Marginal note:Short title

1. This Act may be cited as the Geneva Conventions Act.

Marginal note:Conventions approved

• 2. (1) The Geneva Conventions for the Protection of War Victims, signed at Geneva on August 12, 1949 and set out in Schedules I to IV, are approved.

• Marginal note:Protocols approved

  (2) The Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the protection of victims of international armed conflicts, and the Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the protection of victims of non-international armed conflicts, which Protocols are set out in Schedules V and VI, respectively, are approved.

• Marginal note:Protocol approved

  (3) The Protocol additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the adoption of an additional distinctive emblem, which Protocol is set out in Schedule VII, is approved.

Marginal note:Grave breaches

• 3. (1) Every person who, whether within or outside Canada, commits a grave breach referred to in Article 50 of Schedule I, Article 51 of Schedule II, Article 130 of Schedule III, Article 147 of Schedule IV or Article 11 or 85 of Schedule V is guilty of an indictable offence, and

  • (a) if the grave breach causes the death of any person, is liable to imprisonment for life; and

  • (b) in any other case, is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

• Marginal note:Third Protocol emblem

  (1.1) For the purposes of subsection (1), the distinctive emblems mentioned in Article 85, paragraph 3(f) of Schedule V are deemed to include the third Protocol emblem, referred to in Article 2, paragraph 2 of Schedule VII.

• Marginal note:Jurisdiction

  (2) Where a person is alleged to have committed an offence referred to in subsection (1), proceedings in respect of that offence may, whether or not the person is in Canada, be commenced in any territorial division in Canada and that person may be tried and punished in respect of that offence in the same manner as if the offence had been committed in that territorial division.

• Marginal note:Appearance of accused at trial

  (3) For greater certainty, any legal requirements that the accused appear at and be present during proceedings and any exceptions to those requirements apply to proceedings commenced in any territorial division pursuant to subsection (2).

• Marginal note:Consent

  (4) Proceedings with respect to an offence referred to in subsection (1), other than proceedings before a service tribunal as defined in section 2 of the National Defence Act, may only be commenced with the personal consent in writing of the Attorney General of Canada or the Deputy Attorney General of Canada and be conducted by the Attorney General of Canada, or counsel acting on behalf thereof.