Equipo Nizkor - Singapore: Geneva Conventions Act, 1973.

Part I
Preliminary

Short Title

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

Interpretation

2. In this Act, unless the context otherwise requires –

"court" does not include a subordinate military court constituted under the Singapore Armed Forces Act;

"protected internee" means a person protected by the Convention set out in the Fourth Schedule and interned in Singapore;

"protected prisoner of war" means a person protected by the Convention set out in the Third Schedule;

"Protecting Power", in relation to a protected prisoner of war or a protected internee, means the Power or organisation which is carrying out, in the interests of the Power of which he is a national, or of whose forces he is, or was at any material time, a member, the duties assigned to Protecting Powers under the Convention set out in the Third or, as the case may be, the Fourth Schedule;

"scheduled Conventions" means the Conventions set out in the Schedules.

Part II
Punishment of offenders against Conventions

Grave breaches of scheduled Conventions

3. (1) Any person, whatever his citizenship or nationality, who, whether in or outside Singapore, commits, aids, abets or procures the commission by any other person of any such grave breach of any scheduled Convention as is referred to in the following Articles respectively of those Conventions:

(a) Article 50 of the Convention set out in the First Schedule;

(b) Article 51 of the Convention set out in the Second Schedule;

(d) Article 147 of the Convention set out in the Fourth Schedule,

shall be guilty of an offence under this Act and shall be liable on conviction –

(i) in the case of such a grave breach involving the wilful killing of a person protected by the Convention in question, to imprisonment for life;

(ii) in the case of any other such grave breach, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding fourteen years.

(2) In the case of an offence under this section committed outside Singapore, a person may be proceeded against, charged, tried and punished therefor in any place in Singapore as if the offence had been committed in that place, and the offence shall, for all purposes incidental to or consequential on the trial or punishment thereof, be deemed to have been committed in that place.

(3) No Magistrate's Court or District Court shall have jurisdiction to try any offence under this section, and proceedings for such an offence shall not be instituted except by or on behalf of the Public Prosecutor .

(4) If in proceedings under this section in respect of a grave breach of any scheduled Convention any question arises under Article 2 of that Convention (which relates to the circumstances in which the Convention applies), that question shall be determined by the Minister and a certificate purporting to set out any such determination and to be signed by or on behalf of the Minister shall be received in evidence and be deemed to be so signed without further proof, unless the contrary is shown.

(5) The written law relating to the trial by a subordinate military court of persons who commit civil offences shall have effect for the purposes of the jurisdiction of subordinate military courts convened in Singapore as if this section had not been passed.

Notice of trial of protected person to be served on Protecting Power

4.- (1) The court before which –

(a) a protected prisoner of war is brought up for trial for any offence; or

(b) a protected internee is brought up for trial for an offence for which that court has power to sentence him to death or to imprisonment for a term of two years or more,

shall not proceed with the trial until it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that a notice containing the particulars mentioned in subsection (2), so far as they are known to the Public Prosecutor, has been served not less than three weeks previously on the Protecting Power and, if the accused is a protected prisoner of war, on the accused and the prisoner's representative.

(2) The particulars referred to in subsection (1) are –

(a) the full name and description of the accused, including the date of his birth and his profession or trade, if any, and, if the accused is a protected prisoner of war, his rank and army, regimental, personal or serial number;

(b) his place of detention, internment or residence;

(d) the court before which the trial is to take place and the time and place appointed for the trial.

(3) For the purposes of this section a document purporting –-

(a) to be signed on behalf of the Protecting Power or by the prisoner's representative or by the person accused, as the case may be; and

(b) to be an acknowledgement of the receipt by that Power, representative or person on a specified day of a notice described therein as a notice under this section,

shall, unless the contrary is shown, be sufficient evidence that the notice required by subsection (1) was served on that Power, representative or person on that day.

(4) In this section the expression "prisoner's representative", in relation to a particular protected prisoner of war at a particular time, means the person by whom the functions of prisoners' representative within the meaning of Article 79 of the Convention set out in the Third Schedule were exercisable in relation to that protected prisoner at the camp or place at which that protected prisoner was, at or last before that time, detained as a protected prisoner of war.

(5) Any court which adjourns a trial for the purpose of enabling the requirements of this section to be complied with may, notwithstanding anything in any other written law, remand the accused for the period of the adjournment.

Legal representation of certain persons

5.– (1) The court before which –

(a) any person is brought up for trial for an offence under section 3; or

(b) a protected prisoner of war is brought up for trial for any offence,

shall not proceed with the trial unless –

(i) the accused is represented by counsel; and

(ii) it is proved to the satisfaction of the court that a period of not less than fourteen days has elapsed since instructions for the representation of the accused at the trial were first given to the counsel,

and if the court adjourns the trial for the purpose of enabling the requirements of this subsection to be complied with, then, notwithstanding anything in any other written law, the court may remand the accused for the period of the adjournment.

(2) Where the accused is a protected prisoner of war, in the absence of counsel accepted by the accused as representing him, counsel instructed for the purpose on behalf of the Protecting Power shall, without prejudice to the requirements of subsection (1) (ii), be regarded for the purposes of that subsection as representing the accused.

(3) If the court adjourns the trial in pursuance of subsection (1) by reason that the accused is not represented by counsel, the court shall direct that a counsel be assigned to watch over the interests of the accused at any further proceedings in connection with the offence, and at any such further proceedings, in the absence of counsel either accepted by the accused as representing him or instructed as mentioned in subsection (2), counsel assigned in pursuance of this subsection shall, without prejudice to the requirement of subsection (1) (ii), be regarded for the purposes of that subsection as representing the accused.

(4) Counsel shall be assigned, in pursuance of subsection (3), in such manner as the Minister may by order prescribe, and any counsel so assigned shall be entitled to be paid out of moneys provided by such sums in respect of fees and disbursements as the Minister may by regulations prescribe.

Appeals by protected persons

6. (1) A protected prisoner of war or a protected internee who has been convicted and sentenced to death or to imprisonment for a term of two years or more may appeal against the conviction and sentence imposed upon him.

(2) Notwithstanding section 45 (1) of the Supreme Court of Judicature Act, notice of an appeal under subsection

(1) shall be given not later than ten days after the date on which the protected person receives a notice given –

(a) in the case of a protected prisoner of war, by an officer of the Singapore Armed Forces; or

(b) in the case of a protected internee, by or on behalf of the governor of the prison in which he is confined,

that the Protecting Power has been notified of his conviction and sentence.

[Amended by Act 2/94 wef 8.4.94 vide S 173/94]

Powers of Minister

7. (1) It shall be lawful for the Minister in any case in which a protected prisoner of war or a protected internee is convicted of an offence and sentenced to a term of imprisonment, to direct that there shall be deducted from that term a period not exceeding the period, if any, during which that person was in custody in connection with that offence, either on remand or after committal for trial (including the period of the trial), before the sentence began, or is deemed to have begun, to run.

(2) It shall be lawful for the Minister in a case where he is satisfied that a protected prisoner of war accused of an offence has been in custody in connection with that offence, either on remand or after committal for trial (including the period of the trial), for an aggregate period of not less than three months, to direct that the prisoner shall be transferred from that custody to the custody of an officer of the Singapore Armed Forces and thereafter remain military custody at a camp or place in which protected prisoners of war are detained, and be brought before the court at the time appointed by the remand or committal order .

Part III
Prevention of abuse of Red Cross and other emblems

Prohibition of use of emblem without authority

8. No person shall use for any purpose whatsoever in Singapore, without the authority of the Minister, the heraldic emblem of the red cross on a white ground formed by reversing the Federal Colours of Switzerland, or the words "Red Cross" or ""Geneva Cross".

Prohibition of use of certain words and designs

9. No person shall without the authority of the Minister use for any purpose whatsoever –

(a) any design consisting of a white or silver cross on a red ground, none of the limbs of which extends to the margin of the ground, being the cross comprised in the Arms of the Swiss Confederation; or

(b) any design being a colourable imitation of the design mentioned in paragraph (a) of this section; or

(c) any design being a colourable imitation of the heraldic emblem of the red cross on a white ground mentioned in section 8 or any words so nearly resembling the words "Red Cross" or "Geneva Cross" as to be capable of being understood as referring to the said emblem.

Penalty

10. (1) If any person contravenes any of the provisions of this Part, he shall be guilty of an offence and shall be liable on conviction to a fine not exceeding one thousand dollars or to imprisonment for a term not exceeding six months or to both such fine and imprisonment and, in addition, any goods upon or in connection with which the emblem, design or words, as the case may be, was or were used, shall be forfeited.

(2) Where an offence committed by a body corporate or society is proved to have been committed with the consent or connivance of any director, manager, secretary or other officer of the body corporate or society, he, as well as the body corporate or society, shall be deemed to be guilty of the offence and shall be liable to be proceeded against and punished accordingly.

Inspectors

11. Proceedings under this Part shall not be instituted without the consent of the Public Prosecutor.

Part IV
Repeal

12. The Geneva Convention Act, 1911, and the Geneva Convention Act, 1937, shall cease to apply to Singapore.

Schedules

First Schedule: Geneva Convention for the amelioration of the condition of the wounded and sick in armed forces in the field, Geneva, 12th August 1949

Second Schedule: Geneva Convention for the amelioration of the condition of wounded, sick and shipwrecked members of armed forces at sea, Geneva, 12th August 1949

Third Schedule: Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of prisoners of war, Geneva, 12th August 1949

Fourth Schedule: Geneva Convention relative to the protection of civilian persons in time of war, Geneva, 12th August 1949

1973 - SGP

Geneva Conventions Act, 1973

[Source: Geneva Conventions Act, Government Gazette (Acts Supplement), No. 11, 3 April 1973, p. 151]

Legislation
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