War Prisoners
"If
the man were whole, I could turn him over to the police without difficulty. I
care nothing for him. He is my enemy. All Americans are my enemy. And he is
only a common fellow. You see how foolish his face is. But since he is wounded
" These lines by Sadao, a Japanese doctor in Pearl S. Buck's short story
The Enemy, describe how citizens of warring nations tend to forget their duties
as human beings toward prisoners of war in favor of pursuing national goals.
Who Is a Prisoner of War?
A
prisoner of war is any individual captured by the enemy during a conflict (Pow).
The defeated enemy's soldiers were imprisoned, subjected to torture and
cruelty, and then executed. Historically, there was no distinction between
prisoners of war, and everyone who was captured was treated equally. The
captive, regardless of whether he or she was a combatant or a citizen of the
enemy nation, was subjected to the same treatment; he or she was tortured and
then executed.
How Are Prisoners of War Treated?
As warfare evolved, so did the treatment of captured troops and civilians of the defeated foe. In addition to being viewed as a burden on the state, the treatment of prisoners of war was also questioned. A prisoner of war was taken captive not as a possession but to prevent him from causing further harm. Several authors, including Jean-Jacques Rousseau, wrote about the same topic, and the treatment of prisoners gradually improved over time.
History of Prisoners of War:
As long as there has been combating, there have been prisoners of war. In ancient times, the captured warriors were made into slaves and treated as the captor's personal property. When the idea of a ransom was invented throughout the Middle Ages, it grew advantageous for warriors to kidnap rich soldiers. Prisoners were not retained unless doing so was advantageous to the captor because keeping them required expenses for their upkeep. To lessen the number of the adversary, soldiers of low position and money were slaughtered.
Modern thinking on the status of prisoners of war started to emerge in the 17th and 18th centuries as the war started to be seen as only a state-to-state conflict. Individual soldiers were only hostile so long as they were armed, and the only authority that captors had over prisoners was to prevent them from going back to the front lines of combat. Those who were formally designated as prisoners of war were treated with greater humanity as a result of this way of thinking.
Conditions During World Wars:
In
the late 19th century, wars broke out in many parts of the world, increasing
the number of prisoners of war, which reached millions during World War I.
Numerous nations and organizations held conferences and formulated conventions
to investigate the treatment of war prisoners. Nonetheless, numerous nations
refused to ratify these conventions.
During
World War II, millions of individuals were held as prisoners of war. Numerous
nations dealt with them following already approved conventions, although the
conduct of a few nations was utterly barbarous. The Germans captured 5,700,000
Red Army soldiers, but only about 2,000,000 of them survived the war. During
the 1941 German invasion, more than 2,000,000 of the 3,800,000 Soviet troops
were captured and starved to death.
The Soviets assigned hundreds of thousands of German war prisoners to labor camps, where the vast majority perished. The Japanese brutally and oppressively treated their British, American, and Australian prisoners of war, and only about sixty percent of them survived the war. After the war, the perpetrators of war crimes were brought to justice and punished accordingly.
The Geneva Convention:
The
Geneva Conventions, which were drafted in 1849 and revised in 1949, were
adopted to provide minimum protections, ensure humane treatment standards, and
provide fundamental guarantees of respect to individuals who had become victims
of armed conflicts. The Geneva Conventions are a collection of treaties
governing the treatment of civilians, prisoners of war, and disabled soldiers.
The conventions stipulate those prisoners of war must be treated humanely and prohibit torture, mutilation, humiliation, and degrading behavior. These conventions' provisions apply to all member states.
Conclusion:
The rights of war prisoners have always been a topic of debate. Some countries treat their prisoners of war with dignity and humanity, while others are cruel. Prisoners of war around the world must be treated with respect and decency, as they are also human beings who deserve humane treatment.
Written by: Chitraksh Mayank
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