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FOURTH GENEVA CONVENTION OF 1949
In view of the dangers to which hospitals may be exposed by
being close to military objectives, it is recommended that such
hospitals be situated as far as possible from such objectives.
IV.
Discontinuance of
protection
of hospitals
ART. 19. — The protection to which civilian hospitals 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 due warning has been given, naming, in all
appropriate cases, a reasonable time limit, and after such warning
has remained unheeded.
The fact that sick or wounded members of the armed forces are
nursed in these hospitals, or the presence of small arms and
ammunition taken from such combatants and not yet handed to the
proper service, shall not be considered to be acts harmful to the
enemy.
V.
Hospital staff
ART. 20. — Persons regularly and solely engaged in the operation
and administration of civilian hospitals, including the personnel
engaged in the search for, removal and transporting of and caring
for wounded and sick civilians, the infirm and maternity cases, shall
be respected and protected.
In occupied territory and in zones of military operations, the
above personnel shall be recognizable by means of an identity card
certifying their status, bearing the photograph of the holder and
embossed with the stamp of the responsible authority, and also by
means of a stamped, water-resistant armlet which they shall wear on
the left arm while carrying out their duties. This armlet shall be
issued by the State and shall bear the emblem provided for in
Article 38 of the Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the
Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field of
August 12, 1949.
Other personnel who are engaged in the operation and
administration of civilian hospitals shall be entitled to respect and
protection and to wear the armlet, as provided in and under the
conditions prescribed in this Article, while they are employed on
such duties. The identity card shall state the duties on which they are
employed.
The management of each hospital shall at all times hold at the
disposal of the competent national or occupying authorities an upto-date list of such personnel.
VI.
Land and sea
transport
ART. 21. — Convoys of vehicles or hospital trains on land or
specially provided vessels on sea, conveying wounded and sick
civilians, the infirm and maternity cases, shall be respected and