CHAPTER 4. IMPRISONMENT AND OTHER FORMS OF DEPRIVATION OF LIBERTY
While international humanitarian law is understood to provide an inherent power to detain
individuals during armed conicts, the treaty rules of international humanitarian law applicable to
non-international armed conicts do not dene grounds and procedures for internment
(administrative detention). Such grounds and procedures need to be dened elsewhere, normally in
national law. International humanitarian law provides important rules about the conditions of
detention and treatment of detainees.
Common article 3 to the Geneva Conventions provides protections for persons not participating or
no longer participating in hostilities, including as the result of detention in non-international armed
conict. is applies to any form of detention related to armed conict and requires humane treatment
without any adverse distinction. Examples of prohibited behaviour are violence to life and person,
cruel treatment and torture, and outrages upon personal dignity.
Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of
Victims of Non-International Armed Conicts (Protocol II) also contains protections for persons
detained in the context of non-international armed conicts (see arts. 4–6). Its protections cover both
persons being detained in connection with criminal proceedings, and those detained for security
reasons outside criminal prosecution (internment); however, the deprivation of liberty must be for
reasons related to the armed conict.
380
Protocol II only applies where it has been ratied by the State
and its scope is narrower than that of common article 3.
Customary international humanitarian law applicable in non-international armed conicts
supplements the treaty provisions in common article 3 and Protocol II. Customary international
humanitarian law contains a number of elementary rules on the treatment of detainees, conditions of
detention and judicial guarantees.
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Regarding the protection of family life, women and children,
customary international humanitarian law requires the following:
• e family life of detained persons must be respected as far as possible. is requires, to the
degree possible, the maintenance of family unity, contact between family members and the
provision of information on the whereabouts of family members.
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• Except when men and women of the same family are accommodated together, women shall be held
in quarters that are separate from those of men and under the immediate supervision of women.
383
• e specic protection, health and assistance needs of women aected by armed conict must be
respected.
384
is applies also in contexts of detention.
380
Claude Pilloud and others, Commentary on the Additional Protocols of 8 June 1977 to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August
1949, Yves Sandoz, Christophe Swinarski and Bruno Zimmermann, eds. (Geneva, International Commiee of the Red Cross,
1987), para. 4568.
381
See Jean-Marie Henckaerts, “Study on customary international humanitarian law: a contribution to the understanding and
respect for the rule of law in armed conict”, International Review of the Red Cross, vol. 87, No. 857 (March 2005), in particular
rules 87–105 and 118–128.
382
See Henckaerts, “Study on customary international humanitarian law”, rules 105, 125 and 126.
383
Ibid., rule 119; and Protocol Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of
Victims of Non-International Armed Conicts (Protocol II), art. 5, paras. 2 (a) and (d).
384
Henckaerts, “Study on customary international humanitarian law”, rule 134.
SUMMARY OF KEY POINTS
• International law prohibits arbitrary deprivation of liberty and dictates that all persons
deprived of their liberty must in all circumstances be treated with due respect for their
human dignity and human rights. This includes deprivation of liberty related to preventing
and countering terrorism.
• Those suspected, accused or convicted of terrorism-related oences have a range of
gender-specic needs and vulnerabilities in contexts where they are imprisoned or deprived
of their liberty. Women in particular are impacted by prison systems that are designed for
men, who comprise the majority of the prison population.
• Women have particular needs in contexts of imprisonment. As such, gender considerations
should inform admission and registration procedures; decisions on allocation, separation
and classication; access to health care; measures for contact with the outside world,
including family visits; access to legal counsel; measures to accommodate pregnant women
and women with children; and selection and training of prison sta.
• Disengagement, rehabilitation and reintegration programmes should take into account
gender-specic needs and experiences of violent extremist prisoners.
• While contexts of imprisonment and deprivation of liberty expose all individuals to a higher
risk of mistreatment and abuse, gender plays a key factor in vulnerability to torture in
these contexts. Taking into account the special protection needs of women deprived of their
liberty is key to safeguarding against torture and ill-treatment. This is particularly important
with respect to: security and disciplinary measures; access to health care and hygiene;
personnel and training; and the availability of complaint and oversight mechanisms.
• In some contexts, women are arrested and deprived of their liberty within the criminal
justice system solely as the result of their familial relationship to terrorism suspects in
order to compel suspects to surrender or confess. Such deprivation of liberty may amount
to arbitrary detention, which is a violation of the principle enshrined in international and
regional human rights law that only persons who have committed a crime may be held
criminally responsible for that crime.
• Women are often disadvantaged in accessing alternative measures to imprisonment, which
are generally not designed to meet the specic requirements of women oenders. States
should consider developing and implementing a range of gender-sensitive alternatives for
women oenders applicable at dierent stages of the criminal justice system.
• In some cases, persons associated with terrorist groups are administratively detained
outside the criminal justice system, including for the purposes of “screening” or mandatory
participation in de-radicalization programmes. In other cases, family members of persons
with a perceived association to terrorist groups may be held in camps for internally
displaced persons and subject to limitations on their freedom of movement. Deprivation of
liberty outside the context of criminal proceedings is only permissible under international
human rights law under certain restrictive conditions.
• Where persons associated with a non-State armed group (including those designated as
terrorist groups) are detained in the context of an armed conflict, the international
humanitarian law rules regarding deprivation of liberty become applicable and complement
the rules of international human rights law.