Article 131 clarifies the relationship between individual criminalresponsibility for grave breaches of the Conventions and Stateresponsibility for acts committed by the armed forces or persons actingunder the authority or command of a State in respect of grave breaches. Thisarticle is common to the four Conventions.

Both of the 1929 Geneva Conventions contained similar provisions, but theyreferred only to ‘a state of war’. The draft conventions adopted by the 17thInternational Conference of the Red Cross in Stockholm in 1948 expanded onthe idea by referring to the situations defined in draft common article 2,which had not yet been divided into the current common Articles 2 and 3.

Section I of Part IV of the Third Convention deals with the directrepatriation and accommodation in neutral countries primarily of wounded andsick prisoners of war. Articles 109 and 110 are not applicable exclusivelyto prisoners of war who are wounded or sick at the time they fall into thepower of the enemy. However, disabilities and injuries that qualifyprisoners of war for direct repatriation or for accommodation in a neutralcountry are generally of a kind sustained during hostilities, such as theloss of a limb or wounds from projectiles or metallic splinters entering thebody.

Experiences during the Second World War, as well as in more recentconflicts, have shown that prisoners of war who are recapturedfollowing an escape or attempted escape are often in a particularlyvulnerable position.

Article 21 deals with two distinct issues: the entitlement of theDetaining Power to intern prisoners of war and the release of prisonersof war on parole or promise.

Article 107 requires that the Detaining Power submit to theProtecting Power two types of communication concerning any judgmentsand sentences pronounced on an accused prisoner of war. The firsttype is a summary communication to be despatched immediatelyfollowing any judgment or sentence passed, even if it is not final.This communication must include a summary of the judgment andsentence and should indicate whether the prisoner has the right ofappeal, as provided for in Article 106. The same communication mustalso be sent to the prisoners’ representative and the accusedprisoner of war, if the latter was not present at the moment ofsentencing. The second type is a more detailed communication thatmust be made in the event of a final conviction or if the deathpenalty has been pronounced, irrespective of the instance thatpronounced it. The detailed communication must include the precisewording of the finding and sentence, a summarized report of anypreliminary investigation and of the trial, and notification of theestablishment where the sentence will be served.

Article 99 forms part of the chapter on penal and disciplinarysanctions and is the first article in the section on judicialproceedings, setting out ‘general principles’ for judicialproceedings against prisoners of war. These general principlesoblige Detaining Powers to observe certain fundamental guaranteeswhen exercising their judicial authority over prisoners of war.

The obligation to provide for the maintenance of prisoners of war rests, as amatter of law, exclusively with the Detaining Power. Without prejudice to thecontinued applicability of that obligation, private relief societies may wish tooffer prisoners of war additional relief supplies to further enhance theirwell-being. Article 125 regulates the conditions under which such societies mayoperate in this regard, as well as the extent to which the Detaining Power needsto allow them to carry out their humanitarian activities.