Rule 71

Subject to Rule 74, medical and religious personnel, fixed or mobile medical units (including hospitals) and medical transports by air, land, at sea or on other waters must be respected and protected at all times, and must not be the object of attack.

[Commentary]

  1. Rule 71 is an introductory provision to Section K reiterating, in simple terms, the general obligation to respect and protect at all times medical and religious personnel, medical units and medical transports. This general obligation encompasses subsidiary protection granted to ensure that wounded and sick receive medical care.
    2. The obligation to respect and to protect military medical and religious personnel (who are members of the armed forces) is based on Art. 24[380] and Art. 25 of GC/I;[381] Art. 36 of GC/II[382] and on the first paragraph of Art. 20 of GC/IV.[383] Art. 15 of AP/I extended the scope of the protection to cover civilian medical and religious personnel.[384]
    3. The obligation to respect and to protect medical units and medical means of transport is based on Art. 19[385] and Art. 35 of GC/I;[386] Art. 18[387] and Art. 21 of GC/IV;[388] as well as on Art. 12 (1),[389] Art. 21,[390] and Art. 24 of AP/I.[391]
    4. A breach of Rule 71 may qualify as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the ICC in both international[392] and in non-international armed conflict.[393]
    5. The term “medical personnel” covers persons assigned exclusively to medical purposes by a Belligerent Party. In this context, the notion of “medical purposes” includes the search for, collection, transportation, diagnosis or treatment (including first-aid treatment) of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, or the prevention of disease. The personnel assigned by a Belligerent Party to the administration of medical units or to the operation or administration of medical transports are also included under the definition of “medical personnel”. For the purposes of this definition, administrative staff includes office staff, ambulance drivers, janitors, cooks, etc.
    6. The term “medical personnel” encompasses: (i) medical personnel of a Belligerent Party, whether military or civilian, including those assigned to civil defence organizations; (ii) medical personnel of National Red Cross, Red Crescent, or Red Crystal Societies and other national voluntary aid societies duly recognized and authorized by a Belligerent Party; (iii) medical personnel made available to a Belligerent Party for humanitarian purposes by a Neutral — or a recognized and authorized aid society of such a Neutral — or by an impartial humanitarian organization such as the ICRC. The term “medical personnel” has been defined in Art. 8 (c) of AP/I.[394]
    7. “Religious personnel” means military or civilian persons exclusively engaged in the work of their ministry and attached: (i) to the armed forces of a Belligerent Party; (ii) to medical units or medical transports of a Belligerent Party; (iii) to civil defence organizations of a Belligerent Party; or (iv) to medical units or medical transports made available to a Belligerent Party for humanitarian purpose by a Neutral — or a recognized and authorized aid society of a Neutral — or by an impartial humanitarian organization. The specific attachment of religious personnel to one of the four categories listed above presumes the agreement of the Belligerent Party. The term “religious personnel” has been defined in Art. 8 (d) of AP/I.[395]
    8. “Medical personnel” and “religious personnel” have to be exclusively assigned to medical or religious duties in order to enjoy respect and protection under Rule 71. Their exclusive assignment to medical or religious duties may be either permanent or temporary. If the assignment is permanent, respect and protection are due at all times; if the assignment is only temporary, respect and protection are only due during the time of that assignment.
    9. Persons performing medical or religious duties without assignment (or agreement) to such functions by a Belligerent Party do not qualify as medical or religious personnel respectively. While they benefit from the general protection granted to civilians (see Rule 11), they are not entitled to display a distinctive emblem (see Rule 72 (a)).
    10. “Medical units” are defined as establishments and other units organized for medical purposes. For the expression “medical purposes”, see paragraph 5 of the Commentary on Rule 71. Medical units enjoy specific protection regardless of whether they are military or civilian, permanent or temporary, fixed or mobile. Examples of medical units are hospitals and other similar units, blood transfusion centres, preventive medicine centres and institutes, in particular vaccination centres, casualty collection points and triage facilities, rehabilitation centres providing medical treatment, medical depots, and the medical and pharmaceutical stores of such units. The expression “medical units” has been defined in Art. 8 (e) of AP/I.[396]
    11. “Medical transports” are defined as any means of transportation — placed under the control of a competent authority of a Belligerent Party — exclusively assigned to medical transportation. They can be military or civilian, permanent or temporary. The expression “medical transports” has been defined in Art. 8 (g) of AP/I.[397]
    12. The obligation “to respect” medical and religious personnel as well as medical units and transports entails not only a prohibition against attacking or harming such persons and objects in any way, but also prohibits unnecessarily preventing them from discharging their functions (e.g., by blocking medical supplies for medical units or transports).
    13. The obligation “to protect” refers to the duty to take appropriate precautions to ensure respect by non-State actors for medical and religious personnel, medical units and transports (e.g., in order to prevent looting by marauders or rioting mobs).
    14. Rule 71 emphasizes that respect and protection is due to medical units, medical transports and medical or religious personnel “at all times”. Nevertheless, protection may be lost in certain circumstances. See Rule 74. As to the loss of protection of medical aircraft, see Rule 83.

  1. Art. 24 of GC/I: “Medical personnel exclusively engaged in the search for, or the collection, transport or treatment of the wounded or sick, or in the prevention of disease, staff exclusively engaged in the administration of medical units and establishments, as well as chaplains attached to the armed forces, shall be respected and protected in all circumstances.”

  2. Art. 25 of GC/I: “Members of the armed forces specially trained for employment, should the need arise, as hospital orderlies, nurses or auxiliary stretcher-bearers, in the search for or the collection, transport or treatment of the wounded and sick shall likewise be respected and protected if they are carrying out these duties at the time when they come into contact with the enemy or fall into his hands.”

  3. Art. 36 of GC/II: “The religious, medical and hospital personnel of hospital ships and their crews shall be respected and protected; they may not be captured during the time they are in the service of the hospital ship, whether or not there are wounded and sick on board.”

  4. First paragraph of Art. 20 of C/IV: “Persons regularly and solely engaged in the operation and administration of civilian hospitals, including the personnel engaged in the search for, removal and transporting of and caring for wounded and sick civilians, the infirm and maternity cases shall be respected and protected.”

  5. Art. 15 of AP/I (“Protection of civilian medical and religious personnel”): “(1) Civilian medical personnel shall be respected and protected. (2) If needed, all available help shall be afforded to civilian medical personnel in an area where civilian medical services are disrupted by reason of combat activity. (3) The Occupying Power shall afford civilian medical personnel in occupied territories every assistance to enable them to perform, to the best of their ability, their humanitarian functions. The Occupying Power may not require that, in the performance of those functions, such personnel shall give priority to the treatment of any person except on medical grounds. They shall not be compelled to carry out tasks which are not compatible with their humanitarian mission. (4) Civilian medical personnel shall have access to any place where their services are essential, subject to such supervisory and safety measures as the relevant Party to the conflict may deem necessary. (5) Civilian religious personnel shall be respected and protected. The provisions of the Conventions and of this Protocol concerning the protection and identification of medical personnel shall apply equally to such persons.”

  6. First sentence of Art. 19 of GC/I: “Fixed establishments and mobile medical units of the Medical Service may in no circumstances be attacked, but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.”

  7. First sentence of Art. 35 of GC/I: “Transports of wounded and sick or of medical equipment shall be respected and protected in the same way as mobile medical units.”

  8. First sentence of Art. 18 of GC/IV: “Civilian hospitals organized to give care to the wounded and sick, the infirm and maternity cases, may in no circumstances be the object of attack but shall at all times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.”

  9. First sentence of Art. 21 of GC/IV: “Convoys of vehicles or hospital trains on land or specially provided vessels on sea, conveying wounded and sick civilians, the infirm and maternity cases, shall be respected and protected in the same manner as the hospitals provided for in Art. 18.”

  10. Art. 12 (1) of AP/I: “Medical units shall be respected and protected at all times and shall not be the object of attack.”

  11. Art. 21 of AP/I: “Medical vehicles shall be respected and protected in the same way as mobile medical units under the Convention and this Protocol.” See also Art. 22 of AP/I pertaining to “Hospital ships and coastal rescue craft.”

  12. Art. 24 of AP/I, see fn. 433.

  13. Art. 8 (2) (b) (ix) of the Rome Statute of the ICC: “Intentionally directing attacks against … hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives.”
    Art. 8 (2) (b) (xxiv): “Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transports, and personnel using the distinctive emblem of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law.”

  14. Art. 8 (2) (e) (ii): “Intentionally directing attacks against buildings, material, medical units and transports, and personnel using the distinctive emblem of the Geneva Conventions in conformity with international law.”
    Art. 8 (2) (e) (iv): “Intentionally directing attacks against … hospitals and places where the sick and wounded are collected, provided they are not military objectives.”

  15. Art. 8 (c) of AP/I: “‘Medical personnel’ means those persons assigned, by a Party to the conflict, exclusively to the medical purposes enumerated under (e) or to the administration of medical units or to the operation or administration of medical transports. Such assignments may be either permanent or temporary. The term includes (i) medical personnel of a Party to the conflict, whether military or civilian, including those described in the First and Second Conventions, and those assigned to civil defence organizations; (ii) medical personnel of national Red Cross (Red Crescent, Red Lion and Sun) Societies and other national voluntary aid societies duly recognized and authorized by a Party to the conflict; (iii) medical personnel or medical units or medical transports described in Article 9, paragraph 2.”

  16. Art. 8 (d) of AP/I: “‘Religious personnel’ means military or civilian persons, such as chaplains, who are exclusively engaged in the work of their ministry and attached: (i) to the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; (ii) to medical units or medical transports of a Party to the conflict; (iii) to medical units or medical transports described in Article 9, paragraph 2; or (iv) to civil defence organizations of a Party to the conflict. The attachment of religious personnel may be either permanent or temporary, and the relevant provisions mentioned under k) apply to them.”

  17. Art. 8 (e) of AP/I: “‘Medical units’ means establishments and other units, whether military or civilian, organized for medical purposes, namely the search for, collection, transportation, diagnosis or treatment — including first-aid treatment — of the wounded, sick and shipwrecked, or for the prevention of disease. The term includes for example, hospitals and other similar units, blood transfusion centres, preventive medicine centres and institutes, medical depots and the medical and pharmaceutical stores of such units. Medical units may be fixed or mobile, permanent or temporary.”

  18. Art. 8 (g) of AP/I, see fn. 73.

Categories: Section K: Specific Protection of Medical and Religious Personnel...