0031-0330 irl.qxd 44 2.3.2009 14:19 Page 44 FIRST GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949 The responsible authorities shall ensure that the said medical establishments and units are, as far as possible, situated in such a manner that attacks against military objectives cannot imperil their safety. Protection of hospital ships ART. 20. — Hospital ships entitled to the protection of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of Wounded, Sick and Shipwrecked Members of Armed Forces at Sea of August 12, 1949, shall not be attacked from the land. Discontinuance of protection of medical establishments and units ART. 21. — The protection to which fixed establishments and mobile medical units of the Medical Service are entitled shall not cease unless they are used to commit, outside their humanitarian duties, acts harmful to the enemy. Protection may, however, cease only after a due warning has been given, naming, in all appropriate cases, a reasonable time limit and after such warning has remained unheeded. Conditions not depriving medical units and establishments of protection ART. 22. — The following conditions shall not be considered as depriving a medical unit or establishment of the protection guaranteed by Article 19: 1. That the personnel of the unit or establishment are armed, and that they use the arms in their own defence, or in that of the wounded and sick in their charge. 2. That in the absence of armed orderlies, the unit or establishment is protected by a picket or by sentries or by an escort. 3. That small arms and ammunition taken from the wounded and sick and not yet handed to the proper service, are found in the unit or establishment. 4. That personnel and material of the veterinary service are found in the unit or establishment, without forming an integral part thereof. 5. That the humanitarian activities of medical units and establishments or of their personnel extend to the care of civilian wounded or sick. Hospital zones and localities ART. 23. — In time of peace, the High Contracting Parties and, after the outbreak of hostilities, the Parties to the conflict, may establish in their own territory and, if the need arises, in occupied areas, hospital zones and localities so organized as to protect the wounded and sick from the effects of war, as well as the personnel entrusted with the organization and administration of these zones and localities and with the care of the persons therein assembled.