text: Chapter 5
  5-3. Commanders, at all levels, have a great responsibility to exercise the leadership necessary to reduce
  the risk of harm to civilians and civilian objects. Accordingly, they should, for example:
  * Make the necessary judgments and decisions required by the principle of proportionality to ensure
  that harm to civilians and civilian objects is not excessive compared to the expected military
  advantage.
  * Determine the feasible precautions to take for the protection of civilians in planning and
  conducting an attack, including canceling or suspending an attack based on new information
  raising concerns of expected civilian casualties or determining whether it is feasible to provide
  warnings or to use different types of weapon systems in order to reduce the risk of civilian
  casualties) (see DOD Law of War Manual, 5.11).
  * Administer civilian internment camps in accordance with the GC.
  * Arrange for passage of humanitarian relief.
  GENERAL PROVISIONS
  5-4. As described in Chapter 1 (see paragraph 1-54), a civilian is a member of the civilian population. That
  is, a civilian is an individual who is neither part of nor associated with an armed force of a State or a non-
  State armed group that is engaging in hostilities. For example, an ordinary inhabitant of the enemy State
  would be a civilian, but a member of the enemy armed forces or a member of a terrorist group or a non-State
  armed group would not be a civilian.
  5-5. Like combatants, members of the civilian population have certain rights, duties and liabilities under
  LOAC. Civilians may not be made the object of an attack, and feasible precautions must be taken to reduce
  the risk of harm to them. Civilians are generally treated consistent with the GC, and most qualify for
  protections established for protected persons under the convention (GC art. 4). In general, civilians may be
  temporarily detained when militarily necessary and may be interned for imperative reasons of security. In
  all circumstances, they are entitled to humane treatment. Civilians do not enjoy combatant immunity
  (immunity from prosecution for engaging in hostilities) and may be punished by an enemy State for engaging
  in hostilities against it. Further, civilians who take a direct part in hostilities forfeit their protection from being
  made the object of attack (consider AP I art. 50, 51).
  PROTECTED PERSONS
  5-6. In general, the GC uses the term “protected person” to refer to those individuals who are entitled to
  receive its protections. Principally, protected persons include persons of enemy nationality living in the
  territory of a belligerent State and the inhabitants of occupied territory. Even if a person is not a protected
  person under the GC, other rules may be applicable to them. For example, persons protected by the GPW,
  the GWS, or the GWS Sea, are not considered protected persons under the GC (GC art. 4). Further, certain
  baseline rules apply to the treatment of all detainees, including those who are not protected persons or POWs
  (DOD Law of War Manual, 10.3).
  5-7. The GC underlies most of the treaty rules applicable to the United States for the treatment of civilians
  in the hands of a party to the conflict during international armed conflict and occupation. Although the GC’s
  provisions should be interpreted in light of the principles that underlie the treatment of civilians, protected
  persons do not simply refer to persons who are civilians. Protected persons may include certain unprivileged
  belligerents, although certain rights and privileges that unprivileged belligerents receive are subject to
  derogation for security reasons (see DOD Law of War Manual, 10.3.2.4). Subject to certain exceptions,
  persons protected by the GC are those who, at a given moment and in any manner whatsoever, find
  themselves, in the case of occupation or conflict, in the hands of a party to the conflict or occupying State of
  which they are not nationals (DOD Law of War Manual, 10.3.2). The GC term “protected person” does not,
  under the framework of the GC, apply to non-international armed conflicts (conflicts against or between non-
  State armed groups).
  5-8. The phrase “in the hands of” is used in an extremely general sense. It is not limited to physical custody
  or control, such as a prisoner. The mere fact of being in the territory of a party to the conflict or in occupied
  territory implies the person is in the power or “in the hands of” the Occupying Power.