Focus on protecting prisoners

Exploration 5C

Ms. Ripley

Why prisoners need protections Why might a person who has been detained in relation to an

armed conflict be specifically at risk?

What other reasons might put prisoners at risk in times of armed conflict?

Work in small groups or in pairs to make a list of their responses to the following question:

What dangers and difficulties might such prisoners face in captivity?

Do your rules cover all the risks identified by the class?

How IHL protects prisoners

"Basic protections for prisoners," compare your suggestions with the protections IHL provides. 

Possible questions: Were you surprised by any of the provisions on this

list? If so, why? Which protections, if any, might be hard for captors

to provide? Why? What can be done to ensure that prisoners benefit

from these protections?

ICRC

In 2005, according to its Annual Report for that year, the ICRC visited more than 500,000 prisoners of war and detainees in more than 80 countries.

A prisoner (Student video: "Light in the darkness") We would have liked the Red Cross to tell the

international press about it. We would really have appreciated that. But when you think about it, doing that—revealing all that they'd seen—might have provoked the authorities into banning them from the prisons. If that had happened, we would have been the losers.

Ways to ensure respect for the lives and human dignity of prisoners

1. Captor responsibility: The law requires that those in charge of prisons receive training on the rights of prisoners and the rules that they must follow. Such instruction must be monitored. Should any abuse be identified later, it must be stopped and remedied, and those responsible must be penalized. Authorities must also provide prisons with adequate funds and other necessary resources.

2. Visits to prisons: IHL provides for neutral humanitarian organizations such as the ICRC to visit prisoners in the camps and prisons in which they are held and monitor their treatment. Those in charge of such places must cooperate with the ICRC, and must ensure that it can apply its working methods. After visiting prisoners, the ICRC shares its findings confidentially with the pertinent authorities, as well as any recommendation it thinks appropriate. 

3. Prosecution by courts: One of the aims bringing people to trial for committing violations of IHL or human rights law is to deter others by showing them that certain acts will not go unpunished.

ICRC visits to prisoners

Video "Light in the darkness," in which students will hear the voices of actual prisoners and see ICRC  delegates making their prison visits.

Before viewing the video, half of the class will look for and make notes on what ICRC delegates do while visiting prisoners.

The other half of the class will look for and make notes on how an ICRC prison visit helps prisoners.

Light in the darkness

Possible questions: How does what you saw relate to the rules

you proposed? To the protections under IHL? What skills do you think are needed to

conduct prison visits?

Using confidentiality as a working method

Read "Using confidentiality as a working method" and then have a discussion comparing this method with public protests.

ConfidentialityWrite down what you think it it means to keep information confidential.

Explain the meaning of the word 'confidentiality.' How might confidentiality help prisoners? And public protests?

From ICRC action on behalf of prisoners, 2000 During the 10 or so years of conflict between Iran

and Iraq, the ICRC played a unique role protecting prisoners of war in both countries: its delegates visited and registered the names of 56,925 Iraqi soldiers held in Iran and of 39,588 Iranian soldiers held in Iraq. Some 13 million Red Cross messages were exchanged between these prisoners and their families. Since the Iran/Iraq conflict broke out in 1980, 98,000 prisoners of war held by both sides have been repatriated.

"How can I protect these prisoners?"  Dilemma faced by an ICRC delegate in

"How can I protect these prisoners?"  Divide into small groups. Half of the students will examine the

option of speaking to the prison director about the ill-treatment. Possible questions for these groups: What are the advantages and risks for the prisoners of this

course of action? What can you do to prevent the prison director or guards from

retaliating against the prisoners?[For example: remind the director that delegates will revisit the prisoners to make sure nothing has happened to them; refer to the ill-treatment in general terms, without singling out individuals or a group of detainees.]

"How can I protect these prisoners?"  The other small groups to examine the option of not mentioning

the problem of ill-treatment to the director. Possible questions for these groups: What are the advantages and risks for the prisoners of this

course of action?

What can you do nevertheless to help the prisoners?[For example: wait until the prisoners have been transferred to another prison before raising the issue of ill-treatment; have a talk with high-ranking officials and report what you have heard without naming the prison.]

Class discussion on each course of action Decide what course of action you would

choose and write a paragraph telling what you would do and why.

Discuss choices. This kind of decision depends on:

the actual circumstances the delegates being able to visit the prisons

on a regular basis the prisoners' best interest

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT

Choose a course of action for the delegate to take and then write about it from the perspective of one of the following:

a prisoner a prison guard the prison director

A prisoner remembers

Video "A prisoner remembers". Possible questions:

What feelings do this prisoner's memories evoke? Are you surprised that the door was opened? Why

do you think the prison authorities decided to open it?

Return to the list in "Basic protections for prisoners". Possible questions: How does what you have learned about protecting

prisoners relate to his situation? Are there any other protections you would add to

this list? Why? 

Quezon City prison

Discussion with detainees. Quezon City prison, Philippines, 1998.Photo: Willy Abcede/ICRC.

Red Cross Messages

This small piece of paper [i.e. Red Cross message] has unbelievable power because it is the bridge between those who suffer because of war and their loved ones somewhere else who are also suffering because they have no idea what is happening to their family members.

Red Cross tracing delegate

A woman listening to someone read to her a Red Cross message that she has received. Jasenica, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 1994. Photo: Pavel Gugini/ICRC.

Key Ideas

The lives and human dignity of people who have been detained in relation to armed conflict are at risk.

IHL protects prisoners; it also ensures that they are visited by humanitarian workers to verify that the rules governing their treatment are complied with.

Humanitarian workers might encounter difficult dilemmas while carrying out their task of visiting prisoners.

Extension Activities

Registration card Red Cross Message Form Art project What difficulties might a prisoner face

after being released?  Carrying out a prison visit

Registration card

Documents: What can you learn from them?

Registration card: Examine the ICRC "registration card" used to

register prisoners. Why does the form ask for each piece of

information? Who will use the information, when and why?

Red Cross Message Form

After filling out the "Red Cross message form" as a prisoner might, have someone reply to your message using the REPLY portion of the form.

OR Fill out the Red Cross message form as a prisoner

might. Then write a story that begins with someone

receiving that message and ends with a description of its effect on three different people that day.

Art project

It is hard for the ICRC to assess the true impact of its visits to people deprived of their freedom; it is also difficult to say how things might have turned out if the ICRC had been unable to operate in a particular situation.

Read the following statement. Give Nelson Mandela'a words artistic expression in a form of your choice.

What matters is not only the good the ICRC brings, but even more the bad it prevents. —Nelson Mandela (Registration No. 220/82, Robben Island Prison, 1962-1990

What difficulties might a prisoner face after being released?  Using material from "Through the eyes of

prisoners," write a scene for a play about life after release from prison. The central figure in your scene must be someone who was imprisoned for several years in relation to an armed conflict.

Make a dramatic production of your scene.

Carrying out a prison visit

Consider the following advice, which might be given to someone who is going to conduct a prison visit.

As you tour the prison, before having private conversations with prisoners:

Think about your introductory speech to them. Watch for:

The general state of infrastructure (for instance, kitchens, infirmary, toilets and showers, and dormitories).

Signs of discrimination in access to basic needs (for instance, food, water, bedding) and in treatment (health services, physical exercise, recreational activities).

Signs of ill-treatment Remember: the fact that you have seen the whole prison doesn't mean

that you understand everything. What explanations can you think of for each piece of advice?

Resources

Visiting people deprived of their freedom: Legal bases (ICRC website)