Number: RL32395
Title: U.S. Treatment of Prisoners in Iraq: Selected Legal Issues
Authors: Jennifer K. Elsea, American Law Division 
Abstract: This report summarizes pertinent provisions of the Geneva Conventions Relative to the Treatment of Victims of War (Geneva Conventions) and other relevant international agreements. The report begins with a discussion of international and U.S. standards pertaining to the treatment of prisoners. A discussion of accountability in case of breach of these standards follows, including potential means of asserting jurisdiction over alleged violators, either in military courts under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ) or U.S. federal courts, by applying U.S. criminal statutes that explicitly apply extraterritorially or within the special maritime or territorial jurisdiction of the United States (as defined in 18 U.S.C. § 7), or by means of the Military Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act (MEJA). The section that follows discusses international requirements to provide redress for those whose treatment at the hands of U.S. officials may have fallen below the standards outlined in the first section of the report. Finally, the report summarizes relevant congressional activity during the 108th and 109th Congresses, including a brief discussion of the anti-torture provision of P.L.109-13 (H.R. 1268) as well as relevant pending legislation (H.R. 3003, S. 12, H.R. 112, H.R. 2863, S. 1042).
Pages: 30
Date: Updated October 27, 2005