Prisoner of War - Post-World War II

Post-World War II

The North Koreans have a reputation for severely mistreating prisoners of war (see Crimes against POWs). However, in 1952, the 1952 Inter-Camp P.O.W. Olympics were held during November 15 and 27, 1952, in Pyuktong, North Korea. The Chinese hoped to gain worldwide publicity and whilst some prisoners refused to participate some 500 P.O.W.s of eleven nationalities took part. They were representative of all the prison camps in North Korea and competed in: football, baseball, softball, basketball, volleyball, track and field, soccer, gymnastics, and boxing. For the P.O.W.s this was also an opportunity to meet with friends from other camps. The prisoners had their own photographers, announcers, even reporters, who after each days competition published a newspaper, the "Olympic Roundup".

Of about 16,500 French soldiers who fought at the Battle of Dien Bien Phu in French Indochina, more than 3,000 were killed in battle, while almost all of the 11,721 men taken prisoner died in the hands of the Viet Minh on death marches to distant POW camps, and in those camps in the last three months of the war.

The Vietcong and North Vietnamese captured many United States service members as prisoners of war during the Vietnam War, who claimed to be suffered from mistreatment and torture during the war. Some American prisoners were held in the prison called the Hanoi Hilton. Communist Vietnamese held in custody by South Vietnamese and American forces were also tortured and badly treated. After the war, millions of South Vietnamese servicemen and government workers were sent to "re-education" camps where many perished.

Regardless of regulations determining treatment to prisoners, violations of their rights continue to be reported. Many cases of POW massacres have been reported in recent times, including October 13 massacre in Lebanon by Syrian forces and June 1990 massacre in Sri Lanka.

During the Gulf War in 1991, American, British, Italian and Kuwaiti POWs (mostly crew members of downed aircraft and special forces) were tortured by the Iraqi secret police. An American military doctor, Major Rhonda Cornum, a 37-year-old flight surgeon captured when her Blackhawk UH-60 was shot down, was also subjected to sexual abuse.

During the 1990s Yugoslav Wars, Serb paramilitary forces supported by JNA forces killed POWs at Vukovar and Škarbrnja while Bosnian Serb forces killed POWs at Srebrenica.

In 2001, there were reports concerning two prisoners that India had taken during the Sino-Indian War, Yang Chen and Shih Liang. The two were imprisoned as spies for three years before being interned in a mental asylum in Ranchi, where they spent the next 38 years under a special prisoner status. The last prisoners of Iran–Iraq War (1980–1988) were exchanged in 2003.