Law of War Handbook 2005

3. Retained personnel: Medical and religious personnel retained by the
   Detaining power with a view toward assisting POWs (Art. 33, GPW).


4. Detainees: A term used to refer to any person captured or otherwise detained
   by an armed force (Joint Pub 1-02). It includes those persons held during
   operations other than war (DoDD 23 10.1). It also includes those persons that
   the U.S. Government has declared as an "unlawful combatant" or
   "unprivileged belligerent" (i.e. the Taliban and al-Qaida captured during
   Operation Enduring Freedom).


5. Refugees: Persons who by reason of real or imagined danger have left home
   to seek safety elsewhere. See Art. 44, GC and 195 1 UN Convention Relating
   to the Status of Refugees.'"


6. Dislocated civilian: A generic term that includes a refugee, a displaced
   person, a stateless person, an evacuee, or a war victim.19


7. In sum, always begin by using the term detainee until a more specific status
   is determined; it is the broadest term without legal status connotations.

B. In order to achieve the status of a prisoner of war, you have to be the right kind

of person in the right kind of conflict. The question of status is enormously

important. There are two primary benefits of EPW status. First, you receive

immunity for warlike acts (i.e., your acts of killing and breakmg things are not

criminal). Second, you are entitled to the rights and protections under the GPW.

One of those rights is that the prisoner is no longer a lawful target.

C. The fight Kind of Conflict.

1. Common Article 2, GPW: The "Conventions shall apply to all cases of
   declared war or of any other armed conflict which may arise between two or

more of the High Contracting Parties... ." (emphasis added).

a.  Commonly known examples of common Article 2 conflicts include

W.W.11, Korea,'" Vietnam," Falklands," Grenada," Panama,I4 Desert

189 U.N.T.S. 137.

l9 See DEP'TOF THE ARMY,FIELDMANUAL41-10, CIVIL AFFAIRS(1 1 January 1993).

20 While few people argue whether or not the Korean War was a common Article 2 conflict, there was a
question of whether the 1949 Geneva Conventions would apply. The United States did not ratify the
Conventions until 1955. However, by July 1950, the United States, South Korea, and North Korea all agreed
to be bound its terms. See 7ke Geneva Conventions in the Korean Hostilities, DEP'TOF STATEBULLETIN, vol.
33, at 69 - 73 (1955). Unfortunately, in practice, North Korea routinely abused and lulled POWs in violation
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