Is Fraternity Hazing Torture as Defined by the Geneva Convention?

Ethel C

I agree that it is ridiculous to put waterboarding in the same class as burning someone to death.

Also I think that we need different standards when we are dealing with these thugs who are plotting to torture and kill thousands of people.

We need to give the Military and the Intelligence the authority to use their own judgment how best to get the information that they need to keep these disgraceful thugs from plotting more attacks on us.

These thugs are enemies of The United States of America they do not deserve the same privileges and courtesies that we give to American Citizens.

These Terrorist thugs are just trash, it is time that we started treating them like Trash.

It is also time that we got rid of the trash and put it where it belongs.

Phil

No. This is a pretty frivolous question. Depending on what is being done as hazing it may be illegal assault or mayhem but the Geneva convention only applies to governments and prisoners of war.
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UPDATE: My comment about frivolity was not directed to the sometimes serious matter of hazing that occurs but to the question itself. As I stated, hazing does not fall under an international protocol dealing with prisoners of war and their treatment. Plus it's not as if you defined the hazing that you had in mind. In addition fraternity hazing however serious starts out as a voluntary matter and torture of POWs is not a matter of the POW volunteering.

armouror2000

Any form of Physical Hazing is an Abomination done By cowards

remember the Red Flag in the Movie yes even in real life people have died

I served in 2 Air Forces from the Early Fifties and as i got promoted i stopped ind where necessary reported this Abomination

The Military had a thing of protecting Drunks Not where i worked Eventually they realised it was wrong to protect these people especially when I was EOD IED

these schools Businesses and any big organisations should Ban Hazing and punish perpetrators

Mr Puma

No. It's just plain stupidity.

ian24

What ?, they are teaching you kids water-boarding in school.

I see it this way, if the "hazing" was to gain intelligence then its not torture, if it was for pleasure, then it is.

Keep up the good grades on your water-boarding.

hehe

Geneva Convention prohibits torture and other forms of humiliation of combatants and civilians who are captured and taken into custody by the opposing armed forces. Now the definition of hazing is somewhat similar to torture (as defined by the Geneva Convention) BUT there is one main difference. Hazing rituals- although cruel- is not the same as torture in a sense that the person joining the fraternity (given they weren't kidnapped) usually chooses to partake in the hazing ritual to "fit in." Usually that person can chose not to partake in these rituals and walk away. A captured combatant or civilian does not have any choice- if the captors chose to torture and/or humiliate captured personnel- the captors will do it and those who are prisoners WILL get tortured. Since the deaths of a good number students resulting from hazing (usually binge drinking), university police and local law enforcement are now cracking down on those fraternities that haze its members. Since fraternities operate in secrecy, these laws are sometimes hard to enforce unless someone comes forward.
*Those who get convicted of hazing and or torture in the civilian world can face stiff charges of cruelty, assault, maltreatment, and murder in some cases.

Victory Soldier

It seems like few of the answerers (like most of the public at large) understand, or have even read, the Geneva Convention.

If the fraternity pledges were
- carrying arms openly,
- in uniform,
- in the service of a signatory nation,
- not explicitly targeting civilian populations and targets

then it would be a violation for the armed forces of another signatory do do much more than contain them until the end of hostilities.

If the above is not true, the Geneva Convention does not apply.

Edit: It never defines 'torture', it only defines who many not be tortured -- specifically, civilian non-combatants and combatants who met the criteria to be 'covered'. It is silent on fraternity pledges.

e w

No.

Fraternity hazing is prohibited in several ways.

But the Geneva convention is regarding political torture, for political expediency, by governments, or with government approval.

That's a huge difference between college pranks and politcal prisoners.

Police states torture prisoners, like Stalin, Hitler, and Bush did.
That's why it's so wrong.

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