text: Chapter 3
  humiliating fashion on television or on the internet. Custodians of POWs, such as escorts, must
  protect POWs from acts of violence.
  * Improper photography and media exposure. For example, DOD policy has generally prohibited
  the taking of photographs except for authorized purposes in order to protect POWs and other
  detainees from public curiosity.
  * Using POWs as human shields to protect military objectives.
  * Acts of reprisal against POWs.
  * Bartering and other transactions between members of the forces of the detaining power and POWs
  concerning the POWs personal effects are not considered proper.
  * Adverse discrimination based upon race, gender, nationality, religious belief, political opinions,
  or any other similar criteria in regard to treatment of POWs. In some cases, however, the captor is
  permitted, and sometimes required, to make distinctions between POWs or retained personnel as
  to rank, state of health, age, or professional status, as well as to provide additional protection for
  women. Also, as explained in paragraph 3-43, distinctions for security purposes are permissible
  (GPW arts. 14, 16, 30, 43-45, 49, 109-110).
  BEGINNING OF CAPTIVITY
  3-50. Military commanders have an affirmative duty to take the measures within their ability and appropriate
  to the circumstances, to protect POWs captured by their unit until they are properly transferred to higher or
  other competent authority. Commanders may not execute POWs to preserve their unit or to facilitate their
  unit’s movement.
  ARTICLE 5 TRIBUNALS
  3-51. If, during an international armed conflict, the detaining power has any doubt as to whether a captured
  person is entitled to POW status or treatment, Article 5 of the GPW requires the detaining power to provide
  POW treatment for such persons having committed a belligerent act until such time as his or her status has
  been determined by a competent tribunal. This “Article 5 tribunal” would review the facts and circumstances
  to determine the status of the individual in doubt. If the detaining power has no doubt regarding the
  entitlement to POW status or treatment, then Article 5 does not require that the person be provided POW
  treatment or a tribunal to adjudicate claims of POW status (for example, if the United States has determined
  that a non-State armed groups does not meet the criteria for its members to be entitled to POW status, then
  no members of that group may, by asserting membership in that group, assert a right to POW treatment under
  Article 5 or to an Article 5 tribunal to adjudicate their claim to POW treatment).
  3-52. Similarly, if a member of non-State armed group is captured in a non-international armed conflict, then
  no “Article 5 tribunal” is required as a matter of international law, and POW status or treatment would not
  be required. However, an administrative tribunal may be useful to determine whether a detainee is a peaceful
  civilian or an unprivileged belligerent or whether there is a necessity for continued detention (DOD Law of
  War Manual, 4.27.4).
  3-53. If the detaining power has doubt as to whether a captured person is entitled to POW status or treatment
  and the detaining power wishes not to treat the captured person as a POW, an Article 5 tribunal should be
  convened within a reasonable period of time following capture, generally upon timely arrival at a corps or
  higher level POW camp. A detaining power may decline to convene a tribunal only if military exigencies
  prevent it.
  3-54. The details of Article 5 tribunals, such as composition and procedures, are within the discretion of the
  detaining power. In U.S. practice, tribunals have been three-person administrative boards. A captured person
  is entitled to notice in a language he or she understands that a tribunal will be held and he or she will be given
  the opportunity to testify or otherwise address the tribunal. The standard for reaching a determination has
  been a “preponderance of the evidence.” (See details in AR 190-8/MCO 3461.1, Enemy Prisoners of War,
  Retained Personnel, Civilian Internees and Other Detainees.)
  3-55. If a competent tribunal determines that a person who has committed a belligerent act is not entitled to
  POW status or treatment, such person may still be entitled to protected person status under the GC or may be