United States Refuses to Abide by Geneva Convention (tags)
On January 11, 2002, the United States announced that it was refusing to abide by the 1949 Geneva Convention on the treatment of prisoners of war in its treatment and internment of those taken prisoner in Afghanistan or Pakistan by the United States. The Third Geneva Convention, which provides specific guidelines for treatment of prisoner combatants, is a part of the "law of nations" and is a mainstay of international humanitarian law. The United States explained that the prisoners were not actually prisoners of war, but were in fact "unlawful combatants."