The Geneva Conventions and their Additional Protocols form the core of international humanitarian law, which regulates the conduct of armed conflict and seeks to limit its effects. They protect people not taking part in hostilities and those who are no longer doing so. They were first detailed in the 1929 Geneva Convention and later amended in the third 1949 Geneva Convention following the lessons of World War II. 

               There are four Geneva Conventions. The third Geneva Convention defines and details who can be be considered a POW and how he/she must be treated. Their detention is not a form of punishment, , but only aims to prevent further participation in the conflict.

               Convention I requires that all wounded and infirm soldiers as well as medical personnel and chaplains in the field are treated humanely without discrimination on the basis of race, colour, gender, religion or faith, and the like. It prohibits acts such as torture, mutilation, outrages upon personal dignity, and execution without judgment. It also grants them the right to proper medical treatment and care.

        The Second Convention extends the protections described above to shipwrecked soldiers and other naval forces, including special protections afforded to hospital ships.

        Geneva Convention III is relative to the treatment of Prisoners of War (PoWs) while the last Convention focuses on the protection of civilians in times of war.The status of POW only applies in international armed conflicts.

1.  According to Article 13 in the Third Geneva Convention, PoWs must be “humanely treated” at all times. “Any unlawful act or omission by the Detaining Power causing death or seriously endangering the health of a prisoner of war in its custody is prohibited, and will be regarded as a serious breach of the present Convention,”.
2.  PoW have to be protected against insults and public curiosity as well as acts of violence or intimidation.
3. The Geneva Conventions also strictly bar airing pictures of captured prisoners on television.
4. Apart from mandating adequate medical attention for PoWs and allowing them correspondence with their families, the Conventions also list out conditions for their internment – like hygienic surroundings where they are not exposed to the fire of the combat zone.
5. “Prisoners’ representatives shall be permitted to visit premises where prisoners of war are detained, and every prisoner of war shall have the right to consult freely his prisoners’ representative.
6. As per Article 118 of Convention III, PoWs “shall be released and repatriated without delay after the cessation of active hostilities”.
7. Furthermore, even if the countries at conflict are not able to reach an agreement toward cessation of hostilities, “each of the Detaining Powers shall itself establish and execute without delay a plan of repatriation in conformity with the principle laid down.