The term lawful enemy combatant is defined in the
Military Commissions Act of 2006
The Military Commissions Act of 2006, also known as HR-6166, was an Act of Congress signed by President George W. Bush on October 17, 2006. The Act's stated purpose was "to authorize trial by military commission for violations of the law of ...
; the term is used as an exclusionary term to prevent most of those who qualify under the definition from being an
unlawful enemy combatant
An unlawful combatant, illegal combatant or unprivileged combatant/belligerent is a person who directly engages in armed conflict in violation of the laws of war and therefore is claimed not to be protected by the Geneva Conventions.
The Internati ...
.
Definition
Criticism
The definition given in the act seems to face several difficulties. Firstly it is to a substantial extent analogous to the definition of such persons who are to be held as
prisoners of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held Captivity, captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold priso ...
under the
Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War, and indeed would appear to define those who are to be treated as prisoners of war, but it is missing three of the categories under said convention, categories 4, 5, 6. Furthermore, under Protocol Additional to the
Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts (
Protocol I
Protocol I (sometimes referred to as Additional Protocol I or AP 1) is a 1977 amendment protocol to the Geneva Conventions relating to the protection of victims of ''international conflicts'', extending to "armed conflicts in which peoples are ...
), 8 June 1977 there are additional categories given, but to which the United States of America is merely a signatory, since it has not been ratified there.
See also
*
Geneva Conventions
upright=1.15, Original document in single pages, 1864
The Geneva Conventions are four treaties, and three additional protocols, that establish international legal standards for humanitarian treatment in war. The singular term ''Geneva Conven ...
*
Jus ad bellum
' ( or in the traditional English pronunciation of Latin; Latin for "right to war") is a set of criteria that are to be consulted ''before'' engaging in war in order to determine whether entering into war is permissible, that is, whether it wil ...
*
Jus in bello
The law of war is the component of international law that regulates the conditions for initiating war (''jus ad bellum'') and the conduct of warring parties (''jus in bello''). Laws of war define sovereignty and nationhood, states and territor ...
References
Guantanamo Bay captives legal and administrative procedures
Military terminology
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