Throughout history, prisoners of war have been mistreated. In the early history of warfare, there was recognition of a prisoner of war status. The defeated enemy was either killed or enslaved by the victor (Encyclopedia Britannica). During the time of the Aztecs, a prisoner’s negotiation option was to have their heart cut out (Smallwood). Until 1929, no one cared about the treatment of Prisoners of war because there was no greater power to stop the captors from mistreating them. But when the Geneva Conventions were signed, there was something to stop the detaining power from inhumane treatment. Still, countries mistreated their prisoners of war. In WWII, Japanese POW camps tortured, performed Unit 731 experiments, and executed their prisoners (Historyonthenet.com, Listverse). In the Vietnam War, prisoners were kept in tiger cages, beaten with clubs, and sometimes even hung on metal hooks (Pribbinow, Smallwood). Even though the third and fourth Conventions protect POWs, militias, and citizens, the countries who signed them don’t always obey them. So, where is the line drawn? What are the rights and responsibilities of POWs and the detaining power?
You may have heard of the Geneva Convention in movies or television programs. Usually, the character is referring to the fourth Geneva Convention, written in 1949(Schading, Schading, Slayton 206-14), which is relative to the protection of citizens during a time of conflict. The Geneva Conventions are a series of documents generated by the world’s leading nations that set rules that apply to all conflicts, rules that apply to certain conflicts, and rules that are based on other international treaties (Schading, et.all. 206-14). The third Geneva Convention, which is relative to the treatme...
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POW Escape Thwarted. YouTube. National Geographic, 30 July 2009. Web. 6 Dec. 2013.
Pribbinow, Merle. "Treatment of American POWs in North Vietnam | Wilson Center." Treatment of American POWs in North Vietnam | Wilson Center. Wilson Center, n.d. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
Schading, Barbara, PH.D, Richard Schading, U.S.M.C., and Virginia R. Slayton, U.S. Army, RET. "Chapter 10: The Geneva Convnetion." A Civilian's Guide to the U.S. Military: A Comprehensive Reference to the Customs, Language & Structure of the Armed Forces. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest, 2007. 206-14. Print.
Smallwood, Karl. "10 Terrible Things Done To POWs." Listverse. N.p., 23 Feb. 2013. Web. 7 Dec. 2013.
"World War Two - German Prisoner of War Camps." World War Two. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
"World War Two - Japanese Prisoner of War Camps." World War Two. N.p., n.d. Web. 18 Nov. 2013.
During World War II American soldiers who were caught by the Japanese were sent to camps where they were kept under harsh conditions. These men were called the prisoners of war, also known as the POWs. The Japanese who were captured by the American lived a simple life. They were the Japanese internees of World War II. The POWs had more of a harsh time during World War II than the internees. While the internees did physically stay in the camps longer, the POWs had it worse mentally.
The notorious detention camp, Bergen-Belsen, was constructed in 1940 and “was near Hanover in northwest Germany, located between the villages Bergen and Belsen” (jewishvirtuallibrary.org), hence the name. Originally, the “camp was designed to hold 10,000 prisoners” (jewishvirtuallibrary.org) but, Bergen-Belsen rapidly grew. “In the first eighteen months of existence, there were already five satellite camps.” (holocaustresearchproject.org). Eventually, the “camp had eight sections: detention camp, two camps for women, a special camp, neutrals camp, ‘star camp’, Hungarian Camp, and a tent camp.” (United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, p.165) It also held prisoners who were too ill/weak to work at the “convalescent camp” (Bauer, Yehuda, p.359)
Kelman, Herbert C., Hamilton, V. Lee. “The My Lai Massacre: A Military Crime of Obedience”. Writing & Reading for ACP Composition. Ed. Thomas E. Leahey and Christine R. Farris. New York: Pearson Custom Publishing, 2009. 266-277. Print.
World War I, also known as the Great War, lasted from the summer of 1914 until the late fall of 1918. The war was fought between the Allies, which consisted mainly of the United Kingdom, France, and the Russian Empire, and the Central Powers, which consisted mainly of the German Empire, the Ottoman Empire, the Austro-Hungarian Empire, and the Kingdom of Bulgaria (Alliances - Entente and Central Powers). In total, it is estimated that twelve million civilians and nine million combatants died during this horrific and devastating war (DeGroot 1). When the war first began in 1914, many people thought that it would be a war of movement that would quickly be over. However, that changed when the Germans, who were trying to reach and capture the city of Paris in France, were forced to retreat during the Battle of the Marne in September 1914 (Ellis 10). German General von Falkenhayn, who felt that his troops must at all cost hold onto the parts of France and Belgium that they had overtaken, ordered his men to dig in and form defensive trench lines (Ellis 10). The Allies could not break through the enemies lines and were forced to create trenches of their own (Ellis 10). This was only the beginning of trench warfare. A war of movement had quickly come to a standstill on the Western Front. A massive trench line, 475 miles long, quickly spread and extended from the North Sea to the Swiss Frontier (Ellis 10). With neither side budging, soldiers were forced to live in the most miserable of conditions. Simply put, life in the trenches was a living hell. A lieutenant of the 2nd Scottish rifles wrote, “No one who was not there can fully appreciate the excruciating agonies and misery through which the men had to go [through] in those da...
Weglyn, Michi. Years of Infamy The Untold Story of America’s Concentration Camps. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1976. Print.
In the novel All quiet on the western front by Erich Maria Remarque one of the major themes he illustrates is the effects of war on a soldier 's humanity. Paul the protagonist is a German soldier who is forced into war with his comrades that go through dehumanizing violence. War is a very horrid situation that causes soldiers like Paul to lose their innocence by stripping them from happiness and joy in life. The symbols Remarque uses to enhance this theme is Paul 's books and the potato pancakes to depict the great scar war has seared on him taking all his connections to life. Through these symbols they deepen the theme by visually depicting war’s impact on Paul. Paul’s books represent the shadow war that is casted upon Paul and his loss of innocence. This symbol helps the theme by depicting how the war locked his heart to old values by taking his innocence. The last symbol that helps the theme are the potato pancakes. The potato pancakes symbolize love and sacrifice by Paul’s mother that reveal Paul emotional state damaged by the war with his lack of happiness and gratitude.
Hynes, Samuel Lynn. "What Happened in Nam." The soldiers' tale: bearing witness to modern war. New York, N.Y., U.S.A.: A. Lane, 1997. 177-222. Print.
Muesem of Tolerance.”Directory of Major concentration camps- Simon Weiesenthal center multimedia learning center.” N.p Web.26 Jan.2014.
The internment camps were permanent detention camps that held internees from March, 1942 until their closing in 1945 and 1946. Although the camps held captive people of many different origins, the majority of the prisoners were Japanese-Americans. There were ten different relocation centers located across the United States during the war. These Japanese Americans, half of whom were children, were incarcerated for up to 4 years, without due process of law or any factual basis, in bleak, remote camps surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards.
“Testimonies of Auschwitz SS Men” Florida Center for Instructional Technology. Florida Center for Instructional Technology. 2005. Web. 24 March 2014.
Soon after Germany separated from Austria in March 1938, the Nazi soldiers arrested and imprisoned Jews in concentration camps all over Germany. Only eight months after annexation, the violent anti-jew Kristallnacht , also known as Night of the Broken Glass, pogroms took place. The Nazi soldiers arrested masses of male adult Jews and held them captive in camps for short periods of time. A death camp is a concentration camp designed with the intention of mass murder, using strategies such as gas chambers. Six death concentration camps exis...
Owner, Website. "FEMA Concentration and Internment Camps." FEMA Concentration and Internment Camps. Freedom Files, 5 June 2012. Web. 23 May 2014.
In addition, there is no way to enforce the treaty in states, even if they have ratified it. Which makes it hard to make any progress on reducing the use of torture, fortunately, there may be some headway in the future in the form of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture. The Optional protocol would allow monitored visits to states to ensure that no cases of torture were occurring. The purpose of this paper is to research the Convention Against Torture and how why states decide to accept the convention. We will also look at the enforceability of the Convention Against Torture and what the future for it may possibly
Belief perseverance is defined by Meyers as "Persistence of one's initial conceptions, as when the basis for one's belief is discredited but an explanation of why the belief might be true survives." This phenomenon is readily observable and at many times throughout the film Prisoners of Silence. It can be observed in the man who discovered facilitated language, parents of autistic children, teachers, facilitators and even in the view of the film.
Around the world and around the clock, human rights violations seem to never cease. In particular, torture violations are still rampant all over the world. One regime, the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, establishes a strong elaboration of norms against torture. Despite its efforts, many countries still outright reject its policies against torture while other countries openly accept them, but surreptitiously still violate them. The US, Israel, and Saudi Arabia all have failed to end torture despite accepting the provisions of the Convention.