Section 63p. 63

PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW COMPENDIUM VOLUME II

be prompted mainly by the right of families to know the

fate of their relatives.

Art 33. Missing persons

1. As soon as circumstances permit, and at the latest from

the end of active hostilities, each Party to the conflict shall

search for the persons who have been reported missing

by an adverse Party. Such adverse Party shall transmit all

relevant information concerning such persons in order to

facilitate such searches.

2. In order to facilitate the gathering of information

pursuant to the preceding paragraph, each Party to the

conflict shall, with respect to persons who would not

receive

more

favourable

consideration

under

the

Conventions and this Protocol:

(a) record the information specified in Article 138 of the

Fourth Convention in respect of such persons who have

been detained, imprisoned or otherwise held in captivity

for more than two weeks as a result of hostilities or

occupation, or who have died during any period of

detention;

(b) to the fullest extent possible, facilitate and, if need be,

carry out the search for and the recording of information

concerning such persons if they have died in other

circumstances as a result of hostilities or occupation.

3.

Information

concerning

persons

reported

missing

pursuant

to

paragraph

1

and

requests

for

such

information

shall

be

transmitted

either

directly

or

through the Protecting Power or the Central Tracing

Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross

or national Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion and Sun)

Societies.

Where

the

information

is not transmitted

through the International Committee of the Red Cross

and its Central Tracing Agency, each Party to the conflict

shall ensure that such information is also supplied to the

Central Tracing Agency.

4. The Parties to the conflict shall endeavour to agree on

arrangements

for

teams

to

search

for, identify and

recover

the

dead

from

battlefield

areas,

including

arrangements,

if

appropriate,

for

such

teams to be

accompanied by personnel of the adverse Party while

carrying out these missions in areas controlled by the

adverse Party. Personnel of such teams shall be respected

and protected while exclusively carrying out these duties.

Art 34. Remains of deceased

1. The remains of persons who have died for reasons

related to occupation or in detention resulting from

occupation

or

hostilities

and

those

or

persons

not

nationals of the country in which they have died as a

result of hostilities shall be respected, and the gravesites

of all such persons shall be respected, maintained and

marked as provided for in Article 130 of the Fourth

Convention, where their remains or gravesites would not

receive

more

favourable

consideration

under

the

Conventions and this Protocol.

2. As soon as circumstances and the relations between

the adverse Parties permit, the High Contracting Parties

in whose territories graves and, as the case may be, other

locations of the remains of persons who have died as a

result of hostilities or during occupation or in detention

are situated, shall conclude agreements in order:

(a) to facilitate access to the gravesites by relatives of the

deceased

and

by

representatives

of

official

graves

registration

services

and

to

regulate

the

practical

arrangements for such access;

(b) to protect and maintain such gravesites permanently;

(c) to facilitate the return of the remains of the deceased

and of personal effects to the home country upon its

request or, unless that country objects, upon the request

of the next of kin.

3. In the absence of the agreements provided for in

paragraph 2 (b) or (c) and if the home country or such

deceased is not willing to arrange at its expense for the

maintenance of such gravesites, the High Contracting

Party in whose territory the gravesites are situated may

offer

to

facilitate

the

return of the remains of the

deceased to the home country. Where such an offer has

not been accepted the High Contracting Party may, after

the expiry of five years from the date of the offer and

upon

due

notice

to

the

home

country,

adopt

the

arrangements laid down in its own laws relating to

cemeteries and graves.

4. A High Contracting Party in whose territory the grave

sites referred to in this Article are situated shall be

permitted to exhume the remains only:

(a) in accordance with paragraphs 2 (c) and 3, or

(b) where exhumation is a matter or overriding public

necessity, including cases of medical and investigative

necessity, in which case the High Contracting Party shall

at all times respect the remains, and shall give notice to

the home country or its intention to exhume the remains

together

with

details

of

the

intended

place

of

reinterment.

Part III. Methods and Means of Warfare

Combatant and Prisoners-Of-War

Section I. Methods and Means of Warfare

Art 35. Basic rules

1. In any armed conflict, the right of the Parties to the

conflict to choose methods or means of warfare is not

unlimited.

2. It is prohibited to employ weapons, projectiles and

material and methods of warfare of a nature to cause

superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering.

3. It is prohibited to employ methods or means of warfare

which

are

intended, or may be expected, to cause

widespread, long-term and severe damage to the natural

environment.

Art 36. New weapons

In the study, development, acquisition or adoption of a

new weapon, means or method of warfare, a High

Contracting Party is under an obligation to determine

whether

its

employment

would,

in

some

or

all

circumstances, be prohibited by this Protocol or by any

other rule of international law applicable to the High

Contracting Party

Art 37. Prohibition of Perfidy

1. It is prohibited to kill, injure or capture an adversary by

resort to perfidy. Acts inviting the confidence of an

adversary to lead him to believe that he is entitled to, or is

obliged

to

accord,

protection

under

the

rules

of

international law applicable in armed conflict, with intent

to betray that confidence, shall constitute perfidy. The

following acts are examples of perfidy:

(a) the feigning of an intent to negotiate under a flag of

truce or of a surrender;

(b) the feigning of an incapacitation by wounds or

sickness;

(c) the feigning of civilian, non-combatant status; and

(d) the feigning of protected status by the use of signs,

emblems or uniforms of the United Nations or of neutral

or other States not Parties to the conflict.

2. Ruses of war are not prohibited. Such ruses are acts

which are intended to mislead an adversary or to induce

him to act recklessly but which infringe no rule of

international law applicable in armed conflict and which

are

not

perfidious

because

they

do

not

invite the

confidence of an adversary with respect to protection

under that law. The following are examples of such ruses:

the use of camouflage, decoys, mock operations and

misinformation.

© Compiled by RGL

63 of 163