Prisoners of War Under the 1977 Protocol I

ARTICLE 1(4) of the Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and Relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflict (Protocol 1), bringing national liberation movements within the ambit of the Protocol and thus making the conflicts in which they engage international in scope, was probably the most controversial provision adopted by the Diplomatic Conference which met in Geneva from 1974 to 1977. However, Article 44, which implements Article 1(4), has been the object of almost equal controversy. The purpose of this paper is to determine whether the objections to that article were and are justified