Aprisoner exchange orprisoner swap is a deal between opposing sides in a conflict to release prisoners:prisoners of war,spies,hostages, etc. Sometimes,dead bodies are involved in an exchange.[1]
Prisoners exchanged occurred throughout history; a number of large exchanges took places, for example, during the 8th century or so in the Middle East region (seeArab–Byzantine prisoner exchanges).[2]
Under theGeneva Conventions, prisoners whocannot contribute to thewar effort because ofillness or disability are entitled to be repatriated to their home country. That is regardless of number of prisoners so affected; the detaining power cannot refuse a genuine request.[3]
Under theGeneva Convention (1929), this is covered by Articles 68 to 74, and the annex. One of the largest exchange programmes was run forprisoners of war by theInternational Red Cross duringWorld War II under these terms.[4] Under theThird Geneva Convention of 1949, that is covered by Articles 109 to 117.
TheSecond World War in Yugoslavia saw a brutal struggle between the armed forces of theThird Reich and thecommunist-led Partisans. Despite that, the two sides negotiated prisoner exchanges virtually from the beginning of the war. Under extraordinary circumstances, these early contacts evolved into a formal exchange agreement, centered on the creation of a neutral zone, possibly the only such in occupied Europe, where prisoners were regularly swapped until late April 1945, saving several thousand lives.[5]
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