2 Combatants and Prisoners of War

Combatant's status and entitlement: the GC III/Hague lawful-combatant criteria (historically): (i) command under responsible leadership; (ii) fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance; (iii) arms carried openly; (iv) conduct per the laws and customs of war. The combatant's rights: to take direct part in hostilities (the unique privilege) and, on capture, POW status. AP I Article 44's relaxation: the irregular's release from the fixed-sign requirement in situations where hostilities' nature prevents it (arms-openly rule's retention) — the status's controversial modernization. Prisoners of war (GC III's regime): humane treatment's absolute floor (the violence, intimidation, insult, exposure-to-public-curiosity prohibitions); retention of rank and the state's maintenance duty; no obligation but name-rank-date-of-birth-serial (the interrogation answer's four — no torture or coercion to more); the questioning-limits, the reprisals-prohibition, the escape regimes, the fair trial guarantees (the same judicial guarantees retained for POW prosecutions); the repatriation on cessation of hostilities. The unlawful combatant debate: the spy, the mercenary and the terrorist-fighter (no POW status — but the floor of humane treatment's continuing claim: the "unprivileged belligerent" still Common Article 3-protected; the Guantanamo era's doctrine battles); the 1977 mercenaries' convention.