ONE ASPECT OF PROTECTION: UPHOLDING LEGAL SAFEGUARDS

Figure (Katz Pictures/Jeremy Nicholl)

The ICRC does not voice any opinion as to the justification or otherwise of arrests made during a situation of conflict or violence. It does, however, intervene to ensure that certain universally recognized principles enshrined primarily in the Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols are respected By all belligerents or other parties involved: no person may be deprived of his or her freedom except on on grounds and in accordance with procedures provided for by law or established local custom. The ICRC has therefore acted in conflict situations to see that the legal safeguards laid down in international humanitarian law are applied. It has for instance requested that prisoners of war accused of criminal offences be informed of the charges and evidence against them, in accordance with Articles 99 ff. of the Third Geneva Convention, and that the right of prisoners not to testify against themselves be respected. One State holding prisoners of war under investigation for the murder of another prisoner was reminded by the ICRC of the ban on extorting confessions, the right of the accused prisoners to be defended by a lawyer qualified to prepare their defence, their right to the services of an interpreter, etc.

In the past few years the ICRC has extended its interventions in this domain to internal armed conflicts and other situations of violence, drawing on the rules and principles of international humanitarian law or other relevant provisions of international law. In Ethiopia, for instance, it gave the authorities a report summarizing procedures to be followed in the pre-trial phase (enquiries in cases pending, and preparations for the trial itself) for several categories of prisoners. Since the end of 1995 its delegates have been present, with special observer status, at the trials of former dignitaries of the Mengistu regime. In the early 1990s, the ICRC drew the attention of the authorities in Malawi to the slowness of the judicial process, citing it as the main reason for the overcrowding in prisons there. In 1994 the Malawian authorities themselves appealed for compliance with the deadlines set for preventive detention, in view of the excessive time the police were taking to deal with cases. In several countries the ICRC, with the consent of the prisoners concerned, has given the authorities lists of those who have long been awaiting trial.

PENAL PROSECUTIONS
Article 6 of Protocol II additional to the Geneva Conventions
1. This Article applies to the prosecution and punishment of criminal offences related to the armed conflict.
2. No sentence shall be passed and no penalty shall be executed on a person found guilty of an offence except pursuant to a conviction pronounced by a court offering the essential guarantees of independence and impartiality. In particular:
	a) the procedure shall provide for an accused to be informed without delay of the particulars of the offence alleged against him and shall afford the accused before and during his trial alt necessary rights and means of defence;
	b) no one shall be convicted of an offence except on the basis of individual penal responsibility;
	c) no one shall be held guilty of any criminal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a criminal offence, under the law, at the time when it was committed; nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than that which was applicable at the time when the criminal offence was committed; if, after the commission of the offence, provision is made by law for the imposition of a lighter penalty, the offender shall benefit thereby;
	d) anyone charged with an offence is presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law;
	e) anyone charged with an offence shall have the right to be tried in his presence;
	f) no one shall be compelled to testify against himself or to confess guilt.
3. A convicted person shall be advised on conviction of his judicial and other remedies and of the time-limits within which they may be exercised;
4. The death penalty shall not be pronounced on persons who were under the age of eighteen years at the time of the offence and shall not be carried out on pregnant women or mothers of young children.
5. At the end of hostilities, the authorities in power shall endeavour to grant the broadest possible amnesty to persons who have participated in the armed conflict, or those deprived of their liberty for reasons related to the armed conflict, whether they are interned or detained.