Adventure
Posted on 03/14/2022 6:41:59 AM PDT by shadowlands1960
As thousands of would-be fighters from outside the country volunteer to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia's invasion, some may also face legal consequences in their home countries.
Citizens of Canada, Georgia, India, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States are among the volunteers, Reuters and other media organizations have reported.
Below is a summary of some of the laws governing foreigners who have signed up for Ukraine's "international legion."
(Excerpt) Read more at newsmax.com ...
Mercenaries have no protections under the Geneva Convention...................
Yes
Volunteers, have not seen Ukraine offering to pay foreigners, as opposed to Russia trying to hire Syrian soldiers.
Explain that to some of these people.
If caught, they can be taken out and shot on site. Or taken to some gulag in Siberia and forgotten.
That is the extreme risk one takes for going that route.
Of course, as barbarous as the Russians are, after liberating them, they took a good many American service members who were interned in German POW camps and took them to Siberia. Never heard from those guys again. And the Ukrainians were not innocent of that fact either at that time.
Maybe the elder Ukrainians still left who have knowledge of that might consider coming out and testifying to that fact.
And John McCain was one of those who opposed the investigations into MIAs.
If they are fighting in uniforms of the Ukrainian military and answer to its command, they’re not mercenaries.
The laws of Ukraine and the source country are the largest players in this question. Also possible for an intermediate country to come in to play should the individual travel through that country. So too many permutations to decide definitively and would have to be assessed on a case by case basis.
Another consideration is one’s citizenship. If you take up arms for another country that may constitute renouncing your citizenship in the original country. Laws vary on this matter but should be considered carefully before doing this type of thing.
Excellent point.
Another consideration though not relevant to the legal discussion is regarding the policies regarding health care, life insurance, etc. I suspect that most health care and insurance policies are cancelled if one actively fights in a war zone.
Bingo!
"Name, rank, serial number!"
Don't see any mention of "nationality" there!
Regards,
Correct there is a long standing tradition of legionnaires as respected members of their hosts country fighting forces. The most famous are the French foreign Legion and the Spanish Legion both of whom have well over 200 years of history and legal legitimacy. From times before even WWI legionnaires were treated as members of the official armed forces and given common laws of war protection on capture. If you are in an official uniform in the official chain of command of a host nation you absolutely are protected under the Geneva conventions it would be a war crime to not give POW status to a uniformed services member. That said going as a paid mercenary in irregular warfare roles not in official uniforms not in a chain of command then you are subject to summary judgment and executions on capture there is a critical difference.
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