Transcript of interview with Amnesty International about the Geneva Conventions

April 1, 1999
Web posted at: 1:28 p.m. EST (1828 GMT)

RULITSA VASSILEVA: As we have been reporting, three U.S. soldiers have been captured by Yugoslav forces. The circumstances of their capture is still unclear. NATO says they were on a routine patrol in Macedonia, about five kilometers from the border with Yugoslavia. Yugoslavia says they were captured in their own territory.

NATO is insisting that the three captured soldiers be treated in accordance with the Geneva Convention.

To tell us more about what the Geneva Convention actually requires, we're joined now by Claudio Cordone, who is with the human rights group, Amnesty International.

Mr. Cordone, thank you very much for joining us.

CLAUDIO CORDONE, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL: You're welcome.

VASSILEVA: What exactly does this mean for these people to be treated under the stipulations of the Geneva Convention?

CORDONE: Yes, there are four Geneva Conventions from '49. The third deals specifically with prisoners of war. And it's very extensive, it's very detailed and it applies in full to this conflict.

Some of the key provisions in this case are that prisoners of war should be treated humanely. That is, they shouldn't be torturedly (ph) treated. They shouldn't be exposed to public curiosity or in any other way have their dignity degraded.

The only information that they are required to give is their names, rank, unit that they belong to, and serial number and nothing else. They should also not be held -- Sorry.

VASSILEVA: Go ahead.

CORDONE: They should also not be held in areas where fighting is still ongoing, therefore, their safety is at risk. And that's important, that should -- the Yugoslav Authority in this case -- should notify the International Committee of the Red Cross of this capture and give access to the committee to the soldiers.

VASSILEVA: What about the notification of the government? We were just talking to our correspondent in the Pentagon and he said that the Pentagon is awaiting official notification.

CORDONE: It's -- this whole issue of, is it war, is it a conflict, is a bit strange in a sense. From a strictly legal point of view, there is a conflict between NATO and Yugoslavia.

And you cannot bomb a country and say you're not at war and you cannot capture soldiers of a party with whom you're at war and say humanitarian law does not apply.

The objective criteria in this case is that the third Geneva Convention applies in full and these people should be recognized and treated as prisoners of war.

VASSILEVA: Even though the U.S. says that they were on a peace keeping mission?

CORDONE: Yes, well there is a -- the Geneva Convention was done in '49 and all it says about prisoners of war, these are members of a party to a conflict.

And in this situation, it's fairly confused when they say -- because you have NATO that is both engaged in hostilities with Yugoslav -- with Yugoslavia at one level.

On the other hand, there are NATO troops that are part of a U.N. peace keeping mission. That hasn't fully been sorted out, but the important thing is that, when it comes to hostilities and when it comes to captured soldiers, then they should be treated according to the detailed provisions of the Geneva Conventions and that's what should happen this case.

VASSILEVA: We were talking to a Serb official earlier in our newscast, a Serb official in London, who said that they would provide access to the Red Cross and they would ask the Red Cross to determine if these people were prisoners of war. What do you make of that?

CORDONE: Well, that's a positive step. The International Committee of the Red Cross is the central organization with anything that has to do with the laws of war and that's a positive development, indeed it will take place.

VASSILEVA: What about the sanctions if a signatory to the Geneva Conventions does not live up to its commitments under that convention? What sanctions does it face?

CORDONE: There are a number of provisions that punish great breaches of the convention that include, for example, forms of torture and so on which makes anybody that has been involved in those acts liable to be tried, in fact, in any country in the world. So they are quite strong in that sense.

With Yugoslavia we also have the fact that we have an international tribunal who is also looking into breaches of the laws of war in addition to violations of human rights. So in terms of the judicial possibility of bringing to justice anybody who is involved in violations, the systems are there.

VASSILEVA: What about keeping these soldiers? What are the stipulations as to how they should be kept, whether they should be handed over, under what conditions?

CORDONE: Yes, prisoner of war can be held until the end of the hostilities. They should not be put on trial for having been engaged in hostilities. Therefore, they should just be held, treated humanely, treated and placed in situations where they wouldn't be at risk and so on.

When the hostility is finished, then they should be released immediately, but they may be kept throughout the period of hostilities as prisoners.

VASSILEVA: Mr. Cordone, thank you very much.