Fourth Geneva Convention
The Fourth Geneva Convention only concerns protected civilians in occupied territory rather than the effects of hostilities, such as the strategic bombing during World War II.
[6][7] Until well after World War II ended in 1945, the norm of reciprocity provided a justification for conduct in armed conflict.
[9] This broader application underscores the importance of the Fourth Geneva Convention in ongoing conflicts where allegations of violations frequently surface, emphasising its role in international efforts to ensure the protection of civilians, as illustrated by the ongoing debates and legal interpretations in modern conflicts.
In the First World War, the Germans executed Belgian villagers in mass retribution for resistance activity during the Rape of Belgium.
In World War II, both German and Japanese forces carried out a form of collective punishment to suppress resistance.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Commentary to the conventions states that parties to a conflict often would resort to "intimidatory measures to terrorize the population" in hopes of preventing hostile acts, but such practices "strike at guilty and innocent alike.
[citation needed] Additional Protocol II of 1977 is about the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts explicitly forbidding collective punishment.
Nevertheless, the Occupying Power may undertake total or partial evacuation of a given area if the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand.
The Occupying Power undertaking such transfers or evacuations shall ensure, to the greatest practicable extent, that proper accommodation is provided to receive the protected persons, that the removals are effected in satisfactory conditions of hygiene, health, safety and nutrition, and that members of the same family are not separated.
The Occupying Power shall not detain protected persons in an area particularly exposed to the dangers of war unless the security of the population or imperative military reasons so demand.
The ICRC has expressed the opinion, "that international humanitarian law prohibits the establishment of settlements, as these are a form of population transfer into occupied territory".
The Occupying Power shall, with the cooperation of the national and local authorities, facilitate the proper working of all institutions devoted to the care and education of children.
Should the local institutions be inadequate for the purpose, the Occupying Power shall make arrangements for the maintenance and education, if possible by persons of their own nationality, language and religion, of children who are orphaned or separated from their parents as a result of the war and who cannot be adequately cared for by a near relative or friend.
A special section of the Bureau set up in accordance with Article 136 shall be responsible for taking all necessary steps to identify children whose identity is in doubt.
The Occupying Power may not compel protected persons to employ forcible means to ensure the security of the installations where they are performing compulsory labour.
In similar circumstances, the occupying authorities shall also grant recognition to hospital personnel and transport vehicles under the provisions of Articles 20 and 21.
It allows the occupying power for "imperative reasons of security" to "subject them [protected persons] to assigned residence or to internment".
This part contains "the formal or diplomatic provisions which it is customary to place at the end of an international Convention to settle the procedure for bringing it into effect are grouped together under this heading" (1).
"[19] The ICRC states that Annex II is a "draft which, according to Article 109 (paragraph 1) of the Convention, will be applied in the absence of special agreements between the Parties, deals with the conditions for the receipt and distribution of collective relief shipments.
