The Human Rights Watch on Tuesday castigated both the Iraqi and American governments for violations of the Geneva Convention with regard to display of prisoners of war.

The Iraqi government has already been criticised widely for its telecast of pictures of US POWs and dead coalition soldiers.

The Third Geneva Convention of 1949, however, clearly states that the prohibition is not a blanket ban on any image, whatsoever, of a POW. For example, it would not extend to incidental filming of POWs when journalists are covering broader military operations.

A detaining authority, however, is obliged not to parade POWs or allow them to be exposed to the public.

Article 13 of the Third Geneva Convention states: "Prisoners of war must at all times be humanely treated. Likewise, prisoners of war must at all times be protected, particularly against acts of violence or intimidation and against insults and public curiosity. Measures of reprisal against prisoners of war are prohibited."

HRW said that the provision "appears to have been violated by both the Iraqi and the US governments." It also said the US government had taken "insufficient measures to prevent journalists embedded with US forces from filming Iraqi POWs held by the United States."

It said the US Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld had appropriately criticised the Iraqi filming of American POWs but had said "nothing to date about the filming of Iraqi POWs by media operating alongside US forces."

A significant number of journalists have been 'embedded' with various coalition forces, allowing them access to frontline action and the ability to directly broadcast images or reports as the war unfolds.

HRW also alleged that this was not the first time that Secretary Rumsfeld had been unresponsive to concerns that the United States may be acting in violation of the Geneva Convention. The rights body had previously criticised the US government for its treatment of captured persons during the war in Afghanistan, particularly the failure to determine the legal status of those held in Guantanamo Bay.

"American POWs in Iraqi custody need all the help they can get to secure their Geneva Convention rights," said
Kenneth Roth, executive director of HRW, in a statement. "It's unfortunate that the United States hasn't been a more staunch defender of the Geneva Convention in its own recent conduct."

US forces have accorded POW status to Iraqi soldiers they have detained in recent days.