Prisoners of War

There has been much talk lately about prisoners of war. But, as Le Monde diplomatique pointed out almost a year ago, the US have unilaterally introduced a new category of "unlawful combatants" with respect to the Taliban captured in Afghanistan, thus not awarding them POW status, and hence protection under the Geneva Convention.

US breaks the laws of war

The United States has invented a new category of captive, not covered by the Geneva Convention: 'unlawful combatants'. And it has made sure that nobody can question this unilateral designation by holding the prisoners taken in Afghanistan in the no-nation's-territory of the Guantanamo base on Cuba. What, legally, is going on?

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According to the preparatory work for the Geneva Convention, any dispute between states involving the use of armed forces is an armed conflict within the meaning of the convention. The US has undoubtedly engaged in armed action against the de facto authorities in charge in Afghanistan.

The convention applies irrespective of the duration of the conflict, the extent to which it results in bloodshed, and the size and standing of the forces involved. It covers "members of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict as well as members of militias or volunteer corps forming part of such armed forces" who are captured by one of the belligerents. This broad form of words was chosen to avoid uncertainties arising from the diverse nature of combatants. The Taliban and volunteers in Afghanistan clearly fall into the category of prisoners of war.