关于Ｍy Lai战争和日内瓦条约的一段翻译．．谢谢

3.

Persons protected by the convention are those who,at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever,find themselves,in case of a conflict or occupation,in he hands of a Party to the conflict or Occupying Power of which they are not nationals.

   Quang Ngai Province had been regarded as a Viet Cong stronghold since the mid-1960’s, largeparts of the province had been declared a “free fire zone,” and civilians in the area had been presumed to be Viet Cong or Biet Cong sympathizers. Such persons,finding themselves “in the hands of “ the invading American force, appear at first glance to satisfy the article 4 description of “protected persons.” However, article 4 is qualified in an important respect:

   ……………..nationals of a co-belligerent State, shall not be regarded as protected persons while the State of which they are nationals has normal diplomatic representation in the State in whose hands they are.

  Even if some of the victims at My Lai were Viet Cong or Viet Cong sympathizers, they may also have been nationals of South Vietnam, a “co-belligerent State.”  If so,they were not protected under article 4 of the Convention.

   It has been suggested, however, that even as South Vietnamese nationals the My Lai victims may have been “protected persons” under article 4,since they could not have relied on normal diplomatic relations between South Vietnam and the United States to protect them from abuses while in the hands of the latter. But this suggestioncannot be sustained in the face of the Geneva Convention Draft Committee’s rejection of the view, expressed by a minority of Committee Delegates, that in a situation of the kind described above nationals of a co-belligerent shall not be denied protection under the Convention unless they are in a position to benefit by diplomatic representation.