All hospital ships shall make themselves known by hoisting, together with their national flag, the white flag with a red cross provided by the Geneva Convention. ARTICLE VI. Neutral merchantmen, yachts, or vessels, having, or taking on board, sick, wounded, or shipwrecked of the belligerents, cannot be captured for so doing, but they are liable to capture for any violation of neutrality they may have committed. ARTICLE VII. The religious, medical, or hospital staff of any captured ship is inviolable, and its members cannot be made prisoners of war. On leaving the ship they take with them the objects and surgical instruments which are their own private property. This staff shall continue to discharge its duties while necessary, and can afterwards leave when the Commander-in-Chief considers it possible. The belligerents must guarantee to the staff that has fallen into their hands the enjoyment of their salaries intact. ARTICLE VIII. Sailors and soldiers who are taken on board when sick or wounded, to whatever nation they belong, shall be protected and looked after by the captors. ARTICLE IX. The shipwrecked, wounded, or sick of one of the belligerents who fall into the hands of the other, are prisoners of war. The captor must decide, according to circumstances, if it is best to keep them or send them to a port of his own country, to a neutral port, or even to a hostile port. In the last case, prisoners thus repatriated cannot serve as long as the war lasts. ARTICLE X. (Excluded) ARTICLE XI. The rules contained in the above Articles are binding only on the Contracting Powers, in case of War between two or more of them. The said rules shall cease to be binding from the time when, in a war between the Contracting Powers, one of the belligerents is joined by a non-Contracting Power. ARTICLE XII. The present Convention shall be ratified as soon as possible. On the receipt of each ratification a procès-verbal shall be drawn up, a copy of which, duly certified, shall be sent through the diplomatic channel to all the Contracting Powers. ARTICLE XIII. The non-Signatory Powers who accepted the Geneva Convention of the 22nd August, 1864, are allowed to adhere to the present Convention. For this purpose they must make their adhesion known to the Contracting Powers by means of a written notification addressed to the Netherland Government, and by it communicated to all the other Contracting Powers. ARTICLE XIV. In the event of one of the High Contracting Parties denouncing the present Convention, such denunciation shall not take effect until a year after the notification made in writing to the Netherlands Government, and forthwith communicated by it to all the other Contracting Powers. This denunciation shall only affect the notifying Power. In testimony whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the present Convention and affixed their seals thereto. Done at The Hague the 29th July, 1899, in single copy, which shall be kept in the archives of the Government of the Netherlands, and copies of which duly certified, shall be sent through the diplomatic channel to the Contracting Powers. Certified as a true copy, The Secretary General of the Department of Foreign Affairs, THE HAGUE, January 31, 1900. L. H. RUYSSENAERS. In pursuance of the stipulations of Article XII of the said Convention the ratifications of the said Convention were deposited at the Hague on the 4th. day of September, 1900, by the Plenipotentiaries of the Governments of the United States of America, Germany, AustriaHungary, Belgium, Denmark, Spain, France, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands, Persia, Portugal, Roumania, Russia, Siam, Sweden and Norway and Bulgaria; on the 6th. day of October, 1900, by the Plenipotentiary of the Government of Japan; on the 6th. day of October, 1900, by the Plenipotentiary of the Government of Monté négro; on the 29th. day of December, 1900, by the Plenipotentiary of the Government of Switzerland; on the 4th. day of April, 1901, by the Plenipotentiary of the Government of Greece; on the 17th. day of April, 1901, by the Plenipotentiary of the Government of Mexico; on the 11th. day of May, 1901, by the Plenipotentiary of the Government of Servia, and on the 12th. day of July, 1901, by the Plenipotentiary of the Government of Luxembourg. 1899. CONVENTION WITH RESPECT TO THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND. Concluded July 29, 1899; ratification advised by the Senate March 14, 1902; ratified by the President March 19, 1902; ratifications deposited with the Netherlands Government April 5, 1902; proclaimed April 11, 1902. (U. S. Stats., vol. 32, p. 1803.) I. Instructions to forces. II. When binding. III. Ratification. ARTICLES. IV. Nonsignatory powers. ANNEX. Section I.-Belligerents. Chapter I.—Qualifications of belligerents. I. Application of laws of war. IV. Treatment. VI. Employment. VII. Maintenance. III. Combatants; noncombatants. Chapter II.-Prisoners of war. VIII. Laws; regulations; recap ture. IX. False statements. X. Parole. XI. Parole voluntary. Chapter III.-Sick and wounded. XXI. Obligation of belligerents. Section II.-Hostilities. Chapter I.-Means of injuring enemy; sieges; bombardments. XXII. Means of injurying enemy. XXVI. Warning authorities. Chapter V.-Armistices. XXXVI. Suspension of hostilities. XXXVII. General and local. XXXVIII. Notification. XXXIX. Terms. XL. Violation. Section III.-Military authority over hostile territory. XLII. Territory; occupation. XLIII. Reestablishing order. XLIV. Forced military service. XLVI. Rights respected. XLVII. Pillage. XLVIII. Taxes, dues, etc. XLIX. Taxes for military necessities. L. Penalty. LI. Collection of taxes. LII. R quisition and services. LIV. Plant of railways. LV. Administration. LVI. Religious, etc., institution. Section IV.—Internment of belligerents and care of wounded in neutral countries. LVII. Internment in neutral state. LIX. Transit. LX. Geneva convention. [Translation.] CONVENTION WITH RESPECT TO THE LAWS AND CUSTOMS OF WAR ON LAND.a His Majesty the Emperor of Germany, King of Prussia; His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia etc., and Apostolic King of Hungary; His Majesty the King of the Belgians; His Majesty the King of Denmark; His Majesty the King of Spain and in His Name Her Majesty the Queen Regent of the Kingdom; the President of the United States of America; the President of the United Mexican States; the President of the French Republic; Her Majesty the Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Empress of India; His Majesty the King of the Hellenes; His Majesty the King of Italy; His Majesty the Emperor of Japan; His Royal Highness the Grand Duke of Luxemburg, Duke of Nassau; His Highness the Prince of Montenegro; Her Majesty the Queen of the Netherlands; His Imperial Majesty the Shah of Persia; His Majesty the King of Portugal and of the Algarves etc.; His Majesty the King of Roumania; His Majesty the Emperor of all the Russias; His Majesty the King of Servia; His Majesty the King of Siam; His Majesty the King of Sweden and Norway; His Majesty the Emperor of the Ottomans and His Royal Highness the Prince of Bulgaria. Considering that, while seeking means to preserve peace and prevent armed conflicts among nations, it is likewise necessary to have regard to cases where an appeal to arms may be caused by events which their solicitude could not avert; Animated by the desire to serve, even in this extreme hypothesis, the interests of humanity and the ever increasing requirements of civilization; Thinking it important, with this object, to revise the laws and general customs of war, either with the view of defining them more precisely, or of laying down certain limits for the purpose of modifying their severity as far as possible; a Adhered to by Korea, Peru, and Salvador. |