entrusting of the protection

of a Party's interests and those of its nationals to a third

State in accordance with the rules of international law

relating to diplomatic relations is no obstacle to the

designation of Protecting Powers for the purpose of

applying the Conventions and this Protocol.

7.

Any

subsequent

mention

in

this

Protocol

of

a

Protecting Power includes also a substitute.

Art 6. Qualified persons

1. The High Contracting Parties shall, also in peacetime,

endeavour, with the assistance of the national Red Cross

(Red Crescent, Red Lion and Sun) Societies, to train

qualified personnel to facilitate the application of the

Conventions and of this Protocol, and in particular the

activities of the Protecting Powers.

2. The recruitment and training of such personnel are

within domestic jurisdiction.

3. The International Committee of the Red Cross shall

hold at the disposal of the High Contracting Parties the

lists of persons so trained which the High Contracting

Parties may have established and may have transmitted

to it for that purpose.

4. The conditions governing the employment of such

personnel outside the national territory shall, in each case,

be the subject of special agreements between the Parties

concerned.

Article 7 - Meetings

The depositary of this Protocol shall convene a meeting of

the High Contracting Parties, at the request of one or

more of the said Parties and upon, the approval of the

majority of the said Parties, to consider general problems

concerning the application of the Conventions and of the

Protocol.

Part. II WOUNDED, SICK AND SHIPWRECKED

Section I : General Protection

Art 8. Terminology

For the purposes of this Protocol:

a) "Wounded" and "sick" mean persons, whether military

or civilian, who, because of trauma, disease or other

physical or mental disorder or disability, are in need of

medical assistance or care and who refrain from any act

of

hostility. These terms also cover maternity cases,

new-born babies and other persons who may be in need

of immediate medical assistance or care, such as the

infirm or expectant mothers, and who refrain from any

act of hostility;

b) "Shipwrecked" means persons, whether military or

civilian, who are in peril at sea or in other waters as a

result of misfortune affecting them or the vessel or

aircraft carrying them and who refrain from any act of

hostility. These persons, provided that they continue to

refrain from any act of hostility, shall continue to be

considered shipwrecked during their rescue until they

acquire another status under the Conventions or this

Protocol;

c) "Medical personnel" means those persons assigned, by

a Party to the conflict, exclusively to the medical purposes

enumerated under e) or to the administration of medical

units or to the operation or administration of medical

transports. Such assignments may be either permanent

or temporary. The term includes:

i) medical personnel of a Party to the conflict, whether

military or civilian, including those described in the First

and Second Conventions, and those assigned to civil

defence organizations;

ii) medical personnel of national Red Cross (Red Crescent,

Red Lion and Sun) Societies and other national voluntary

aid societies duly recognized and authorized by a Party to

the conflict;

iii)

medical

personnel

or

medical

units

or

medical

transports described in Article 9, paragraph 2.

d)

"Religious

personnel"

means

military

or

civilian

persons, such as chaplains, who are exclusively engaged

in the work of their ministry and attached:

i) to the armed forces of a Party to the conflict;

ii) to medical units or medical transports of a Party to the

conflict;

iii) to medical units or medical transports described in

Article 9, Paragraph 2; or

iv) to civil defence organizations of a Party to the conflict.

The attachment of religious personnel may be either

permanent or temporary, and the relevant provisions

mentioned under k) apply to them;

e) "Medical units" means establishments and other units,

whether

military

or

civilian,

organized

for

medical

purposes,

namely

the

search

for,

collection,

transportation, diagnosis or treatment - including first-aid

treatment - of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, or for

the prevention of disease. The term includes for example,

hospitals

and

other

similar

units,

blood

transfusion

centres,

preventive

medicine

centres

and

institutes,

medical depots and the medical and pharmaceutical

stores of such units. Medical units may be fixed or mobile,

permanent or temporary;

f) "Medical transportation" means the conveyance by

land, water or air of the wounded, sick, shipwrecked,

medical

personnel,

religious

personnel,

medical

equipment

or

medical

supplies

protected

by

the

Conventions and by this Protocol;

g)

"Medical

transports"

means

any

means

of

transportation, whether military or civilian, permanent or

temporary, assigned exclusively to medical transportation

and under the control of a competent authority of a Party

to the conflict;

h) "Medical vehicles" means any medical transports by

land;

i) "Medical ships and craft" means any medical transports

by water;

j) "Medical aircraft" means any medical transports by air;

k) "Permanent medical personnel", "permanent medical

units" and "permanent medical transports" mean those

assigned

exclusively

to

medical

purposes

for

an

indeterminate period. "Temporary medical personnel"

"temporary

medical-units"

and

"temporary

medical

transports" mean those devoted exclusively to medical

purposes for limited periods during the whole of such

periods. Unless otherwise specified, the terms "medical

personnel",

"medical

units"

and

"medical

transports"

cover both permanent and temporary categories;

© Compiled by RGL

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