Which protections does Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions provide during civil wars?

Common Article 3 of the 1949 Geneva Conventions provides essential humanitarian protections during non-international armed conflicts, or civil wars. Contrary to the assumption that these conflicts lack legal oversight, Common Article 3 serves as a foundational "mini-convention" that applies to all parties involved in an internal conflict.12

It mandates the humane treatment of individuals who are not taking an active part in hostilities, including members of armed forces who have laid down their arms and those placed "hors de combat" by sickness, wounds, detention, or any other cause. Specifically, it prohibits the following acts at any time and in any place:2

• Violence to life and person, particularly murder, mutilation, cruel treatment, and torture.
• Taking of hostages.
• Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular, humiliating and degrading treatment.
• The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples.

Furthermore, the wounded and sick must be collected and cared for. These protections are fundamental to upholding human dignity and mitigating the suffering inherent in internal strife.12