THE
GENEVA CONVENTIONS of 1864 and 1906 focused on combatants who
have
been rendered incapable of participating in combat because of injury or
illness.29
The Hague Convention (IV) Respecting the Laws and Customs of
War
on Land of 1907 defines a much more extensive list of persons and property
to
be protected: prisoners of war (articles 4–20); occupied territory and its
inhabitants
(articles 42–56), including “public buildings, real estate, forests,
and
agricultural estates”; and “the property of municipalities, that of
institutions
dedicated
to religion, charity and education, [and] the arts and sciences
[and]
historic monuments, works of art and science.”30 The convention even
stipulates
that “[f]family honour and rights, the lives of persons, and private
property,
as well as religious convictions and practice, must be respected,” in
occupied
territory. While there is no definition of a “non-combatant” class,
there is a general understanding that civilians are not to
be attacked.
