0031-0330 irl.qxd
2.3.2009
14:19
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WOUNDED AND SICK
they shall organize at the commencement of hostilities an Official
Graves Registration Service, to allow subsequent exhumations and
to ensure the identification of bodies, whatever the site of the graves,
and the possible transportation to the home country. These
provisions shall likewise apply to the ashes, which shall be kept by
the Graves Registration Service until proper disposal thereof in
accordance with the wishes of the home country.
As soon as circumstances permit, and at latest at the end of
hostilities, these Services shall exchange, through the Information
Bureau mentioned in the second paragraph of Article 16, lists
showing the exact location and markings of the graves together with
particulars of the dead interred therein.
ART. 18. — The military authorities may appeal to the charity of the
inhabitants voluntarily to collect and care for, under their direction, the
wounded and sick, granting persons who have responded to this
appeal the necessary protection and facilities. Should the adverse Party
take or retake control of the area, it shall likewise grant these persons
the same protection and the same facilities.
The military authorities shall permit the inhabitants and relief
societies, even in invaded or occupied areas, spontaneously to
collect and care for wounded or sick of whatever nationality. The
civilian population shall respect these wounded and sick, and in
particular abstain from offering them violence.
No one may ever be molested or convicted for having nursed the
wounded or sick.
The provisions of the present Article do not relieve the occupying
Power of its obligation to give both physical and moral care to the
wounded and sick.
Role of the
population
CHAPTER III
Medical Units and Establishments
ART. 19. — Fixed establishments and mobile medical units of the
Medical Service may in no circumstances be attacked, but shall at all
times be respected and protected by the Parties to the conflict.
Should they fall into the hands of the adverse Party, their personnel
shall be free to pursue their duties, as long as the capturing Power
has not itself ensured the necessary care of the wounded and sick
found in such establishments and units.
Protection