I.

Introduction

Prisoners of War (POWs), in international law, term used to designate incarcerated members of the armed forces of an enemy, or noncombatants who render them direct service and who have been captured during wartime. Surgeons, chaplains, news correspondents, and hospital attendants of the Red Cross are not included in this category, nor are civilians who are detained and interned in belligerent countries. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries the Red Cross has brought comfort, legal aid, and attention to the plight of interned soldiers.

Prisoners of war, commonly called POWs, have no protection from the law of the nation that captures them and no civil remedy. By the customs, treaties, and conventions of international law, however, prisoners of war are supposed to be granted humane treatment by the enemy.

II.

History

In ancient times prisoners of war were usually treated without mercy. Among the Greeks, for example, it was common practice to put to death the whole adult male population of a conquered state. The ancient Britons also killed their prisoners in a barbarous fashion. The Muslim Ottomans executed 30,000 Christian prisoners during the War of Candia (1667-1668). In Western Europe, however, as chivalry spread in late medieval times, generosity to a fallen foe asserted itself, and the practice of sparing and ransoming prisoners was introduced.

In modern times, the Hague Conferences, the Geneva Convention in 1906, and the more detailed convention of 1929 provided international rules for the humane treatment of prisoners. A prisoner of war may not be treated as a criminal but may be employed in nonmilitary paid work. The prisoner has a right to adequate food, clothing, and quarters and to the transmission of letters and parcels. A member of the armed forces is bound to supply name, rank, and serial number but cannot legally be compelled to give further information to the enemy. The provisions of the Geneva Convention of 1906 and 1929 were largely disregarded by totalitarian regimes, particularly those of Germany and Japan during World War II (1939-1945).

After the experiences of World War II, another Geneva Convention was convened in August 1949 to deal with the treatment of prisoners of war. The rules that were put forth there are binding on most of the countries of the world, but these rules have not always been strictly observed.

III.

Korean War

At the beginning of the Korean War (1950-1953) the belligerents promised to honor the principles of the 1949 convention. In spite of this, the Communist forces were responsible for numerous violations; prisoners received inadequate food, clothing, and shelter and poor medical treatment, often resulting in loss of lives.

In the course of truce negotiations during the war, a new problem arose regarding repatriation of prisoners. Because of the apparent unwillingness of Communist soldiers made prisoners of war to return to their homelands, the United Nations Command posited the principle of “voluntary repatriation,” stating that prisoners of war should not be returned against their will. Although the Geneva Convention does not specifically authorize voluntary repatriation, the United Nations Command held that the humanitarian spirit of the convention would be violated if the prisoners were forcibly repatriated. The new principle was finally incorporated in the armistice agreement on July 26, 1953, following a yearlong deadlock; the agreement granted the belligerents the right to speak with prisoners opposed to repatriation. The Korean War was distinctive among wars throughout history for the extensive and effective use of psychological warfare, or “brainwashing” of prisoners, by North Korea (see Torture).

IV.

War in Vietnam

Further violations of the Geneva Convention occurred in the Vietnam War (1959-1975). Ill treatment of prisoners was brought to light by the Red Cross throughout the war. In September 1969 the North Vietnamese Red Cross declared that U.S. pilots, guilty of “crimes against humanity,” would not be given the protections afforded by the Geneva Convention. South Vietnamese mistreatment of prisoners of war was alleged in 1970 in reports that so-called tiger cages were used to confine North Vietnamese prisoners.

In the Vietnamese conflict, a major concern in negotiations between the United States and North Vietnam was the release of hundreds of American prisoners of war and the repatriation of both North and South Vietnamese prisoners. By 1971 the prospects of U.S. withdrawal from Vietnam depended largely on a solution of the prisoner-of-war problem, which had been employed as a bargaining point by North Vietnam. On February 12, 1973, after the signing of the cease-fire in January, the first contingent of 143 American military and civilian prisoners of war arrived in the Philippines. During the following weeks, 444 prisoners were released. Two decades later, more than 2000 U.S. soldiers remained unaccounted for and are listed as missing in action.