CONVENTION (III) FOR THE ADAPTATION TO MARITIME WARFARE
OF THE PRINCIPLES OF THE GENEVA CONVENTION
OF 22 AUGUST 1864
Signed at The Hague, 29 July 1899.
ENTRY INTO FORCE: 4 September 1900. No longer in force.
Alike animated by the desire to diminish, as far as depends on them the
evils inseparable from warfare, and wishing with this object to adapt to
maritime warfare the principles of the Geneva Convention of 22 August 1864,
have decided to conclude a convention to this effect:
They have, in consequence, appointed as their Plenipotentiaries, to wit:
(Here follow the names of Plenipotentiaries)
Who, after communication of their full powers, found in good and due form,
have agreed on the following provisions:
Article 1. Military hospital ships, that is to say, ships constructed or
assigned by States specially and solely for the purpose of assisting the
wounded, sick or shipwrecked, and the names of which shall have been
communicated to the belligerent Powers at the beginning or during the
course of hostilities, and in any case before they are employed, shall be
respected and cannot be captured while hostilities last.
These ships, moreover, are not on the same footing as men-of-war as regards
their stay in a neutral port.
Art. 2. Hospital ships, equipped wholly or in part at the cost of private
individuals or officially recognized relief societies, shall likewise be
respected and exempt from capture, provided the belligerent Power to whom
they belong has given them an official commission and has notified their
names to the hostile Power at the commencement of or during hostilities,
and in any case before they are employed.
These ships should be furnished with a certificate from the competent
authorities, declaring that they have been under their control while
fitting out and on final departure.
Art. 3. Hospital ships, equipped wholly or in part at the cost of private
individuals or officially recognized societies of neutral countries, shall
be respected and exempt from capture, if the neutral Power to whom they
belong has given them an official commission and notified their names to
the belligerent Powers at the commencement of or during hostilities, and in
any case before they are employed.
Art. 4. The ships mentioned in Articles 1, 2 and 3 shall afford relief and
assistance to the wounded, sick, and shipwrecked of the belligerents
independently of their nationality.
The Governments engage not to use these ships for any military purpose.
These ships must not in any way hamper the movements of the combatants.
During and after an engagement they will act at their own risk and peril.
The belligerents will have the right to control and visit them; they can
refuse to help them, order them off, make them take a certain course, and
put a commissioner on board; they can even detain them, if important
circumstances require it.
As far as possible the belligerents shall inscribe in the sailing papers of
the hospital ships the orders they give them.
Art. 5. The military hospital ships shall be distinguished by being painted
white outside with a horizontal band of green about a metre and a half in
breadth.
The ships mentioned in Articles 2 and 3 shall be distinguished by being
painted white outside with a horizontal band of red about a metre and a
half in breadth.
The boats of the ships above mentioned, as also small craft which may be
used for hospital work, shall be distinguished by similar painting.
All hospital ships shall make themselves known by hoisting, together with
their national flag, the white flag with a red cross provided by the Geneva
Convention.
Art. 6. Neutral merchantmen, yachts, or vessels, having, or taking on
board, sick, wounded, or shipwrecked of the belligerents, cannot be
captured for so doing, but they are liable to capture for any violation of
neutrality they may have committed.
Art. 7. The religious, medical, or hospital staff of any captured ship is
inviolable, and its members cannot be made prisoners of war. On leaving the
ship they take with them the objects and surgical instruments which are
their own private property.
This staff shall continue to discharge its duties while necessary, and can
afterwards leave when the commander-in-chief considers it possible.
The belligerents must guarantee to the staff that has fallen into their
hands the enjoyment of their salaries intact.
Art. 8. Sailors and soldiers who are taken on board when sick or wounded,
to whatever nation they belong, shall be protected and looked after by the
captors.
Art. 9. The shipwrecked, wounded, or sick of one of the belligerents who
fall into the hands of the other, are prisoners of war. The captor must
decide, according to circumstances, if it is best to keep them or send them
to a port of his own country, to a neutral port, or even to a hostile port.
In the last case, prisoners thus repatriated cannot serve as long as the
war lasts.
Art. 10. The shipwrecked, wounded, or sick, who are landed at a neutral
port with the consent of the local authorities, must, failing a contrary
arrangement between the neutral State and the belligerents, be guarded by
the neutral State, so that they can not again take part in the military
operations.
The expenses of tending them in hospital and internment shall be borne by
the State to which the shipwrecked, wounded, or sick belong.
Art. 11. The rules contained in the above articles are binding only on the
Contracting Powers, in case of war between two or more of them.
The said rules shall cease to be binding from the time when, in a war
between the Contracting Powers, one of the belligerents is joined by a
non-Contracting Power.
Art. 12. The present Convention shall be ratified as soon as possible.
The ratifications shall be deposited at The Hague.
On the receipt of each ratification a proc�s-verbal shall be drawn up, a
copy of which, duly certified, shall be sent through the diplomatic channel
to all the Contracting Powers.
Art. 13. The non-Signatory Powers who accepted the Geneva Convention of 22
August 1864, are allowed to adhere to the present Convention.
For this purpose they must make their adhesion known to the Contracting
Powers by means of a written notification addressed to the Netherlands
Government, and by it communicated to all the other Contracting Powers.
Art. 14. In the event of one of the High Contracting Parties denouncing the
present Convention, such denunciation shall not take effect until a year
after the notification made in writing to the Netherlands Government, and
forthwith communicated by it to all the other Contracting Powers.
This denunciation shall only affect the notifying Power.
In testimony whereof the respective Plenipotentiaries have signed the
present Convention and affixed their seals thereto.
Done at The Hague, 29 July 1899, in a single copy, which shall be kept in
the archives of the Government of the Netherlands, and copies of which duly
certified, shall be sent through the diplomatic channel to the Contracting
Powers.
