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Policy Paper   Committee: Human Rights Topic: Rights of POWs Country: Netherlands Moira Cleary Per. 3

__BACKGROUND OF TOPIC:__ Prisoners of War (referred to as POWs) are militants and combatants that are captured during a time of war by their enemy hands, it can also include journalists. One specific right of POWs is that they must be released and returned at the end of the military activities. These prisoners have special rights and duties, outlined by the Geneva Convention, and is no different between sexes and ages. POWs can sometimes even be tried for crimes against their captor countries (in some cases). However, even with the Geneva Convention protecting POWs, it still remains a large issue in human rights, particularly because people do not follow the POW laws. Russia and Georgia are an excelent example concerning POWs, especially because they have recently exchanged about fifteen POW between each other.

__UN INVOLVMENT:__

The United Nations have been very interested in this topic scince the first Geneva Convention in 1906, which first outlined the treatment and duties of POWs. Even with the drafting and the acceptance of the Geneva Convention, many countries are still mistreating POWs with torture and unnecessary execution. The Geneva Convention has met thrice trying to solve these problems. The first time was in 1906, which is when the first cases started becoming an issue. The second time was after World War II, because of the inhumane treatment of the POWs. The third and last time resulted in a detailed document of rights and duties of POW, which has helped define the boundaries for certain, but rights are still a very big issue and concern in the United Nations.  __COUNTRY POLICY: __  The representatives of Netherlands can surely say that we have been very much a part of the fight for fixed POW rights ever since the first Geneva Convention. Netherlands is a peaceful country that would love for the world to become a completely rightful place. We have been demanding guaranteed rights of POWs in Afganistan, and by consulting with their NATO partners that demand is working to become a reality. The Netherlands have also been demanding the promised rights of POWs in all countries, particularly in the USA due to their un-promised treatment of "illegal combatants".  __SOLUTIONS: __  Netherlands thinks that the POW rights can be fixed with a couple of very simple solutions. One suggestion is to have POW give reports after the time of war, and the United Nations could punish the captors accordingly. Another possibility is to have United Nations inspectors check out the situations of POWs in warring countries, and if they are being mistreated, the captors can again be punished accordingly. Of course, Netherlands would prefer not to punish captors with any sort of inhumane treatment, so the punishments would have to be something like no vote or say in the UN for a certain amount of years, or something to that effect.  __WORKS CITED: __<span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> 1. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> http://us.oneworld.net/places/netherlands/-/article/netherlands-wants-pow-rights-guaranteed-afghanistan <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> 2. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/f7575be79bbc6930852560df0056fc78?OpenDocument <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> 3. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/aug/19/georgia.russia <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'; mso-fareast-font-family: 'Times New Roman'"> 4. <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">http://hrw.org/press/2003/03/pow032403.htm <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'"> <span style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 115%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Times New Roman','serif'">