Suchergebnisse

Unconventional warfare is governed by inter national law. In the context of the cold war, it must be con sidered in relation to both international and internal war. In international war, volunteers are lawful, as are troops belonging to an authority not recognized by the enemy. Guerrillas are lawful combatants if they belong to an organized resistance movement of a party to the conflict, are commanded by persons responsible for their subordinates, wear a fixed distinctive sign, carry their arms openly, and obey the laws and customs of war. Lawful participants in a levée en masse must comply with the last two conditions. In countering guerrilla activity, reprisals may not be used against prisoners of war or civilians in occu pied territory. Hostages may, in general, not be taken. If in habitants in guerrilla areas are deported, their welfare must be safeguarded. Captured unlawful combatants can only be sen tenced by a competent tribunal. In occupied territory, the death penalty against an unlawful combatant is only possible if the pre-occupation law of that territory allowed it. Espio nage, sabotage, corruption, and propaganda may be employed in war. In civil and colonial war, both sides must obey the code laid down in Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 1949.

The history of war knows no such brigandage, fanaticism, or such craftiness as the German fascist usurpers practiced from the moment of their attack upon the peoples of other states. The rules and customs relating to the conduct of war, recognized by all civilized peoples, were rejected and trampled under foot by these usurpers. These rules and customs relating to the conduct of war, put together in the course of many centuries, have received the title "the law of war" and constitute an inseparable part of international law.

Res on psychol'al warfare has suffered from an excessive concentration on the two extremes: nose-counting problems such as how many enemy soldiers carried propaganda leaflets when they surrendered, & global questions of strategy for which adequate data were lacking. A realistic res program on an intermediate level would be more useful. Among the problems which should be studied are the singling out of groups under 'cross-pressures' & other particularly vulnerable targets for propaganda, adaptation of the message to the particular group which it is sought to influence, & above all adaptation of the message to the tradition & mentality of the enemy pop, which may be completely diff from that of those who are conducting the propaganda. Res is also needed on the readiness of individuals under strain to accept communications which represent both the expressed & the repressed sides of their ambivalence, & on the influence of the individual's participation in various groups on his reactions. IPSA.

On September 23, 1964, the International Committee of the Red Cross and its President, Mr. Léopold Boissier, received at the headquarters of the institution, representatives of some forty National Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Lion and Sun Societies meeting in Geneva on the occasion of a session of the Executive Committee of the League, their federative body.