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.