A prisoner exchange or prisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners:

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 ...

, spies,

hostage A hostage is a person seized by an abductor in order to compel another party, one which places a high value on the liberty, well-being and safety of the person seized, such as a relative, employer, law enforcement or government to act, or ref ...

s, etc. Sometimes, dead bodies are involved in an exchange.

Geneva Conventions

Under 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 Conv ...

, prisoners who ''cannot'' contribute to the

war effort In politics and military planning, a war effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and human—towards the support of a military force. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative ...

because of illness or disability are entitled to be repatriated to their home country. That is regardless of number of prisoners so affected; the detaining power cannot refuse a genuine request. Under the

Geneva Convention (1929) Geneva Convention (1929) may refer to: * Geneva Convention on Prisoners of War (1929) * Geneva Convention on the Wounded and Sick (1929) The Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armies in the Field, c ...

, this is covered by Articles 68 to 74, and the annex. One of the largest exchange programmes was run by the International Red Cross during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

under these terms. Under the Third Geneva Convention of 1949, that is covered by Articles 109 to 117. The Second World War in Yugoslavia saw a brutal struggle between the armed forces of the

Third Reich Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

and the communist-led Partisans. Despite that, the two sides negotiated prisoner exchanges virtually from the beginning of the war. Under extraordinary circumstances, these early contacts evolved into a formal exchange agreement, centered on the creation of a neutral zone, possibly the only such in occupied Europe, where prisoners were regularly swapped until late April 1945, saving several thousand lives.Gaj Trifković, ''"Making Deals with the Enemy: Partisan-German Contacts and Prisoner Exchanges in Yugoslavia, 1941–1945"'' in: Global War Studies 01/2013; 10(2):6–37.

References

{{Authority control Peace mechanisms Exchange

Geneva Conventions

See also

References