Geneva Conventions 1949 and Additional Protocols — Common Article 3 / AP II (Non-International Armed Conflict)

Summary

Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions applies to non-international armed conflicts and prohibits violence to life, torture, cruel treatment, and humiliating treatment of persons not taking part in hostilities. Additional Protocol II (1977) extends protections including prohibitions on attacks against civilians, starvation as a weapon, and forced movement of civilians. Sri Lanka ratified AP II in 2006.

Relevance to the diaspora

The Sri Lanka civil war (1983–2009) was a non-international armed conflict governed by Common Article 3 and AP II; Tamil diaspora accountability documentation includes systematic violations of these norms by both sides; evidence of CA3/AP II violations is admissible in universal jurisdiction and ICC (complementarity) proceedings.

Key provisions

• Common Article 3 — minimum protections in NIAC
• AP II Art. 13 — protection of civilian population from attack
• AP II Art. 14 — prohibition of starvation
• AP II Art. 17 — prohibition of forced movement of civilians
• AP II Art. 4(3)(c) — prohibition of child soldier recruitment under 15

Primary source

Related entries

• → Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court 1998 (ICC)
• → Report of the UN Secretary-General's Panel of Experts on Accountability in Sri Lanka 2011 (UN)
• → Universal Jurisdiction — UK Criminal Justice Act 1988 s.134 (Torture), International Criminal Court Act 2001 (UK)