page_title: Military occupation
hierarchical_section_title: Military occupation
caption_attribution_description: English: BAGHDAD, IRAQ (November 2003) - U.S. Army (USA) M1A1 Abrams MBT (Main Battle Tank), and personnel from A Company (CO), Task Force 1st Battalion, 35th Armor Regiment (1-35 Armor), 2nd Brigade Combat Team (BCT), 1st Armored Division (AD), pose for a photo under the "Hands of Victory" in Ceremony Square, Baghdad, Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The Hands of Victory monument built at the end of the Iran-Iraq war marks the entrance to a large parade ground in central Baghdad. The hand and arm are modeled after former dictator Saddam Husseins own and surrounded with thousands of Iranian helmets taken from the battlefield. The swords made from the guns of dead Iraqi soldiers, melted and recast into the 24-ton blades.
context_page_description: Military or belligerent occupation, often simply occupation, is effective provisional control by a ruling power over a territory, without a claim of formal sovereignty. The territory is then known as the occupied territory and the ruling power the occupant. Occupation is distinguished from annexation by its intended temporary nature, by its military nature, and by citizenship rights of the controlling power not being conferred upon the subjugated population.
  While an occupant may set up a formal military government in the occupied territory to facilitate its administration, it is not a necessary precondition for occupation.
  The rules of occupation are delineated in various international agreements, primarily the Hague Convention of 1907, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, as well as established state practice.
context_section_description: Military or belligerent occupation, often simply occupation, is effective provisional control by a ruling power over a territory, without a claim of formal sovereignty. The territory is then known as the occupied territory and the ruling power the occupant. Occupation is distinguished from annexation by its intended temporary nature (i.e. no claim for permanent sovereignty), by its military nature, and by citizenship rights of the controlling power not being conferred upon the subjugated population.
  While an occupant may set up a formal military government in the occupied territory to facilitate its administration, it is not a necessary precondition for occupation.
  The rules of occupation are delineated in various international agreements, primarily the Hague Convention of 1907, the Geneva Conventions of 1949, as well as established state practice. The relevant international conventions, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Commentaries, and other treaties by military scholars provide guidelines on such topics as rights and duties of the occupying power, protection of civilians, treatment of prisoners of war, coordination of relief efforts, issuance of travel documents, property rights of the populace, handling of cultural and art objects, management of refugees, and other concerns which are very important both before and after the cessation of hostilities. A country that establishes an occupation and violates internationally agreed upon norms runs the risk of censure, criticism, or condemnation. In the current era, the practices of occupations have largely become a part of customary international law, and form a part of the laws of war.
caption: US tanks under Baghdad's Victory Arch in occupied Iraq
exif: {"Image ImageDescription": "b'US Army (USA) M1A1 A, ... ]", "Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D1X", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2005:10:20 10:44:10", "Image Artist": "TSGT JOHN L. HOUGHTON JR., USAF", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "980", "GPS GPSVersionID": "[2, 0, 0, 0]", "Image GPSInfo": "1420", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1534", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "9535", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/250", "EXIF FNumber": "8", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0210", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2003:11:13 21:46:26", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2003:11:13 21:46:26", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "1/3", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "3", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF FocalLength": "35", "EXIF SubSecTime": "20", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "20", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "20", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3008", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1960", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]"}