Protective sign

International law defines a number of signs that can be used during an armed conflict. These signs are known as protective signs. Attacking someone who is clearly showing one of the signs is a war crime. Their meaning usually is "don't shoot", or "don't attack". Depending on the sign used, there is also a more specific meaning.

The form, shape and color of these signs are defined by the rules of international humanitarian law. Usually, they are easy to draw in order to make even an improvised use as easy as possible. They were designed to be easily recognizable as well.

Examples

The following signs have a protective meaning under certain conditions:

• the Red Cross, the Red Crescent and Red Crystal, to be used to mark all persons and objects under the protection of the four Geneva Conventions of 1949 and their additional protocols of 1977
• a blue triangle on orange ground as the international distinctive sign of civil defense; to be used to mark the personnel and objects of civil defense organizations
• the letters "PG" or "PW" to mark a prisoner of war camp and the letters "IC" to mark an internment camp for civilians
• an oblique red band on a white ground to mark Hospital and safety zones
• the white flag; used to designate unarmed parliamentaries (negotiators, along with their flag bearer and optional drummer) asking for a truce or ceasefire, or to symbolise surrender
• the emblem of the United Nations as well as the letters "UN"; to be used to mark the personnel and materiel of UN Peacekeeping missions
• the distinctive mark of the Roerich Pact for the identification of historic monuments, museums, scientific, artistic, educational and cultural institutions (such as universities, theatres, and Stonehenge)
• the distinctive marking of cultural property, to be used to mark "movable or immovable property of great importance to the cultural heritage of every people"; and the triple use of that sign to mark cultural property under special protection, including "refuges intended to shelter movable cultural property" (e.g.: Paintings, sculptures, texts) and "immovable cultural property of very great importance" (such as The Royal Observatory, Greenwich, London or The Taj Mahal, Agra, India)
• the special sign used to facilitate the identification of "works and installations containing dangerous forces" (dams, dikes and nuclear electrical generating stations), consisting of three bright orange circles placed on the same axis

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  Red Cross
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  Red Crescent
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  Red Crystal
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  International distinctive sign of civil defense
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  Marking for Hospital and safety zones
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  White flag
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  Flag of the United Nations
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  Distinctive flag for monuments and cultural institutions
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  Distinctive marking of cultural property
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  Distinctive marking of cultural property under special protection
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  Special sign for works and installations containing dangerous forces