ADVISORY SERVICE

ON INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW

____________________________________

Means of Personal Identification

In order to apply international humanitarian law it is essential to identify combatants and protected persons. The 1949 Geneva
Conventions and Additional Protocol I of 1977 contain appropriate provisions for achieving that purpose. Measures for personal
identification provide a means of specifying the status of persons involved in or affected by an armed conflict and thus of
indicating the protection to which they are entitled. However, the mere fact of possessing an identification document is not a
criterion entitling the holder to protection (except in the case of military personnel posted to civil defence organizations) since it
is the capacity or function of the person that is the determining factor. In the context of armed conflict, identification measures
also help to prevent disappearances and to facilitate the tracing of missing persons. It is the States and parties to the conflict
that must implement these measures, which enable the bodies for which international humanitarian law makes provision to
function properly (such as national Information Bureaus and the Central Tracing Agency, whose mission is to inform States on
the fate of their nationals and to inform families on what has become of their relatives).

The nature and significance of

means of personal
identification
Measures for identifying persons are
closely connected with the concept
of protection, which constitutes the
very basis of the legal instruments of
international humanitarian law. They
are a means for the persons
concerned to prove their status and
thus claim the protection that is their
due.
The 1949 Geneva Conventions and
Additional Protocol I of 1977 specify
the nature and minimum content of
identification measures and propose
a number of models in their
annexes which States and the
parties to a conflict are
recommended to take as a basis (in
particular for certain identity cards,
capture cards and internment
cards).
Using these models helps to
standardize the various measures
taken and facilitates the task of the
States in the performance of their
treaty-based obligations regarding
identification.
In order to make these measures
even more effective the parties to a
conflict must ensure that they are
easy to use. Following the models
proposed, any documents that are
issued will thus contain minimum

information allowing adequate

identification. The authorities may,
however, go further as long as the
information provided does not place
the person concerned or his family
at risk.
Identification is in the mutual
i n t e r e s t s of the parties. It is
because identification measures
have been taken and used by a
party that the adverse party can
more effectively carry out its duty to
identify the persons who have fallen
into its hands, whether they be
captured, wounded or deceased
(GC I, Art. 16; GC II, Art. 19).
It is recommended that the
implementation of the provisions
concerning identification measures
should not be limited solely to the
situations in respect of which they
apply. They should also be
extended to non-international armed
conflicts and to any situation in
which it might prove useful to use
them.

by States to any person liable to

become a prisoner of war (GC III,
Art. 17).
It must contain at least the owner's
surname, first names, date of birth,
serial number or equivalent
information, rank, blood group and
rhesus factor. As further optional
information, the identity card may
also bear the description, nationality,
religion, fingerprints or photo of the
holder, or the date of expiry.
In parallel with this measure, the
authorities are required to issue
specific identity cards for military
personnel carrying out special tasks
or for certain categories of civilians,
containing the basic information plus
certain other particulars concerning
the assignment
(such as the
distinctive emblem of the activity,
the person's training or position, or
the stamp and signature of the
competent authority).

Categories

The categories concerned by these

measures indicating entitlement to a
specific form of protection are as
follows:

Identity card

This card is the basic document with

which the status and identity of
persons who have fallen into the
hands of the adverse party can be
determined, and it must be issued

International Committee of the Red Cross

medical and religious personnel

attached to the armed forces
(GC I, Art. 40; GC II, Art. 42),
civilian medical personnel and
civilian religious personnel (AP
I, Art. 18 para. 3), the
permanent or temporary staff of

civilian hospitals (GC IV, Art.

20);

those on the identity card and

should be indelible and fadeproof.

members of the armed forces

specially
trained
for
employment as hospital
orderlies, nurses or auxiliary
stretcher-bearers in the search
for or the collection, transport or
treatment of the wounded and
sick (GC I, Art. 41);

Capture card

persons who accompany the

armed forces (GC III, Art. 4
para. A, no. 4);

members of the armed forces

and military units assigned to
civil defence organizations (API,
Art. 67 para. 1), civilian civil
defence personnel (API, Art. 66
para. 3);

The parties to a conflict which are

holding prisoners of war are
required to enable the latter to write
a card direct to their families and to
the Central Tracing Agency
informing them that they have been
captured (GC III, Art. 70). An
individual capture card will contain in
particular information relating to the
prisoner's surname and first names,
his State of origin, rank, serial
number and date of birth, his
family's address, and his captivity,
address and state of health. Should
a prisoner wish to refrain from
revealing certain information,
however, this must be respected.

In the special circumstances of

occupation, the authorities are
required to take steps to identify
children (GC IV, Art. 50), such as
providing them with an identitiy card
or an identity disc that they wear all
the time.
And finally, if children have been
evacuated to a foreign country for
compelling reasons of health or
safety, the State arranging for the
evacuation and, where appropriate,
the authorities of the host country
must draw up an information card
and send it to the Central Tracing
Agency with a view to facilitating the
children's return to their families (AP
I, Art. 78 para. 3).

Availability of means of
identification and training

Internment card

the personnel engaged in the

protection of cultural property
(The Hague Convention for the
Protection of Cultural Property
in the Event of Armed Conflict
of 14 May 1954, Art. 17 para. 2,
and the Regulation for the
Execution of that Convention,
Art. 21);

journalists
engaged
in
dangerous
professional
missions, provided that they
fulfil the conditions constituting
that function (API, Art. 79 para.
3).

Identity disc
The authorities may supplement the
above measures by providing
identity discs (GC I, Art. 16; GC II,
Art. 19). The identity disc is worn
permanently round the neck on a
chain or strap. It can be a single or
double disc made, as far as
possible, of durable, stainless
material which is resistant to
battlefield
conditions.
The
inscriptions it bears are similar to

The internment card is modelled on

the capture card and is adapted to
the situation of civilian internees. It
is also intended for the families and
Central Tracing Agency, and clearly
identifies the general circumstances
of the civilian internee by providing
information notably on his
internment, address and state of
health, provided that the internee
considers it appropriate to reveal
these details (GC IV, Art. 106).
Identification of children
In view of the fact that, depending
on their age, children are unable to
take care of themselves and are
extremely vulnerable in time of
armed conflict, international
humanitarian law has provided
specific measures for their
identification.
The authorities could thus provide
children under 12 years of age with
identity discs adapted to their status
and similar to those described
above (GC IV, Art. 24).

International Committee of the Red Cross

Since
means
of
personal
identification should be available at
all times, the authorities must make
preparatory arrangements in
peacetime. It is also their
responsibility to ensure that the
persons concerned are carrying
their identity documents should an
armed conflict break out.
If the means of identifying
individuals are to play their role to
the full, the usefulness and
importance of these measures
should be explained in particular in
the course of training for military
personnel and other categories of
persons specifically concerned.
Special attention should also be
devoted to this aspect when
international humanitarian law is
being disseminated to a wider
public.

02/2003

MODELS
Front

Reverse side

First Geneva Convention

1949 wounded and sick
on land Annex II
Front

Reverse side

Second Geneva
Convention 1949
wounded, sick and
shipwrecked at sea
Annex I

Additional Protocol I of
1977 international
armed conflicts
Annex I, Art. 2

Remarks. This card should be made out

for preference in two or three languages,
one of which is in international use. Actual
size of the card: 13 by 10 centimetres. It
should be folded along the dotted line.

Third Geneva Convention

1949 prisoners of war
Annex IV A.

Additional Protocol I of 1977

international armed
conflicts Annex I, Art. 15
FRONT

REVERSE SIDE

The Hague Convention of

1954 protection of cultural
property Regulations for
the execution of the
Convention, Annex

FRONT

REVERSE SIDE

Additional Protocol I of 1977 international armed conflicts Annex II

Front

Reverse side

Remarks. This form should be made out in two or three languages,

particularly in the prisoner's own language and in that of the Detaining
Power. Actual size: 15 by 10.5 centimetres.

Third Geneva Convention 1949 prisoners of war

Annex IV B.

Front

Reverse side

(Size of internment card 10 x 15 cm)

Fourth Geneva Convention 1949 protection of

civilian persons Annex III I.