Is an internment in Switzerland considered a prisoner of war?

Answer 1

Internment is captivity that is obligatory when a belligerent crosses the border of a neutral during armed conflict- internment requirements are outlined under the Vth Hague Conv. of 1907. The instances of Swiss internment were the Bourbaki Army in 1871, World War I, and World War II.

Internees are not POWs according to international law, however there is still a requirement to treat them with the same minimum protections guaranteed to POWs. The expectation emerged in the 1930s and was sporadically enforced in WWII, then permanently codified in the 1949 Geneva Conventions. The prior GCs of 1929 did not explicitely enfranchise internees with the protections of POWs, however, the ICRC and most Allied nations expected internees to be treated as POWs per the "by analogy" interpretation of the 1929 GCs. In this sense, it was emerging customary international law, as the ICRC advisories and diplomatic protests over internee treatment reflected state practice.

Under internal US law, internees, detainees, and hostages of terrorists are not automatically considered POWs until a military service or VA secretary adjudicates that their incarceration was under circumstances comparable to those generally experienced by POWs [held by declared enemies] during periods of armed conflict. This exception was added by an amendment to the US Code governing the POW Medal and VA POW benefits in the 1980s- with the case of the POW Medal, the citation is 10 USC 1128. 10 USC 1128 was created in 1985 with that year's defense authorization act in PL 99-145, and then modified in 1989 under the 101st Congress with PL 101-189. The initial lobbying for this amendment was on behalf the crew of the USS Pueblo held by North Korea, and then the legislation expanded because of other disenfranchised detainees such as the Iran hostages and the USAAF and USN aircrew held in Russia during World War II.