Methods of Interrogation Pows
METHODS OF INTERROGATION OF A
PRISONER OF WAR
Introduction
1. A ‘Prisoner of War’ is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The treatment of prisoners has always been matter of debate in the world and many declarations and resolutions have been made in this regard including Geneva Convention of 1949. War is a time of confusion and while many suffer from it, there are many who benefit in the fog of it. The military personnel, whenever caught, have to be treated as PsOW and they have certain rights and privileges. The enemy always utilizes this opportunity to the fullest and employs certain obvious and hidden methods to extract information from the PsOW.
Rights of a POW
2. The POW can only be interrogated by following the rules and regulations laid down in the Article (v) of Geneva Convention of 1949. A prisoner of war needs only to give his name, number and rank and must remain silent on all other matters and resist all enemy efforts to extract information from him. In case his rights are violated, the violators are subject to the provisions of international law and they may be tried by the international criminal court.
Methods of Interrogation
3. A number of interrogation techniques have been used of approved for use. They include standard Army methods in compliance with the Third Geneva Convention, as well as other approaches which are either questionable or clearly exceed the strictures protecting POWs. Several of the latter may also violate other limitations outside the scope of human imagination.
4. Numerous devices may be effectively employed by the interrogator to establish mental contact or rapport with POW. At the outset it should be emphasized that the objective of an interrogation is seldom, if ever, to obtain an admission or a confession. The subject is interrogated for accurate and reliable information. Several common methods interrogation which
PRISONER OF WAR
Introduction
1. A ‘Prisoner of War’ is a person, whether combatant or non-combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The treatment of prisoners has always been matter of debate in the world and many declarations and resolutions have been made in this regard including Geneva Convention of 1949. War is a time of confusion and while many suffer from it, there are many who benefit in the fog of it. The military personnel, whenever caught, have to be treated as PsOW and they have certain rights and privileges. The enemy always utilizes this opportunity to the fullest and employs certain obvious and hidden methods to extract information from the PsOW.
Rights of a POW
2. The POW can only be interrogated by following the rules and regulations laid down in the Article (v) of Geneva Convention of 1949. A prisoner of war needs only to give his name, number and rank and must remain silent on all other matters and resist all enemy efforts to extract information from him. In case his rights are violated, the violators are subject to the provisions of international law and they may be tried by the international criminal court.
Methods of Interrogation
3. A number of interrogation techniques have been used of approved for use. They include standard Army methods in compliance with the Third Geneva Convention, as well as other approaches which are either questionable or clearly exceed the strictures protecting POWs. Several of the latter may also violate other limitations outside the scope of human imagination.
4. Numerous devices may be effectively employed by the interrogator to establish mental contact or rapport with POW. At the outset it should be emphasized that the objective of an interrogation is seldom, if ever, to obtain an admission or a confession. The subject is interrogated for accurate and reliable information. Several common methods interrogation which