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Article 123 - Central Tracing Agency

from Part V - Information Bureaux and Relief Societies for Prisoners of War

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2021

Compiled by
International Committee of the Red Cross
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Summary

The ICRC’s original remit was to alleviate the suffering of members of thearmed forces during armed conflict. It soon became clear, however, that therewas also a need to respond to the distress of families caused by not knowingwhat had happened to their relatives. Recognition of this need prompted theICRC, as early as 1870, to establish an agency for this purpose, initially on anad hoc basis. The structure took on greater permanence during and after theFirst World War, a fact acknowledged in the 1929 Geneva Convention on Prisonersof War. In 1949, the Diplomatic Conference reaffirmed the importance of theAgency’s work, incorporating in the present provision of the Third Convention anobligation for High Contracting Parties to establish such a body for prisonersof war. The same obligation with respect to civilian internees and otherprotected civilians was included in the Fourth Convention.

Type
Chapter
Information
Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention
Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
 , pp. 1744 - 1765
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

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Aeschlimann, Alain, ‘Protection of detainees: ICRC action behind bars’, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 87, No. 857, March 2005, pp. 83–122.Google Scholar
Bugnion, François, The International Committee of the Red Cross and the Protection of War Victims, ICRC/Macmillan, Oxford, 2003, pp. 84–89 and 555–579.Google Scholar
Đjurović, Gradimir, The Central Tracing Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross, Henry Dunant Institute, Geneva, 1986.Google Scholar
ICRC, Report of the International Committee of the Red Cross on its Activities during the Second World War, Volume II: The Central Agency for Prisoners of War, ICRC, Geneva, May 1948.Google Scholar
Katz, Monique, ‘The Central Tracing Agency of the ICRC’, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 17, No. 199, October 1977, pp. 407–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Petrig, Anna, ‘Search for Missing Persons’, in Clapham, Andrew, Gaeta, Paola and Sassòli, Marco (eds), The 1949 Geneva Conventions: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 257–276.Google Scholar
Sassòli, Marco, ‘The National Information Bureau in Aid of the Victims of Armed Conflicts’, International Review of the Red Cross, Vol. 27, No. 256, February 1987, pp. 6–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sassòli, Marco, International Humanitarian Law: Rules, Controversies, and Solutions to Problems Arising in Warfare, Edward Elgar Publishing, Cheltenham, 2019.Google Scholar
Spieker, Heike, ‘Maintenance and Re-establishment of Family Links and Transmission of Information’, in Clapham, Andrew, Gaeta, Paola and Sassòli, Marco (eds), The 1949 Geneva Conventions: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 1089–1121.Google Scholar
Weill, Sharon, ‘Relations with the Outside World’, in Clapham, Andrew, Gaeta, Paola and Sassòli, Marco (eds), The 1949 Geneva Conventions: A Commentary, Oxford University Press, 2015, pp. 1013–1024.Google Scholar

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