spies Reference library
Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (3 ed.)
...disguise and on scouting or dispatch-bearing missions are not spies even if they penetrate the enemy zone of operations: the test is the clandestine or false character of the activity: ibid . Belligerents have a right under international law to use spies, but equally belligerents may consider their activities as acts of illegitimate warfare. Under art. 30 of the Hague Regulations, a spy may not be punished without trial before a court martial. The usual penalty is death. Persons suspected of spying may be denied rights of communication but are not otherwise to...
espionage Reference library
Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (3 ed.)
...Convention [on Diplomatic Relations 1961 ], suspicion of spying was the most common reason for declaring a diplomatic agent persona non grata or “requesting his recall” … The end of the Cold War diminished the number of diplomats declared persona non grata “for activities incompatible with their status”—the standard euphemism for espionage. … Requests for withdrawals of diplomats from friendly countries on grounds of espionage are extremely rare’: Denza, Diplomatic Law (3rd ed.), 77–79. See spies...
prisoners of war Reference library
Encyclopaedic Dictionary of International Law (3 ed.)
...responsible to that party and subject to an internal disciplinary system: art. 43(1). A person not falling within the definition of prisoner of war or who has forfeited the right to that status is in any event entitled to minimum guarantees under art. 75 of the 1977 Protocol. Spies and mercenaries, as defined by the Protocol, are in any event excluded from prisoner of war status: arts. 46 and 47. Any doubt as to whether an individual qualifies as a prisoner of war is to be determined by ‘a competent tribunal’: art. 5 of the Third Convention. The minimum...
