Ratni zarobljenici
Ratni zarobljenik je lice koga su neprijateljske snage zarobile tokom ili nakon oružanog konflikta.

Jedna od osnovnih karakteristika boračkog statusa je da ukoliko borci padnu pod vlast neprijatelja oni dobijaju status ratnih zarobljenika.

Pored boraca, Trećom Ženevskom konvencijom status ratnih zarobljenika u slučaju zarobljavanja priznat je civilima koji prate oružane snage iako neposredno ne ulaze u njihov sastav, kao i članovima posada trgovačke mornarice i civilnog vazduhoplovstva strana u sukobu ukoliko u konkretnom slučaju po međunarodnom pravu ne uživaju povoljniji tretman. Reč je o istom krugu lica kojima je priznat status ranjenika, bolesnika i brodolomnika.

Pored ovih lica status ratnih zarobljenika imaju i pripadnici oružanih snaga okupiranih zemalja ukoliko okupator odluči da pristupi njihovom imterniranju kao i sva lica kojima je priznat ovaj status koja su na svoju teritoriju primile neutralne i nezaraćene sile pod uslovom da im ne bude priznat povoljniji položaj.

Postoje i lica kojima, iako ulaze u sastav oružanih snaga jedne od zaraćenih strana, ni u slučaju zarobljavanja, neće biti priznat status ratnih zarobljenika. Reč je o plaćenicima i špijunima.

Pod plaćenicima se podrazumevaju pre svega lica koja u neprijateljstvima učestvuju prevashodno motivisana ličnom korišću, koja nisu državljani strane u sukobu i koja su uglavnom regrutovana u inostranstvu. Špijunima se smatraju pripadnici oružanih snaga strane u sukobu ukoliko su uhvaćeni u špijunaži i nalaze se u vlasti protivničke strane. Pri tome, na osnovu tradicionalnog koncepta pravi se razlika između lica koja su se bavila špijunažom u uniformi svojih oružanih snaga ili bez nje, tako da se uniformisani obaveštajci za razliku od ovih drugih, neće smatrati špijunima.

Svrha interniranja ratnih zarobljenika nije njihovo kažnjavanje, imajući u vidu da oni ne mogu da odgovaraju za učestvovanje u neprijateljstvima već sprečavanje njihovog daljeg učestvovanja u borbi. Saglasno toma odredbe koje se tiču njihovog položaja predstavljaju kompromis između interesa sile u čijoj se vlasti nalaze, interesa sile kojoj zarobljenici pripadaju i interesa samih ratnih zarobljenika.

Pored opšteg nivoa zaštite koji je priznat i ostalim kategorijama zaštićenih lica a koja podrazumeva obavezu poštovanja fizičkog i psihičkog integriteta, ratni zarobljenici saglasno svom specifičnom statusu uživaju i dodatna prava. Tako na primer oni ne smeju biti prinudno ispitivani, niti se prema njima sme primeniti bilo koja metoda radi dobijanja informacija. Sila koja ih drži u zarobljeništvu mora obezbediti adekvatne uslove za njihov smeštaj, ishranu i odevanje, i ovi uslovi ne smeju biti nepovoljniji od uslova obezbeđenim sopstvenim jedinicama na tim mestima. U slučaju pokušaja bekstva, ratni zarobljenici mogu biti samo disciplinski kažnjeni dok im za krivična dela izvršena dok su pod ovim statusom mora biti obezbeđen pravičan i nepristrasan sudski postupak.

Vidi još
Zarobljenički logor

Literatura 

 
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Rhonda Cornum –  with Peter Copeland She Went to War: The Rhonda Cornum Story 1992 
John L. Borling – a collection of his poetry Taps on the Walls: Poems from the Hanoi Hilton 2013 
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Spoljašnje veze 

 Prisoners of war and humanitarian law
 The National Archives 'Your Archives' Prisoners of War
 The National Archives ADM 103 Prisoners of War 1755–1831
 The National Archives 'Your Archives'—ADM 103 Prisoners of War 1755–1831
 Soviet Prisoners of War: Forgotten Nazi Victims of World War II 
Reports made by WW1 prisoners of war on The UK National Archives' website.
First hand account of being a Japanese POW. Part 1 in a series of 4 video interviews
 German POWs and the art of survival
 Current status of Vietnam War POW/MIA
 Clifford Reddish: War Memoirs of a British Army Signalman as a prisoner of the Japanese 
 CBC Digital Archives—Canada's Forgotten PoW Camps
  German army list of Stalags
  German army list of Oflags
  Colditz Oflag IVC POW Camp 
 Lamsdorf Reunited 
 New Zealand Official History, New Zealand PoWs of Germany, Italy & Japan
 Notes of Japanese soldier in a USSR prison camp after WWII
ICRC in WW II: German prisoners of war in Allied hands
 World War 2 U.S. POW Archives 
 Korean War POW Archives 
 Historic films about POWs in World War I at europeanfilmgateway.eu
 Jewish POW swapped by Germans in World War II

Međunarodno humanitarno pravo