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Article 91 - Successful Escape

from II - Disciplinary Sanctions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 August 2021

Compiled by
International Committee of the Red Cross
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Summary

Escape gives rise to a dilemma between two contrasting ideas. Thefirst is that attempts to escape may be viewed as a demonstration ofpatriotism and of the most honourable intentions, and not as acrime. According to this precept, prisoners of war have a right, amoral duty, and sometimes, under the law of the Power on which theydepend, even a legal obligation to escape. The second idea is thatan attempt to escape is a punishable breach of discipline vis-à-visthe Detaining Power, which it is under a strong obligation toprevent. These contrasting ideas have been described as the ‘paradoxof escape’, which is at the core of the legal framework onprisoner-of-war escapes.

Type
Chapter
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Commentary on the Third Geneva Convention
Convention (III) relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War
 , pp. 1375 - 1385
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2021

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References

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Bretonnière, Maurice, ‘L’application de la Convention de Genève aux prisonniers français en Allemagne durant la seconde guerre mondiale’ (typewritten thesis), Paris, 1949.Google Scholar
Frey, Hans Karl, ‘Die disziplinarische und gerichtliche Bestrafung von Kriegsgefangenen’ (thesis), Springer, Vienna, 1948.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krähenmann, Sandra, ‘Protection of Prisoners in Armed Conflict’, in Fleck, Dieter (ed.), The Handbook of International Humanitarian Law, 3rd edition, Oxford University Press, 2013, pp. 359–411.Google Scholar
Maia, Catherine, Kolb, Robert and Scalia, Damien, La Protection des Prisonniers de Guerre en Droit International Humanitaire, Bruylant, Brussels, 2015.Google Scholar
Martin, Paul E., ‘Note sur les prisonniers de guerre évadés sur le territoire d’une Puissance neutre’, Revue international de la Croix-Rouge, Vol. 26, No. 301, January 1944, pp. 62–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scheidl, Franz, Die Kriegsgefangenschaft von den ältesten Zeiten bis zur Gegenwart, Ebering, Berlin, 1943.Google Scholar

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