Challenges of the Concept of Prisoner of War

(Emphasizing the Study of the US Approach to Unlawful Combatants)

Abstract

One of the most important pillars of international humanitarian law has been the separation of combatants from civilians. The obvious characteristic of the warrior is that they have the right to participate in conflicts. Combatants are not prosecuted and punished for taking legal actions in war and should be released after the end of hostilities. Identifying the status of a prisoner of war is a necessary prelude for the combatant to benefit from these rights. The United States refused to recognize the status of prisoners of war for the prisoners of war in order to exclude the fighters affiliated with the Taliban and Al-Qaeda in the war in Afghanistan and named them as illegal combatants in order to keep them in detention for an indefinite period. The purpose of this research was to investigate the international responsibility of the US government in establishing this law and the necessity of abolishing this regulation. The basic question of this research was: To what extent does the new approach of America, especially the 2006 law, comply with humanitarian law regulations? The research method of this research is analytical-descriptive and the method of collecting information is library. By examining the rules of international law, including international jurisprudence, we have reached these findings that: in addition to contradicting the provisions of the Third Geneva Convention, the said law will create a dangerous practice in international relations and is a setback in observing the established rules of humanitarian law in the field of combatants' rights. which has been developing and progressing in the last few decades.